Steve Brine will lead work to safeguard children with alcohol-dependent parents after new measures, including £6 million in joint funding, were announced which will help identify at-risk children more quickly, and provide them with rapid access to support and advice.
Local authorities will be invited to bid for funding based on local need, with priority given to areas where more children are affected.
Public Health Minister Steve Brine said: "The consequences of alcohol abuse are devastating for those in the grip of an addiction – but for too long, the children of alcoholic parents have been the silent victims. This is not right, nor fair.
"This forms part of our mission to build a fairer society, with these measure ensuring that thousands of children affected by alcohol dependency have access to the support they need and deserve."
The government will introduce a package of measures to help identify at-risk children more quickly, and provide them with rapid access to support and advice. The measures include faster access to support and mental health services, quicker identification of at-risk children, the provision of outreach programmes to get more parents successfully through addiction treatment and early intervention programmes to reduce the numbers of children needing to go into care.
The £6m investment will help an estimated 200,000 children in England living with alcohol-dependent parents, with a £4.5 million innovation fund for local authorities to develop plans that improve outcomes for children of alcohol-dependent parents, alongside £1 million to fund national capacity building by non-governmental organisations.
In addition, the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, paid tribute to the bravery of MPs across the House for campaigning tenaciously to turn their personal heartache into a lifeline for children in similar circumstances today.
Pictured; Steve Brine discusses the measures with ITV
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