Rt Hon Paul Boateng promotes employment, skills and government initiatives for families and children in Kent

Increasing employment opportunities and boosting skills is essential for regional economic growth and productivity, the Chief Secretary of the Treasury – the Rt Hon Paul Boateng – outlined today in a visit to Kent.

Mr Boateng met with the business community in Gravesend to discuss skills and the new National Employer Training Programme which will offer a package of support to help those in work but with lower skills obtain basic skills or level 2 qualifications. The Programme will build on regional training pilots - one of which began recruiting in 2003 in Kent and Medway - to encourage employers all over the country to train their low skilled workers.

Mr Boateng said:

“We recognise that there is an important regional dimension to our skills agenda and that there is a need for flexibility at the local level to innovate – responding to local conditions. Building on programmes such as the Kent and Medway pilot, the National Employer Training Programme will be providing free and flexibly delivered training for NVQ Level qualifications for low skilled adults across every region in the South East.”

Mr Boateng also visited the Holy Family Church Sure Start in Gravesend, and had the chance to discuss with parents and families their Sure Start project and other Government initiatives in the area to support families and children.

Investment in high quality childcare and children’s services is vital to eliminate child poverty, help parents into employment and protect children from harm and improve child outcomes. The Sure Start Centre in Gravesend is one of 9 in Kent and caters for 850 children, and focuses on improving social and emotional development, health, children’s ability to learn, and strengthening families and communities.

Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy for childcare published with the Pre-Budget Report builds on the success of Sure Start and announces:

all families with children aged up to 14 who need it will have an affordable, flexible, high quality childcare place that meets their circumstances;
every family will have easy access to integrated services through Sure Start Children’s Centres in their local community. 2,500 Children’s Centres will be in place by 2008 and 3,500 by 2010 ensuring a Children’s Centre for every community; and
a goal of 20 hours free high quality care a week for 38 weeks for all three and four year olds;

Paul Boateng said:

“Sure Start has delivered over 500 local sure start programmes to date, providing a range of early years, parenting and family support to children and families. The excellent results seen in Gravesend from this Sure Start are yet another example of why this is being rolled out nationwide.

“In addition many of the families I have met today will be benefiting from the Child Trust Fund payment – with an initial voucher worth £250 to ensure that at age 18 all children, no matter what their background, will have some wealth from which to plan their future”.

Notes for editors

1. At the time of the 2004 Pre-Budget report over 100,000 learners and over 15,000 employers were participating in the National Employer Training Programme. The National Childcare Strategy has helped to create over 24,000 more childcare places in Kent than in 1998.

2. The rollout of Sure Start Children’s Centres announced in SR04 plus the ten year childcare strategy announced in last year’s Pre-Budget Report together mean an almost £800 million increase in the Sure Start Unit’s budget in 2007-08 compared to 2004-05. There are now 525,000 more childcare places than in 1997, giving parents more flexibility in how they balance work and family life, and by 2010 there will be one Sure Start Children’s Center in every community. 33,100 families in the southeast will also benefit from the increase in the maximum share of childcare costs met in the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit from 70% to 80%.

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