Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department's proposed Help and Support for Separated Families co-ordinated telephone network is in place; and what processes his Department has put in place to monitor and evaluate its effectiveness in promoting collaborative parenting in the interests of children.

The HSSF initiative has funded four organisations which provide telephone support for separating and separated families so that their agents can be trained in delivering appropriate messages about the benefits of collaborative parenting. These organisations are: Relate; Family Lives; the National Youth Advocacy Service; and Wikivorce.

Representatives from all participating organisations have received tailored training and they are now cascading that training to their agents. We expect full roll-out by the end of April 2014.

We are currently considering a variety of evaluation approaches, including call listening, ‘mystery shopping' exercises and a satisfaction survey.