§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which programmes are being funded by the Children's Fund; what the results have been so far; and what further evaluation is(a) underway and (b) planned. [78329]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Children's Fund is responsible for implementation of 149 Children's Fund programmes (Annex A) across England. The Fund is being rolled out in three waves, and to date 40 plans in Wave 1 and 50 plans in Wave 2 have been approved. The remaining 59 plans in Wave 3 will be submitting proposals at the end of the year, and approved plans will begin operating from April 2003. Programmes bring together local voluntary organisations, statutory agencies, community and faith groups, children and young people and their families to deliver a range of locally co-ordinated preventive services for 5–13 year olds at risk. Examples of activities include bi-lingual home/school liaison projects, helping children with behavioural difficulties,406W managing the transition between primary and secondary school, tackling truancy and promoting community cohesion through developing positive perceptions about different cultures.
The Children and Young People's Unit gather information on all services supported by the Children's Fund on a quarterly basis. The most recent information available from 38 out of 40 Wave 1 partnerships shows that 584 services were supported during April-June 2002 (Annex B). No information was gathered from Wave 2 partnerships for April-June 2002 because the majority of partnerships only received approval in April 2002. The CYPU is gathering service information on all Wave 1 and 2 partnerships for the period July-September 2002, and this information should be available later this year. It is too soon for the programme to provide an accurate indication of the direct impact on children and their families, but early feedback from children, parents, teachers and other professionals is positive. Individual programmes are already making a difference in improving school attendance, tackling behavioural problems and promoting positive parenting.
The Children and Young People's Unit are in the process of selecting a contractor for a national evaluation of the Children's Fund, and work is expected to begin early in 2003. This will draw on the results of local evaluations of achievement against measurable targets which individual partnerships are required to carry out.