§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will announce the areas that have been selected to participate in the first wave of the Children's Fund. [146858]
§ Mr. BoatengI am pleased to announce today the 40 areas that have been selected to benefit from the first allocations of the Children's Fund, amounting to £194 million over three years.
The Children's Fund is an important element of the Government's wider strategy to tackle child poverty and social exclusion. It is run by the interdepartmental Children and Young People's Unit, based in DfEE. £380 million is available over three years to fund services to prevent children and their families suffering the consequences of poverty. It will form part of a range of measures to ensure that vulnerable children get the best start in life, remain on track in their early years, flourish in secondary school and choose to stay on in education and training at 16.
The 40 areas across England, which have been invited to participate in the first wave of the fund, include those with the highest levels of need and disadvantage among children and young people along with some areas of particular disadvantage associated with rural and coastal areas. By April 2004 all areas across England will have access to the fund.
The amount of funding each area will be able to apply for will reflect the numbers of children in poverty in each area, but will vary according to the content and quality of the proposals. A typical amount an average area could receive might be between £1.5 to £2 million each year over three years.
Guidance outlining the first steps necessary to establish a Children's Fund has today been sent to each area invited to participate in the first wave. Each area will develop preventive services for children between 5–13 and their families. By intervening early we can help children before they are caught by the cycle of poverty and disadvantage. The types of services areas will be asked to develop include mentoring support, counselling and advice services, parent education, out of school activities and 551W work with individual children through multidisciplinary teams in schools or health centres. The following areas have been invited to participate:
- Birmingham
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Blackpool
- Bolton
- Bradford
- Bristol
- Camden
- Cornwall
- Doncaster
- Gateshead
- Greenwich
- Hackney
- Halton
- Haringey
- Hartlepool
- Islington
- Kent
- Kingston upon Hull
- Knowsley
- Lancashire
- Leeds
- Leicester
- Lincolnshire
- Liverpool
- Manchester
- Middlesbrough
- Newham
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Norfolk
- Nottingham
- Oldham
- Portsmouth
- Rochdale
- Salford
- Sandwell
- Sheffield
- Southwark
- Stockton on Tees
- Sunderland
- Tower Hamlets.
Where a Children's Fund area is also developing a project under the On Track programme aimed at children at risk of getting involved in crime, it will be incorporated into the Children's Fund. On Track projects which currently fall outside the first wave of Children's Fund areas will continue to receive funding as planned.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have written to the right hon. and hon. Members in whose constituencies these areas fall.