Muhammed Butt's office issued this press release today:
Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council has
demanded that an urgent inquiry is opened to determine what has happened to the
£150 million that has reportedly been ‘siphoned’ off from the Government's Early Intervention Grant settlement for
2013-14 by the Department for Education.[i]
The huge funding gap represents a shocking 10%
of the entire Early Intervention Grant, which was established two years ago to
fund projects that prevent vulnerable families from developing further problems
by giving them the help and support they need.
In Brent, early intervention projects were
allocated just over £15 million through the Grant for 2012-13[ii]
with a similar amount expected for 2013-14, so in real terms a cut of 10% would
translate into over £1.5 million taken away from schemes designed to help the
most vulnerable people in society.
One of the main services the Council currently
uses the grant funding for is to run several Early Years Centres in the borough
that provide vital child development support to parents, many of whom have no
network of friends and family to support them and cannot afford expensive
childcare classes. Other beneficiaries of the grant include youth centres and
Children’s services.
The news of the cut
comes despite a commitment by local Brent MP Sarah Teather, who was recently
sacked from her post as Children and Families Minister, who claimed to be
championing Early Intervention programmes both in Government and at a local
level.
Speaking in a
Commons debate in February this year, Teather said, ‘I think that everybody
throughout the House agrees on the importance of early intervention….Government
Members believe that the best way [to deliver it] is to devolve decisions to
the local level.’[iii]
Cllr Butt said: ‘Sarah Teather has broken yet
another promise to the most vulnerable people of Brent. It’s vitally important
that we find out what’s happened to this funding. This grant was supposed to
help crack the cycle of deprivation that traps our residents and give them
brighter future. It’s a tragedy that it’s no longer available to them.’
‘If Michael Gove does not step in immediately to restore
this money to the fund it was allocated to, he and his Coalition partners are
robbing thousands of children of the very future they promised them by setting
up this grant.’
Cllr Butt also said that he is dedicated to making sure that no child in
the Borough is left behind at a time when impossible choices have to be made
due to the highly punitive cuts imposed on local authorities by the Coalition.
Notes: The Government is now also considering withdrawing the
£760m promised to local authorities to fund free nursery provision for up to
40% of all two-year-olds by 2014. The Grant is also
under significant threat from further deficit reduction cuts and the Government’s plans to revoke the grant’s
‘ring-fenced’ status.[iv]
[i]
Reported by Graham Allen MP, 25th October 2012: http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=21245
[ii]
£15,113,721: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/early%20intervention%20grant%20determination%202012-13.pdf
[iii]
27rd February 2012, Hansard: www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120227/debtext/120227-0001.htm
[iv]
Reported by Graham Allen MP, 25th October 2012: http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=21245
