Communities secretary Eric Pickles is set to flag up progress in his department's troubled families programme in his speech this afternoon at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Mr Pickles is expected to announce that the programme is on course to meet its original target of helping 120,000 troubled families by the end of this parliament.
In a separate interview with The MJ he said: 'People said troubled families was a poisoned chalice, that they would always be with us. But we’ve touched 40,000 families and I’m confident we’ll touch lives of 120,000 by end of this parliament. We’re beginning to show there’s another way.’
The Troubled Families Unit was launched last December with a budget of £450 million to help reduce the annual £9 billion cost of dealing with anti-social behaviour from troubled families and helping their children.
Under the scheme the 152 upper tier councils can receive up to 40% of the costs of dealing with these families on a payment by results basis.
In his interview in The MJ Mr Pickles also said there would be no further in-year cuts for local authorities. He also compared the civil service to a combination of Rolls-Royce and Trabant whereas 'I want a fleet of Mondeos to get us there quick.'
For full interview see The MJ magazine this Thursday, October 11.
