Lyyn Daly reports on an innovative think-tank helping to solve the most pressing youth problems in Brighton and Hove.

As part of the Government's Children's Fund, Brighton and Hove has been earmarked to receive £2 million to spend on services for children and young people.

The question now is how to make sure the money goes to those who need it most.

To help answer that, 120 delegates from community and voluntary groups and representatives from councils and Government have been invited to join the debate in a day-long Children's Fund stakeholders event at the Corn Exchange in Brighton today.

Neil McCulloch, joint planning officer for children's services in Brighton and Hove, said: "This is a unique opportunity for those involved in community and voluntary groups to have a very direct way of influencing how this money is spent.

"One of the complaints we hear from people is that they never know whether their views have had much effect on the outcome. Now they have the chance to vote on how to target fund resources in their own community."

The fund is part of the Government's plan to reduce child poverty and social exclusion, focusing on children aged between five and 13.

The total fund is made up of £380 million worth of preventative work and £70 million of local funds throughout England.

In July, Brighton and Hove was told it could receive £2 million, over two years, from the Children's Fund preventative fund.

Throughout the summer, the city council carried out extensive research into children's services, mapping out current provision and identifying gaps to give an overview of the situation.

Mr McCulloch said: "We are not coming to this event with any pre-defined ideas.

"We know we have high numbers of teenage pregnancies and a high number of children on the child protection register. But they may not emerge as the priorities."

The fund's preventative work aims to help vulnerable children by breaking the cycle of poverty and disadvantage before they get into trouble.

Voluntary groups, said Mr McCulloch, had a vital role to play in this.

He said: "Brighton has a vibrant voluntary sector and can do things the statutory sector cannot, like test projects and develop trusted relationships. So we want to improve our links with them and the community sector."

After hearing a keynote speech from Paul Burnett, assistant director of education for Brighton and Hove, and speeches from representatives from voluntary, community and youth groups, the delegates will be asked to discuss the issues and vote on them.

Mr McCulloch said: "We will then write up those findings, circulate them for comments to those who attended the day, and those who couldn't be there, and then submit a coherent plan to the children and young people's unit at the Department for Education and Skills."

Today's event also includes the official launch of the Children and Young People's Strategic Plan 2001/04 for Brighton and Hove.

This involves young people, parents and carers in the future planning, design and delivery of statutory sector services.

Members of the Coalition4Youth, a local organisation which brings together young people and professionals to improve services, will tell the delegates how they have been given a voice.

Saskia Neary, the group's development officer, said: "Some of our young people want to tell the decision makers what a difference it has made to them to really be listened to.

"This event is also a real opportunity for decision makers."

Today's event is also the first step in the process of electing representatives to the Children's Fund Partnership Group, which will be a key player in the ongoing process.

Mr Burnett said: "This event is a massive and once-only opportunity to support partnership working across all agencies.

"It will enable us to make some crucial decisions about how we target the money and extend early intervention and prevention work so it will better meet the needs of children, young people and their families.

"We are in the process of mapping services so we can target development where there are gaps. I hope everyone involved sees this as an exciting and innovative process."

Under a separate initiative, the Children's Fund local network, groups will be able to apply for grants ranging from £250 to £7,000 to work with disadvantaged children and young people under 19.