Extra money is to be targeted at children from ethnic minorities to tackle under-achievement, especially among those for whom English is not their first language.Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett has announced investment of over 430 million pounds over the next three years. The money amounts to a fifteen per cent increase on spending in this area. 

The Government has given details on how it intends to monitor the performance of the New Deal.One and a half million pounds has been allocated for an Innovation Fund, which will allow the testing of new ways of delivering elements of the New Deal. The New Deal Task Force has been asked to work up the criteria for bids from the fund, which will operate from April 1999.