Further to Minute No. 87 (27 September 2012), Councillor Tony Smith presented a report by the Director of Children’s Services that made recommendations in relation to releasing £250,000 funding previously committed by Cabinet to the Birkenhead Foundation Years Trust initiative (referred to in previous reports as the ‘Springboard’ project).

The Cabinet noted that Appendix 1 to the report presented a summary of the Foundation Years Trust project business plan.  The aim of the Trust was to test the ideas that underlay the report “The Foundation Years: how to prevent poor children becoming poor adults”.  This report set out a proposed new evidence-based strategy to abolish the inter-generational transfer of poverty, shifting the emphasis to a focus on improving children’s life chances.  The Trust’s task was to pilot the recommendations made in that report and on the basis of the findings, help shape the Wirral’s anti-poverty strategy, as well as providing a model to roll out the strategy nationally.

RESOLVED:

That £250,000 of the child poverty funding being held in reserve be allocated to the Foundation Years Trust on the basis of the business plan at Appendix 1 to the report.

Councillor G Davies returned to the meeting.