Social Inclusion (Hansard, 31 March 1999)

§ Mr. Michael

As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review I have established a Social Inclusion Fund that will provide £48 million over three years to tackle some of the most intractable problems in deprived communities across Wales. It will work alongside mainstream programmes, all of which are being harnessed to promote social inclusion in support of my Department's corporate aim: to increase economic prosperity and improve the quality of life for all of the people of Wales, to promote728W social inclusion, to extend democratic accountability and to deliver better services throughout Wales. The initial tranche of money from the Social Inclusion Fund, totalling £8 million for 1999–2000 will be targeted at three key areas; £5 million will go to a new Children and Youth Partnership Fund, to promote local initiatives to life youngsters educational attainment, engage them in creative activities in their communities and to encourage them away from crime, drugs, vandalism and truancy; £1.5 million will go to support drug and alcohol treatment services, improving access to treatment particularly for vulnerable younger people; and £1.5 million will go to encourage people to participate in their communities through joining in the work of local voluntary sector initiatives.

It is important to recognise the cross-cutting nature of this work. In targeting their proposals for action, local authorities and their partners will be expected to draw out the relevant conclusions from the local crime and disorder audit as well as specific measures of deprivation. They will need to be clear about the intended outcomes and to highlight both their targets and their measurements of success.

In addition, I am making available £1.5 million for 1999–2000 and for each of the following two years to continue and expand the People in Communities programme, which is aimed at tackling social exclusion in disadvantaged communities. £1 million has been allocated to support the existing eight projects and £750,000 will be available for new projects in 1999–2000. I want to see the new projects being brought forward by local partnerships, including partnerships led by the voluntary sector and development trusts, and I have asked my officials to consult the WLGA, WCVA and other key players as they develop this proposal.

I am also making available £25 million over three years through Sure Start to give Welsh children the best possible start in life. The programme, which has been developed in consultation with local government, the health service and the voluntary sector in Wales, will provide extra services to boost the development of very young children especially those from the most deprived communities. It will complement existing mainstream programmes and link with other social inclusion initiatives including those developed under my People in Communities programme. It will also work closely with the initiatives for early years development and child care for which I have announced over £2.5 million to support local partnerships in 1999–2000.

In addition to targeting these new funds on particular groups at risk of becoming socially excluded, I am also placing a greater emphasis on social inclusion within mainstream programmes. As one example of this I am also announcing today a £4.5 million Classroom Support Fund. This will provide £1.5 million over each of the next three years to provide additional classroom assistance for those schools that have the furthest to travel to meet the national targets for Wales.

I expect the support provided under this heading to take a variety of forms, reflecting the differing needs of LEAs. Some may choose to recruit classroom assistants to support work on literacy and numeracy. Some may wish 729W to give a priority to raising levels of achievement within ethnic minority communities. There will also be flexibility to provide support for teachers in other ways.

I have also introduced a new element with a focus on social inclusion within the Grants for Education Support and Training (GEST) programme. The new School Improvement Fund will be worth £1.5 million during 1999–2000. It is designed to enable authorities to bring a new focus to the work of achieving the targets set out in their Education Strategic Plans. I would expect authorities to give a particular emphasis to work aimed at bringing standards in the lowest performing schools up to the level of the best.

Taken together these programmes will provide a foundation of seamless services for children and their families, to enrich children's lives and enable them to fulfil their potential.

Further details of my analysis of the challenges facing Wales and the approach my Department is taking to ensure they are addressed effectively are set out in a statement "Building an inclusive Wales: tackling the social exclusion agenda". This will provide the National Assembly with a useful starting point from which to develop its own policies. I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

In addition local authorities have a key part to play in responding to the needs of children who require specialist support. Too often in the past, they have failed children in their care with the result that the lives of some of the most vulnerable of our children have been damaged. That is completely unacceptable. Much has been done to implement recommendations from the Children's Safeguards Review. To build on that work and to ensure key recommendations are carried forward I have made available £5 million within the local government settlement for 1999–2000 for 'Children First', a three year programme to modernise and transform local authority social services for children. This is an ambitious and far-reaching programme and one we are determined to see through.

My Department is writing to local authorities and others with responsibilities for children in their care to set out the details of the improvements we expect to see and the arrangements for the National Assembly to monitor progress. I am also writing to elected members to remind them of their personal responsibilities for children in the care of their authorities, to underline my commitment to improving services for children and to challenge them to use the extra resources being made available through all of these programmes to secure real and lasting benefits.