Departmental Policies (Hansard, 12 June 2000)

§ Mr. Boateng

[holding answer 5 June 2000]As part of the wider drive to modernise Government, the Home Office and its agencies are working to ensure that its various services fully meet the needs of the public. Supporting families is a key priority for the Home Office. When providing services we bear the needs of families in mind.Services for families: 1999–2002 £7 million provided through the Family Support Grant for work carried out by voluntary organisations to support parenting and family life. £1 million funding given to ParentLine Plus to establish a freephone national helpline service capable of taking up to 500,000 calls a year. The helpline has extended its opening hours to 9.00 am to 9.00 pm Monday to Friday, 9.30 am to 5.00 pm Saturday and 10.00 am to 3.00 pm Sunday to be available when parents most need the service. £666,000 (part of cross Government funding of £2 million) was given to help establish the National Family and Parenting Institute. In its first year, the Institute is mapping services available to families and will report on gaps by December 2000. Probation Service The Home Office, through Probation services, also currently supports the work of Family Court Welfare Service. Where marriages or relationships have broken down the Service works with all courts dealing with family matters to ensure protection 504W of children, provide relevant information to the court and work towards enabling parents to co-operate as separated parents. Much of this work is undertaken in partnership with the voluntary sector, funded through partnership grants from probation services. Partnership expenditure on Family Court Welfare related projects amounts to approximately £1 million per annum. This includes funding for out of court dispute resolution and contact centres. The service will be transferred to the Lord Chancellor's Department from April 2001 under the new arrangements for a Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). Through direct grant to the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO), the Home Office supports the Resettlement Information and Advice Service. The service deals with resettlement inquiries from serving prisoners, ex-offenders, their families and from organisations working with them. Immigration service Agencies such as the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) are key service providers for the Home Office. The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) is responsible for providing support to destitute asylum seekers. Customers, including families, might be required to attend their offices at Voyager House, Croydon, for a short assessment of eligibility. There are no special facilities for children because, in NASS's view, the duration of the assessment interview does not warrant them. If, however, a family appeals against refusal to give support, there are play facilities at the appeal hearing centre at Christopher Wren House, Croydon. Grants are given by NASS to the voluntary sector to deliver Reception Service and One-Stop Services for asylum seekers. For 2000–01 these have been apportioned as follows:

Services	£
Refugee Council	6,895,619
Refugee Arrivals Project	1,913,351
Migrant helpline	2,102,975
Refugee Action	2,024,216
Welsh Refugee Council	537,864
Scottish Refugee Council	561,222
Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO)	41,216

In addition, NASS will be grant-funding each organisation to provide emergency accommodation to asylum seekers pending their application for support. The annual indicative costs are estimated to be in the region of £7.2 million. This amount will of course be dependent on the numbers of asylum seekers who apply for emergency accommodation. IND Headquarters is currently dispersed in buildings around Croydon while Lunar House is being totally refurbished. The Public Caller Unit at the Integrated Casework Directorate (ICD) is at present housed in the Whitgift Centre. It offers vending machines and telephones but regrettably there is no space for a play area. There will be a large play area in the "new" Lunar House which is due to open next summer. As an interim measure, the ICD is currently collecting toys for children of parents attending for interview. At Oakington Reception Centre there are family facilities which include an indoor play area, a crèche with qualified nursery nurses and a collection of books and games for older children. At Tinsley House Detention Centre near Gatwick Airport a family suite is under construction. This will have a play area and computer games for older children. The Home Secretary makes grants in aid under section 23 of the Immigration Act 1971 to the Refugee Legal Centre and the Immigration Advisory Service to provide services of advice, assistance, and representation to those who have rights of appeal under the 1971 Act. In 1999–2000 the total amount of grants paid was £6.7 million. In 2000–01, the Home Office is also paying a grant in aid to the Northern Ireland Law Centre.

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Prison Service The Prison Service fully recognises the needs of prisoners' families, particularly with regard to the need for support; maintaining regular contact with imprisoned family members; and the opportunity to contribute to regimes and rehabilitation programmes. Much of this is achieved through working in partnership with prisoners' families support groups, listening to people's concerns. The Prison Service co-ordinates the Family Ties Consultative Group which includes a number of these groups and is tasked with assisting the development of policy and good practice. Further support is provided by way of funding to the umbrella organisation, the Federation of Prisoners' Families Support Groups, as well as to CLINKS which is working with the Service to develop the relationship between the voluntary sector and prisons. An increasing number of establishments also provide facilities for visiting families such as visitors' centres and play areas in visits rooms. The latter has been supported by funding for the lead organisation in this area, Kids Visiting In Prisons (KIDS VIP). Youth Justice Board The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales is a Non-departmental Public Body of the Home Office that has been in operation since September 1998. One of its functions is to advise the Government on standards for service delivery in the youth justice system. Reinforcing the responsibilities of parents is one of the Youth Justice Board's key aims and objectives. Projects are delivered by youth offending teams in partnership with a wide range of specialist organisations such as ParentLine, Coram Family and Barnardos. Some of the projects the Youth Justice Board have sponsored include: an 18 month project in Liverpool to extend support for parents involved or at risk of being involved in the youth justice system. The project will focus on support provided to families with persistent young offenders and those involved in Final Warnings; and an 18 month project in Liverpool to help the Youth Offending Teams and other practitioners understand the impact family breakdown and change can have on young people and the functioning of their families. Project findings will be delivered to Youth Offending Teams and other practitioners. Services to promote racial equality The Home Office has recently launched a new race equality grants programme, "Connecting Communities", to help marginalised minority ethnic communities at grass roots level. The grants aim to empower communities, enabling them to have greater access to and influence over policy makers and service providers. £12 million will be made available through the programme over three years. The programme aims to: help people in marginalised communities gain new skills and combat disaffection and disengagement within communities; work on joint initiatives with other faith and community groups to build strong community networks; provide opportunities for young people to participate in seminars, mentoring and job shadowing opportunities with Home Office services, for example, the police and fire service; celebrate minority ethnic achievements to counteract racist and negative stereotyping.