GOVERNMENT Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong recruited one of her youngest constituents to help launch a child savings scheme.
Families should soon start receiving information on the Child Trust Fund, which offers parents £250 for each child born after September 1, 2002.
Ms Armstrong, the MP for north-west Durham, visited Sandra Ward and her eight-month-old son, Matthew, in Howden-le-Wear.
Families can invest the money in banks and building societies and add to it, with the Government adding more money when the child is seven.
Ms Armstrong said: "Over 1,000 children in north-west Durham are eligible for the new Child Trust Fund, and it is important that parents take it up. We need to encourage more of our young people to save for their future.
"Providing a nest-egg at birth for children to access when they are 18 will spread opportunity and wealth more widely."
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