Future of national FGM centre in doubt

The National FGM Centre, which is run by children's charity Barnardo's, was established in March 2015 with £2.1m funding from the Department for Education's children's social care innovation programme.

That funding ran out last month. Barnardo's has told CYP Now that the charity is able to keep the centre operating until June, its future beyond then is unclear.

Michelle Lee-Izu, director of the centre, which is run in partnership with the Local Government Association, said: "The centre was due to close at the end of March but we are able to continue operating until the end of June, while longer-term funding is sought.

"We are continuing to explore a range of sources of funding to maintain the centre, including through central government.

"We don't expect to hear about these until the end of May at the earliest."

The centre was set up with the aim of helping to eradicate FGM for women and girls living in England within 15 years. Part of its work is to deploy FGM specialist social workers into local areas to offer support to girls and families affected by FGM. Training is also offered to social workers and others in contact with victims to help them better understand the practice.

The centre's remit also includes helping secure prosecutions as well as prevention, through community outreach work and targeting and supporting girls at risk of becoming a victim.

This includes helping girls to resist family and community pressures around FGM through intensive one-to-one support.

Lee-Izu said the centre has helped almost 400 children affected by FGM and has educated nearly 2,000 professionals about the form of abuse over the past two years.

Celia Jeffreys, the centre's head, told CYP Now last September that the FGM support sector needed more money, particularly to fund psychological and therapeutic support for victims.

A DfE spokesman said that any decision on funding will be taken by the next government following the outcome of the general election.