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Support services for families are to benefit from a cash boost of more than £22 million, children’s minister Margaret Hodge announced this week.

The parenting fund, worth £15.5 million, will be managed by the National Family and Parenting Institute. It will be made available to local and national projects providing parenting support.

Hodge also announced that new projects would be given £2.7 million funding over the next three years to provide support to parents through the Family Support Grant and £4.9 million will be dedicated to organisations providing marriage and relationship support to couples.

The minister also launched a report which pulls together findings from a research programme on parental support involving 14 studies. According to Hodge, the findings highlight the importance of joined-up integrated services that enable parents to take control of their problems.

She concluded that the voluntary sector would play a “key role” in providing specialist support to parents who often preferred to turn to voluntary organisations for advice.