§ Mr. Duncan SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make a statement on the four schemes operated in the voluntary sector outlined in the New Deal for Lone Parents—October 1997 report, with special reference to(a) the funding which the Department of Social Security will make available to those schemes and (b) the ways in which these schemes will interact with the New Deal for Lone Parents scheme. [14681]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyBeta 2000, Instant Muscle, the Sandwell Afro Caribbean Development Agency and, jointly, Gingerbread and Training For Life have been contracted to set up and run innovative schemes to help lone parents on Income Support to take up work. Payments are made to contractors on a monthly basis, dependent on satisfactory performance, with additional amounts payable in respect of each lone parent helped into work. Precise payment details are commercial in confidence. The areas in which these contractors are operating do not overlap with areas covered by the first phase of the New Deal for Lone Parents.
In addition to the four schemes being operated by the organisations listed above, the National Council for One Parent Families were contracted to produce a guide for employers which presents the business case for employing lone parents. This guide is being distributed throughout the country initially through the Opportunity 2000 network and can also be obtained by contacting a national helpline.
All of the contracts concerned were set up in the context of testing different approaches to helping lone parents into work over a three year period. Contracts were initially issued for one year and decisions on their renewal will be made in the context of the national implementation of the New Deal for Lone Parents from October next year. Any lessons learned from the evaluation of both the first phase of the New Deal for Lone Parents and the voluntary sector innovative schemes will inform the design of the national programme.