A FLAGSHIP scheme to give children from struggling North-East families a better start in life is failing to deliver improvements, according to a leaked study.

The first major evaluation of the Government's £3bn Sure Start programme has found it has failed to boost the youngsters' development, language and behaviour.

The report, by London academics, also discovered that the children of teenage mothers did worse in Sure Start areas than elsewhere in the country.

The conclusions are a heavy blow to Tony Blair's boasts at the last General Election that Sure Start was overcoming disadvantage in deprived North-East neighbourhoods.

During the campaign, the Prime Minister hailed the successes of the centres in Darlington, and in Ferryhill, Chilton and Newton Aycliffe, in his Sedgefield constituency.

Nearly 100 programmes - close to one in five of the 524 up and running nationwide - are in the North-East, reflecting the region's continuing economic and social problems. They offer a range of services for pre-school children, including high-quality childcare, parenting classes, health advice and training to help mothers into work.

According to the leak, the Birkbeck College academics found that some Sure Start schemes were successful - but concluded there was no overall improvement in the areas targeted.

Ministers are eager to move ahead with creating 3,500 centres by 2010 - one in every neighbourhood and a seven-fold increase on today's total.

There are 16 Sure Start centres in County Durham, nine in Stockton, six in both Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland, three in Hartlepool and two in Darlington.

The department for education refused to comment on the leak, but the charity

National Children's Homes, one of the main Sure Start providers, said it was very confident the scheme made a difference.