Cameron's pledge to support troubled families

In a speech last week in reaction to the riots and looting, the Prime Minister said he intended to put ‘rocket boosters’ under the programme, which is intended to help the 120,000 families in the country who have multiple and complex social, health and economic problems.

Mr Cameron unveiled plans for the scheme that will be led by Emma Harrison, head of welfare-to-work training company A4e, last December (News, 15 December 2010).

The Prime Minister admitted that bureaucracy had got in the way of launching the programme, but he intended to help troubled families get back on track by the end of the current Parliament.

‘Last December I asked Emma Harrison to develop a plan to help get these families on track,’ he said.

‘It became clear to me earlier this year that, as can so often happen, those plans were being held back by bureaucracy.

‘Now that the riots have happened I will make sure that we clear away the red tape and the bureaucratic wrangling, and put rocket boosters under this programme, with a clear ambition that within the lifetime of this Parliament we will turn around the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families in the country.’

Mr Cameron also called for a ‘family test’ to be applied to all domestic policy to protect families.

Following the Prime Minister’s speech, the Department for Education announced that children and families minister Tim Loughton had agreed to become a ‘family champion’ under the new scheme.

Mr Loughton will join Emma Harrison as a ‘family champion’, whose role it will be to mentor families who are unemployed or have drug or alcohol addiction.