Conservative conference: Give projects time, urges Action for Children chief
Alison Bennett
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
New initiatives should be given time to "bed down" before decisions are made about their future, the chief executive of Action for Children (formerly NCH) has said.
Clare Tickell was speaking at the charity’s fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham when she made the call.
She said projects must come to fruition and be fully evaluated before decisions were made on their future.
Tickell added that having too many initiatives may muddy the water and said that since 1987 there has been 400 major government announcements relating to children and young people, with 50 funding streams established in that time.
Of that 50, 69 per cent no longer exists, she said. It means that projects, services and ideas are initiated, we get them running and evidence builds up then they stop. Sometimes they don’t work but we need to know why.
She repeated the charity’s plea for six year funding cycles (CYP Now, 24 – 30 September).
