§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in developing a system of identification, referral and tracking for every child at risk of social exclusion in each local authority. [81066]
§ Mr. DenhamI have been asked to reply.
The Government announced its intention to promote better local systems for the identification, referral and tracking of children at risk as part of its street crime initiative last summer. Six local authorities, Bolton, Camden, Kensington and Chelsea, Knowsley, Lewisham and Sheffield, were selected as Trailblazers for funding of up to £1 million to fast-track the development of appropriate systems, and the remaining 28 participating authorities were invited to bid for up to £100,000 for initial developmental work.
The Cross-Cutting Review on Children at Risk found that the failure to share information between agencies was a significant barrier to the provision of effective preventive services for children and young people at risk of social exclusion. On 16 August I therefore announced that, as a result of the Spending Review 2002, additional funding would be made available to support all local authorities in developing local systems to identify, refer and track children at risk. The offer of £100,000 has now been extended to all local authorities, and a further four Trailblazers are being identified to extend the geographical coverage and range of authorities. In both cases, authorities are due to submit their plans for taking this work forward to the Children and Young People's Unit (CYPU) for assessment and approval during December.
Draft guidance based on the emerging experiences of the Trailblazer authorities will be published during March 2003 to support all local authorities in the further development of local systems. Concurrently, the CYPU is working with other Departments, including the Cabinet Office's Green Paper team, to develop coherent central approaches to the identification, referral and tracking of children at risk in the context of work to develop local preventive strategies.