§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the mental health effects on children of projects funded by the Children's Fund. [83171]
§ Mr. DenhamThe latest available statistics show that of the 584 Children's Fund services funded during April-June 2002 in Wave 1 areas, 73 services were explicitly targeted at children with mental health difficulties. Of these 73 services, 44 provided statistics on the number of children they had regularly supported over this quarter—with an average of 85 children regularly supported in each service.
The CYPU have not so far conducted an assessment of the mental health effects on children of projects funded by the Children's Fund. However, as part of the national evaluation, there will be an assessment of impact of the Children's Fund on a number of key outcomes, including impacts on children's mental health. Furthermore, each of the 149 partnerships in England are allowed to conduct their own local evaluations, and another task of the national evaluation will be to draw together key findings from these local evaluations, including any findings in relation to impacts on mental health.