§ Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what arrangements the Government are making for the parliamentary accountability of the Children's Fund and of the Government's strategy to co-ordinate services for tackling disadvantage among children and young people. [135861]
§ Mr. BlunkettMy right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 28 July that he was establishing a new Cabinet Ministerial Group on Children and Young People's Services which would be chaired by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer with myself as Vice Chair, and which would be supported by a new cross-cutting Children and Young People's Unit to be located in the Department for Education and Employment. 293W He also appointed the Minister of State, Home Office, my right hon Friend the Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng) as Minister for Young People with day to day responsibility for the Unit and the co-ordination of the Government's strategy in England on vulnerable children and young people.
The Children's Fund will form a major new part of the Government's strategy to tackle child poverty and prevent social exclusion. The Fund will support services to work with children and their families and prevent children and young people falling into drug abuse, truancy, unemployment and crime. It will be worth a total of £450 million over three years.
The new interdepartmental Children and Young People's Unit, based in my Department, will run the Children's Fund in England at official level. The Unit's remit will be set by the new Cabinet Ministerial Group on Children and Young People's Services. The Unit will have its own Request for Resources within my Department's Estimate. The Head of the Children and Young People's Unit, once appointed, will be an additional Accounting Officer within my Department. As is usual, the appointment as additional Accounting Officer will be made by the Treasury and a copy of the letter of appointment, setting out the respective roles and responsibilities of the additional Accounting Officer and the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Employment as Principal Accounting Officer, will be sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General and to the Clerk of the Committee of Public Accounts.
I shall be formally accountable to Parliament for the Children's Fund and the work of the Unit. However, my right hon. Friend, as Minister for Young People, will normally answer Parliamentary Questions on the Children's Fund and the Unit in this House, and in the case of Oral Questions will do so during Department for Education and Employment Question Time. The Government expect that the relevant Select Committees will normally wish to invite him to appear when they examine the Children's Fund and the Government's strategy on services to tackle disadvantage among children and young people. My noble Friend Baroness Blackstone will answer for the Government in another place.
My right hon. Friend, as Minister for Young People, is writing today to the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and the Chairmen of the Select Committees on Education and Employment, on Health and on Home Affairs, and the Government will liaise as necessary with the House authorities to ensure that these arrangements work well and secure effective accountability for this innovative policy.