CABINET minister Hilary Armstrong announced that Barnsley will be taking part in a government pilot scheme during her visit to a Kendray youth project this week.

The Minister for Social Exclusion and North West Durham MP was given a tour of the Farm Road community centre, where she met children, parents and volunteers involved in the Youth Inclusion Support Panel.

She announced Barnsley would be one of ten places in the country taking part in a new parenting scheme.

The project, Nursing-Families Partnership, has been running in the USA, and the government is hoping to introduce it in this country.

It involves a health visitor working with mothers to be as soon as they become pregnant, and a government spokesman said in America the scheme had led to improved health, less accidental injuries, better involvement of fathers and increased readiness for school.

Mrs Armstrong said: “The benefits that we've seen elsewhere are very significant. It strengthens the mother and the family.”

She added that Barnsley was one of 64 places in the country which applied to take part in the scheme and had been chosen because of the quality of its application.

Mrs Armstrong also praised the work of the Youth Inclusion Support Panel. “I think they're very important. They're identifying the children who are most at risk and working with children and parents to see how that risk can be minimised.”

She said it was good to see older kids acting as mentors for the younger children because they had more street cred.

She added: “I'm a bit old to have street cred.”