To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many family nurse partnership (FNP) programmes are in operation; how many family nurses there are; how many and what proportion of (a) families and (b) children (i) have been provided with information on and (ii) are accessing these programmes; where the programmes are located and what criteria were used to determine these locations; what plans there are to expand the FNP programme; what targets and indicators there are for the programme; what research and evaluation is being carried out into it; when the results of that research will be published; and if he will make a statement. (180987)

[holding answer 23 January 2008]: There are 10 Family Nurse Partnership Pilot sites in operation in England, which began operating from March 2007 and which will be running as Pilot sites until early 2010. Across the 10 sites there are a total of 57 family nurses, including supervisors. By 4 January 2008, 1,332 mothers had been provided with information by a family nurse about the Family Nurse Partnership programme. Of these, 1,143 (85 per cent.) took up the offer of enrolment.

The Pilot sites are Barnsley, Derby City, County Durham and Darlington, Manchester, Slough, Somerset, South East Essex, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Walsall.

The criteria used to determine these locations as suitable for the Pilot Phase of the Family Nurse Partnership are at Annex A.

The targets and indicators for sites operating the Family Nurse Partnership in England are listed as “fidelity requirements” at Annex B.

Over the 2007 Spending Review period (2008-09 to 2010-11) we will be investing £30 million to:

conduct the final year of the small scale testing phase of the Family Nurse Partnership;

increase the number of sites testing and delivering the Family Nurse Partnership intervention in England by 20 sites in 2008-09 , with the decision about possible further expansion in subsequent years being informed by evaluation outcomes from operating the first 30 sites;

conduct a research trial into the impact of the Family Nurse Partnership in England; and

support integration of the Family Nurse Partnership into the universal Child Health Promotion Programme.

An interim evaluation report of the Pilot Project’s first year will be published in the spring. The final evaluation report of the Pilot is expected to be available in spring 2009, although evaluation of the second year of the pilot has not yet been commissioned. It is also intended to commission a research study to evaluate the impact of the FNP in this country.

Annex A

Criteria to determine the 10 family nurse partnership pilot sites

Criteria 1: Strong partnership working and a high degree of NHS/LA service integration

Criteria 2: Community engagement

Criteria 3: Commitment to progressive universalism in health led child and family services

Criteria 4: Workforce capacity and capability

Criteria 5: Effective local leadership

Criteria 6: Demographic profile and capacity to identify at risk families

Criteria 7: IT capacity

Criteria 8: Record of successful innovation

Criteria 9: Project implementation plan that demonstrates the capacity and capability to successfully deliver the programme to the timetable outlined in the background information

Criteria 10: Resources

Annex B

Family-Nurse Partnership Fidelity Requirements

Objectives concerning fidelity to program model

Program is reaching the intended population of low-income, first-time mothers:

1. 75 per cent. of eligible referrals are enrolled in the program

2. 100 per cent. of enrolled women are first-time mothers (no previous live birth)

3. 60 per cent. of pregnant women are enrolled by 16 weeks gestation or earlier

Program attains overall enrolment goal and recommended caseload:

4. A caseload of 25 for all full-time nurses within 8-9 months of program operation

Program successfully retains participants in program through child’s second birthday:

5. Cumulative program attrition is 40 per cent. or less through the child’s second birthday

6. 10 per cent. or less for pregnancy phase

7. 20 per cent. or less for infancy phase

8. 10 per cent. or less for toddler phase

Nurse home visitors maintain established frequency, length, and content of visits with families:

9. Percentage of expected visits completed is 80 per cent. or greater for pregnancy phase

10. Percentage of expected visits completed is 65 per cent. or greater for infancy phase

11. Percentage of expected visits completed is 60 per cent. or greater for toddler phase

12. On average, length of home visits with participants is = 60 minutes

13. Content of home visits reflects variation in developmental needs of participants across program phases: