Services for vulnerable children and young people in a city are to be improved.

Measures include an anti-bullying action plan for children who are looked after by Brighton and Hove City Council.

There will also be a substance misuse treatment service for up to 70 children and young people.

It will be launched next year by the council's children, families and schools department.

The scheme will run in partnership with the city's drugs and alcohol action team and the YMCA.

The council will also appoint a teenage pregnancy co-ordinator as part of a two-year strategy aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy rates.

Foster carers will be given personal computers and the existing laptop-loan scheme will be extended so that as many children in care as possible can get access to a computer.

The council will also increase the amount of supported lodgings and accommodation for young people leaving care. It will expand the capacity of the Advocacy Service, which has already helped almost 100 of the children in care to put forward their views and to achieve positive changes in their lives.

These and many other improvements are included in the council's management action plan for Quality Protects, a five-year, multi-million pound Government initiative aimed at improving the quality of services for vulnerable children.

This year the council will benefit from more than £2.5 million of Quality Protects money.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, who chairs the council's Quality Protects steering group, said: "The full action plan has details of the many different ways in which we have improved services for vulnerable children and young people in the city.

"It explains clearly how we will make further improvements over the next year."