§ Viscount Brentfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Who are the members of the National Family and Parenting Institute; and what are its terms of reference. [HL471]
§ Lord Williams of MostynWork is currently in progress to appoint a Chairman and Board of Trustees for the National Family and Parenting Institute.
As an independent charity, the institute will be free to establish its own terms of reference. As set out in the consultation document Supporting Families, in the first year the Government will fund the institute to undertake a work programme comprising the following:
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- providing authoritative advice to government and others on issues relating to family policy, parenting, adult relationships and the needs of children in a way which reflects the needs of our culturally diverse society;
- raising public awareness of the importance of parenting and the needs of children and promoting parenting issues in the media;
- mapping and disseminating information, for example, on parenting support and relationship support programmes;
- influencing the agenda for research on family and parenting issues and analysing and disseminating research findings;
- promoting the development of parenting support programmes—for example, to help parents to raise the education achievement of their children and to encourage mutual help and support among parents, including in socially deprived areas; and
- working closely with a national telephone helpline provided by Parentline offering information and support to parents—for example, using anonymised information from call data to inform policy development.
The institute will be encouraged to seek funding from other sources to pursue other activities which support family life.