Early Years Intervention

Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2015 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

That this House takes note of the case for early years intervention in breaking the cycle of deprivation and promoting social mobility

[Baroness Massey of Darwen (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted to have secured this debate and, with it, an array of knowledgeable and talented speakers. In this election year, I hope that the issue of early intervention and improving the life chances of children will be high on the agenda of all political parties. It may even win votes. Without such intervention, children will suffer in terms of education, health and the acquisition of skills. That deprivation will continue to impact on social life and economic prosperity.

Research by charities, academics and politicians clearly indicates the connections between early years intervention and future economic mobility. The splendid work of children’s charities gives us valuable insights into the needs and implications of early intervention. Research from Tickell, Munro, Coughlan, Field, Allen and the Rowntree Foundation—to name but a few—is clear and forceful, and the all-party manifesto for intervention in the nought-to-two age range is a call to action.

There are many reasons for deprivation and lack of social mobility. There are particular children and families who need extra help—the disabled, those with poor health conditions or language skills, those in care, those who have experienced violence and those who are poor. I shall refer later to an ongoing Scottish programme, the Early Years Collaborative, which is an interesting model of successful intervention.

Just before Christmas I was struck by two news items. One involved the damning findings of an OECD report pointing out the link between inequality and growth in the UK. Those concerns were echoed by the Office for National Statistics. The UK has lower levels of intergenerational earnings mobility compared with other OECD countries. In fact, we have the worst performance and are way behind the Nordic countries, Canada and Australia. It is estimated that the UK economy would have been more than 20% bigger had the gap between rich and poor not widened since the 1980s. It is a shocking indictment of our society. The second news item, and indictment, was a statement by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey—the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Carey—that parents were giving up food so that they could feed their children and were suffering levels of hardship not seen in Britain since before the NHS was created in 1948. How depressing and debilitating.

We cannot ignore the evidence that social mobility in the UK is poor and that we need to look at early intervention as a way of combating the situation. Graham Allen MP has called for decisive leadership at the political level and for effective planning and co-ordination to shift resources to early intervention. I agree. One thing is clear: unless Governments are very focused about early intervention, with precise and measurable targets and evaluation of outcomes, we will fail children and families. Unless Governments ring-fence funding for children we will fail those children. Unless Governments encourage services to work together nationally and locally to benefit children and families, we shall fail them. We have too many examples, from government departments to local services, of lack of co-ordination and slow action which we should not ignore—for example, in sharing data about children and the joint commissioning of services. There are also, of course, examples of good practice, but this practice is often not shared because there is no strategy for doing so. It is a waste of money and resources. Does the Minister agree?

A key issue for children from birth onwards is developing confidence, self-esteem and resilience. It is known—but rarely given enough emphasis—that social and emotional skills, as well as academic skills, are important for success. It is known that succeeding at tasks—whether those tasks are academic, artistic, sporting or something else—helps to build a positive self-concept which protects against adversity and encourages the confidence needed to succeed. It is known that speech and language ability is essential for communicating and self-confidence and supports all learning. A University of London study has shown that children with higher levels of emotional, behavioural, social and school well-being have higher academic achievement, are more engaged in school and make more progress.

Although material wealth is, of course, not necessarily a predictor of success, it is a powerful factor. As we know, poverty in families can mean depression and poor health and have long-lasting effects. By the age of 16, children receiving free school meals achieve lower grades than children who live in wealthier circumstances. Leaving school with fewer qualifications may mean—does mean—lower earnings or unemployment.

I should declare that I am a member of the Select Committee on Affordable Childcare, which is so ably chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland. Although our deliberations are not yet complete, we have already found that the systems and structures of childcare which parents have to negotiate are complex and confusing. We have found variability in the provision and quality of services, which is often to the detriment of poorer areas, and we have found that there is often no advantage to middle and lower income families in going out to work.

Ofsted has pointed out that only a little over one-third of children from low-income families reached a good level of development in 2013. Ofsted describes children’s centres as,

“a sector that is characterised by turbulence and volatility”,

where the accountability of the local authority may be seen as more important than that of children’s centres. Structures are changing, but often not for the better. We know that local authorities are spending less on children’s centres than they did in 2013-14, yet children’s centres can genuinely provide a place where education, health and well-being can be combined and where parents are supported. An earlier government report—the early years framework of 2011—speaks of the importance of retaining Sure Start centres, reducing bureaucracy and improving quality. The social mobility strategy of 2011 emphasised the need to encourage parental involvement, so it is ironic that all this is now at risk. Can the Minister comment?

Child health is key to counteracting deprivation. In 2012, the Chief Medical Officer called her report Our Children Deserve Better. It stated that—an obvious point—what happens in early life is a predictor of what happens throughout life and that outcomes in the UK are poorer than in other developed countries in relation to morbidity, mortality and well-being. This carries enormous costs, both financially and to child development. The long-term costs of obesity and mental health in England are simply enormous.

An initiative in Scotland called the Early Years Collaborative, which was begun in 2013, is the world’s first national multiagency quality improvement programme for children and families. Its stated commitment is to ensure that every baby, child and parent has access to the best possible support available. It seeks to shift the balance of public services towards early intervention and prevention by 2016. It is a coalition of community planning that involves all 32 community planning partnerships, including organisations such as social services, health, educators, the police and the third sector. Training of professionals and parents is a cornerstone. It involves children and families in testing ideas for improvement. The initiative has been described as a shift in culture and a social movement focused on early intervention. Results so far are promising in relation to the health, well-being and confidence of parents and children. The model has much to offer. Will the Minister look at this model and encourage his colleagues in government to do so as well?

In order to break the cycle of deprivation and improve social mobility, there are some obvious priorities: improve parenting skills; make childcare simpler to manage, with clear standards and assessment measures; ensure that services such as health, education and social services work together at community level; and ensure that the Government provide clear leadership, with a stated emphasis on the prevention of problems rather than attempted cures for the consequences of problems later on. We have a fractured early years system that is a tangle of clumsy structures—that is not a criticism of those dedicated professionals who work in those structures, with whom I sympathise. Early intervention is absolutely key to improving health, well-being, learning and social competence; neglecting it is disastrous. I hope to receive assurances that the Government understand the problem. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

My Lords, this has indeed been a splendid debate, as I thought it would be. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions, which have been well informed and based on research and experience. I also thank the Minister for his very thoughtful response. I may challenge some of his precepts but I thank him for his concerns. Surely all of us, whichever political party we belong to, want to see better and more confident parents, happy and active children, better citizens, and greater prosperity. I just want to comment on four or five points, as I cannot possibly comment on the whole debate,.

First, we should beware the tips of icebergs. I will not sing the song from “Frozen” at this point—I think it is called “Let it Go”, which is what I am about to do. However, we should really get down to the grass roots and, as many noble Lords have said, co-ordinate agencies and initiatives to target children and families so that they do not get a mass of things coming at them without any co-ordination or without key workers. Neither we nor children come in pieces; therefore nor should services. That co-ordination needs leadership and vision. It also needs, as has been said, continuous intervention; this is not just about early intervention but about intervening along the whole children’s pathway. Children do not come either in age-related bits, so we need cohort studies to show how we are doing in a more protracted way.

A lot has been said about the costs of not using early intervention as a tool. We should be dismayed by the costs, certainly of health and education issues. I hope that whichever Government—or Governments—come into power in May, they will take this by the scruff of the neck and say, “We will co-ordinate services, we will provide leadership and vision, and we will get to grips with this issue of children’s achievements and performance”.

Motion agreed.