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Sure Start
Charlotte Atkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many Sure Start programmes have been (a) established and (b) proposed by local district authorities in England and Wales; and which of these address (i) urban deprivation, (ii) rural deprivation and (iii) semi-rural deprivation. [140675]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
This answer refers to England only, as Sure Start in Wales is a devolved issue and a matter for the Welsh Assembly. To date in England, 122 Sure Start programmes have been established in areas of disadvantage, with a further 72 under development. Sure Start programmes are not 'proposed' by local district authorities. Rather, districts with high levels of deprivation are identified and local partnerships in these
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areas, comprising of representatives from statutory, voluntary and community bodies, are invited to develop a Sure Start programme in their area. The 194 programmes referred to above are in the 152 local authority districts in England listed and are located in all types of area: urban; semi-urban; semi-rural and rural. Sure Start programmes are targeted on the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and thus all address deprivation. The following table indicates the type of district in which Sure Start programmes are located, although the nature of the Sure Start catchment area may differ from that of the district as a whole.
Note:
The district classification used is based on a simplified version of the ONS classification of districts
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Charlotte Atkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what evaluation he has made of the Sure Start programme. [140677]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
The Sure Start programme is based on evidence of what works in improving the health and well-being of young children, so that they will be ready to succeed when they start school. It is a cornerstone of the Government's drive to tackle child poverty and long term social exclusion. The evidence for Sure Start has been drawn from other countries, as there has been no other similar programme in this country.
The Government are committed to undertaking a long term, wide ranging national evaluation of the Sure Start programme in England. The Sure Start Unit is in the process of commissioning this from independent, external experts and work will begin in January 2001. The evaluation will look at the extent to which Sure Start makes a difference to children, families and communities in the short, medium and long term. It will attempt to establish what works, why, how and under what circumstances. The evaluation will also look at how cost effective the Sure Start programme is. A large sample of children will be tracked over time to see whether and how Sure Start has improved outcomes for them in later life.
In addition, each local programme will evaluate its own activities and monitor its progress towards national targets and objectives. These local evaluations will feed back into the on-going development of the programme and also inform the national evaluation.
Sure Start is a very new programme but there is already significant enthusiasm for the programme by parents in Sure Start areas and signs of better co-ordination of services for young children and their families at local level.
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New Deal
Mr. Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people aged 18 to 25 years completed the Gateway Stage of New Deal for each year since the programme was introduced. [140867]
Ms Jowell: The figures requested are contained in the following table:
| Total leavers from Gateway | |
|---|---|
| January to March 1998 | 2,665 |
| April 1998 to March 1999 | 163,730 |
| April 1999 to March 2000 | 183,776 |
| April 2000 to August 2000 | 70,405 |
| Total | 420,576 |
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the total expenditure to date on the (a) New Deal for Young People, (b) New Deal for the over 25s, (c) New Deal 25-plus pilots and (d) New Deal for the over 50s. [138092]
Mr. Andrew Smith: I have been asked to reply.
The outturns of Windfall Tax financed expenditure across New Deal Programmes for 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are as set out in table 4.1a of the 2000 Pre-Budget Report "Building Long-term Prosperity For All", Cm4917.
Between 1998 and 2000, New Deal 18-24 and 25-plus participants also benefited from funding of £140 million and £35 million respectively from within DfEE's DEL, for programmes for which they would otherwise have been eligible.
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