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Children (Right of Contact)
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues regarding an automatic assumption of equal right of contact by parents to children who are subject to marital break-up. [149757]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 22 January 2004]: I have regular meetings with my ministerial colleagues on the issue of child contact. In particular, I work closely with Lord Filkin, the Minister at the Department for Constitutional Affairs with responsibility for Family
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Justice. I recently hosted a seminar on child contact, where academics presented findings from research to improve Ministerial awareness and understanding.
We continue to view children's interests as being paramount and we want to encourage contact between children and non-resident parents where it is in the best interest of the child and safe for all family members.
Working with my hon. Friends in the Department for Constitutional Affairs, we are considering carefully how the family justice system and related children's services can better meet the needs of all children and their parents following relationship breakdown. We want to ensure that better outcomes are achieved for children by, where possible, helping parents agree contact arrangements without the intervention of the courts. We expect to conclude these considerations in the early part of this year and then to publish the Government's response to the Children Act Sub-Committee's report 'Making Contact Work'.
Children's Fund
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what variations there have been to the Children's Fund allocations for 2003 to 2006 notified in writing to local fund managers in January; [144925]
- (2) what the final allocations for the Children's Fund were for 2002–03; [144926]
(3) when he will make an announcement on Children's Fund allocation for 2004–05. [144931]
Margaret Hodge: Allocations to Children's Fund partnerships came to £119 million in 2002–03.
We conducted a mid year review of expenditure in November 2003 for this financial year to identify and take back genuine under spend from the first half of the year.
We wrote to all partnerships on 19 December advising them that the programme had become over-committed. This is because after initial under spends Partnerships are now spending much closer to profile against allocations which deliberately exceeded budget provision because of the history of under spends. The higher spending by partnerships together with the contributions made by the Children's Fund to other initiatives for the 5 to 13-year-old age group.
All this means there will be some reduction in allocations for 2004–05 and 2005–06 in order that the programme can meet all its commitments and stay within its overall limit.
I am not able to confirm allocations for 2004–05 or 2005–06 before the end of January. I can confirm though that the Government remain committed to the valuable work of the Children's Fund and that next year's budget will enable the programme to continue to deliver preventive services for children and young people.
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding will be made available to the Lancashire Children's Fund for (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06. [147041]
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Margaret Hodge [holding answer 12 January 2004]: I am not able to confirm the allocations for Lancashire Children's Fund for 2004–05 and 2005–06 before the end of January. My officials have met with the appropriate representative bodies and wrote to all partnerships on 19 December 2003 explaining the difficulties that had occurred because of over programming coupled with mistaken estimates of partnerships ability to spend. This together with the contribution made to other initiatives means there will be some reduction in allocations for 04–05 and 05–06 in order that the programme can meet all its commitments and remain within its financial limits.
I can confirm though that the Government remain committed to the valuable work of the Children's Fund and that next year's budget will enable the programme to continue to deliver preventative services for children and young people.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many projects are funded by the Children's Fund; and if he will list them and the responsible parent organisation, where applicable; [147729]
- (2) for what reason cuts have been made to Children's Fund grants in the middle of the year of operation; [147730]
(3) for what reason Children's Fund grants to projects signed up for three years will now not be paid in full; [147731]
(4) how many projects funded by the Children's Fund are likely to face cuts to their funding in the next financial year; [147732]
(5) how many projects funded by the Children's Fund have closed in the current financial year; [147733]
(6) how many Children's Fund-funded projects have appealed to the Children's Directorate appeal system against costs to their funding; and how many have been successful; [147748]
(7) for how long it is intended to run the appeal system set up for projects funded by the Children's Fund to appeal against cuts to their funding; [147749]
(8) what arrangements are in place to replace funds being cut to Children's Fund-funded projects with other public funds. [147750]
Margaret Hodge: There are 149 Children's Fund partnerships in England. These are listed in the annexe together with their lead and accountable bodies. The programme was launched in November 2001 and runs until March 2006. Each partnership is made up of representatives from the voluntary and statutory sector.
Children's Fund partnerships will continue to receive grants for 2004–05 and 2005–06. These grants will enable the partnerships to continue to deliver preventive services for five to 13-year-olds in their area. In the early years of the programme the Partnerships under spent their allocations. To avoid this recurring partnerships were allowed to increase their planned commitment with increased allocations and monies used for other initiatives for five to 13-year-olds. However, it has become clear that the partnerships have been more effective in their spending, to the point that they are
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spending more closely to profile. In order to avoid over-spends, not permitted under Government accounting, the Department is taking action now so as to reduce the levels of over-commitment without damaging the programmes already in place.
A mid year review of expenditure was undertaken in November 2003 to identify and take back genuine under spend from the first half of 2003–04 and to estimate and take back likely under spends from the second half of the year.
The Department did not have a formal process for appealing against mid year review decisions. However, following representations from 11 partnerships, the Department wrote to all 149 on 19 December. We advised them that decisions on taking back under spend would be revisited where they were too harsh and that we would restore funds where partnerships ability to meet contractual commitments were compromised by our decisions. These measures will ensure the mid year review does not mean partnerships have to implement
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redundancies or close services. I expect the process of identifying the total number that need funds restored to be completed by the end of January.
In a letter to all partnerships before Christmas the Department also explained that there was over-commitment in the programme and that there will therefore be some reduction in allocations for 2004–05 and 2005–06 in order that the programme can spend within its limits. Officials are currently assessing the extent of over-commitment in the programme. I expect this work to be completed by the end of January so that we can confirm partnerships' allocations for 2004–05. Until then we have advised partnerships not to commission any new services.
There has not been any closure of Children's Fund partnerships. It is a key characteristic of the fund that decisions on which services to commission are taken locally, not by central Government, against the aims and objectives of the Children's Fund programme. Partnerships themselves may decide which services to retain or close at any time, in response to evolving local circumstances.
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Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that the appeals process following mid-year changes to the Children's Fund is available to relevant organisations. [148911]
Margaret Hodge: The Department met representatives from the main voluntary sector organisations involved in the Fund together with the LGA and the ADSS on 18 December. Following that meeting officials wrote to all Children's Fund partnerships on 19 December 2003.
We advised partnerships that where our decisions at the mid-year review had compromised partnerships' ability to their meet contractual obligations, we would revisit them. Furthermore, we set aside money to assist with this and to ensure that there was no premature closure of projects. The Children's Fund regional teams have been discussing the detailed implications with partnerships and I expect the process to be complete by the end of January.
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Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he intends to announce resources for the Children's Fund for 2004–05. [148912]
Margaret Hodge: I expect to announce resources for the Children's Fund in 2004–05 at the end of January or early February.
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