§ Mr. LevittTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what evaluation he plans to make of the current pilot programme of marriage support projects. [4075]
§ Mr. HoonThe main aim of the pilot programme is to identify the types of service which support marriage most effectively. All the projects include an element of monitoring and evaluation, and organisations are required to provide an interim report on progress to the end of the calendar year 1997, followed by a full evaluation on completion of the project.
The Department will assess the effectiveness of the pilot projects in terms of their achievement of specific aims and objectives, and their cost-effectiveness.
§ Mr. LevittTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what support he proposes to give to enable successful marriage support projects to continue once the current pilot programme has been completed. [4074]
§ Mr. HoonThe Department's programme of marriage support projects started on 1 April 1997. The programme will run for a year, and it is too early yet to identify the successful projects. The results of the pilot programme will be one of the factors taken into account by my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor in deciding on the future funding of marriage support projects.