Early Intervention

Justine Greening Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Justine Greening)]

There are a number of Adjournment debates that I might have a chance to respond to as a Treasury Minister, but of all of them, this is probably the one in which I would be most keen to participate. The hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) has done a great deal of work in an area that for many years was debated on moral grounds—“What’s the right thing to do?” That was absolutely right, but his contribution has been to say why it is in everybody’s interest to address these issues and, in particular, to focus on early intervention. That work will have longevity in this place and beyond. Indeed, I think that I speak for Members across the House when I pay tribute to the work that he has done, not just in contributing to this Government’s policy, but in the years prior to that.

The hon. Gentleman talked about some of the recommendations in the recent, second—and final—report on his review of early intervention. As he knows, we are still looking at those recommendations. I shall not pre-empt the conclusion, but I want to emphasise one thing. He said that he hoped that Ministers would take those recommendations seriously, and I can absolutely assure him that we do. In the time left, I shall try to respond to as many of his points as possible, but I have no doubt that in the weeks, months and perhaps even years to come, we will continue to debate these issues both inside this Chamber and outside it.

I agree that the case for investment in preventive services is clear. As the hon. Gentleman set out in his speech and in his review of early intervention, there is a clear argument. That argument shows that the more that we can do in government and the more that those working with children can do to intervene earlier, the more likely children are both to reach their full potential, as he said, and to develop well both socially and emotionally. Not only are the costs of not doing so significant for them as developing people, but there are financial costs for the rest of society, as he pointed out, including in local communities. So the costs of not tackling these issues are significant and they do contribute to an ongoing negative cycle.

The hon. Gentleman discussed just some of the examples in this area. Let us consider that of children on the edge of care. A three-year study of multi-systemic therapy at the Brandon centre in Camden, which he is probably aware of, has shown that cost savings ranged between £1,200 and £8,900 per family intervention, in addition to there being a reduced risk of offending and family conflict. Data from 10 of those multi-systemic therapy pilots for children on the edge of care or custody indicate that, by the end of the intervention, custody or care was avoided for 90% of children who had been at risk of those outcomes. Of course, children who avoid care are more likely to succeed academically, and are therefore more likely to earn more and lead more fulfilling lives. That is just one example of how powerful early intervention approaches can be.

I want to discuss public spending, because the hon. Gentleman talked about the next spending review being based on the theme of early intervention and said that, in preparation for this, the balance of central Government spending should be shifted by 1% per year from late to early intervention. One of the things that I want to say to him is that in the year and a bit that I have spent as a Treasury Minister I have found that the key to this is something that may seem boring but actually becomes incredibly important. He talked about the need for an evidence base, and I think that he has created that with the work that he has done, as has some of the work carried out in other countries. One of the challenges for the Government is to ensure that we have a good internal evidence base on where our money is being spent.

The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the children and families taskforce that was set up by the Prime Minister, which informed some of our spending review. One of the exercises involved looking at where the portfolio mix of spend currently is, for example, on early years provision. That was not perhaps as easy a task for us as it ought to have been. One of the key things that the Treasury is now doing is progressing what seemed like mundane “accountantesque” projects, such as putting in place a chart of accounts and upgrading the Combined Online Information System—COINS—database so that it is actually one that we can use to analyse data. The “themes” that the hon. Gentleman describes are part of a broader challenge the Government face in understanding where the money is going; we need to understand our normal items of spend and the aim of them. That will give us a chance better to join up the oversight across spending as it happens in different Departments.

I talked about the Prime Minister’s children and families taskforce and in the 2010 spending review we did allocate significant resources to support early intervention. The hon. Gentleman talked about the value of the family nurse partnership programme. We are recruiting 4,200 health visitors and expanding that programme. Of course we have also established the early intervention grant. In doing so, we intend to signal the importance of this agenda that we all care about so much. We have committed to maintain a network of Sure Start children’s centres and, as he knows, to expand the free early education entitlement to disadvantaged two-year-olds. We are also putting in place other measures such as the fairness premium. I hope that we will be able, perhaps in a more sophisticated way, to understand where Government spending is going in relation to early intervention and some of the complex aspects of early intervention. I hope that the projects that we now have running across government should give us a much better chance of doing that as we approach the next spending review. As the hon. Gentleman proposes, we will continue to push on that within the Treasury and across government to make sure that we do understand the costs and benefits of different policies and programmes, both individually and collectively.

One thing that he referred to less in his speech, but which is important, is coming out of the work on early years and that is the need to continue investment. Once initial investments are made, they should be followed up with the individual.

I know that I am going to run out of time, but I want to mention community budgeting and the need to consider budgets from the perspective of the individual who receives the services rather than constantly considering them in silos. We want to address that.

The hon. Gentleman talked briefly about tax measures and he is right to flag up that we should not lose sight of the fact that much of the early intervention agenda has involved money transfers. For us, one challenge is considering how that money is invested, whether we have alternatives and how some of the services and programmes he talks about stack up in terms of value for money for the public and those who receive them when set against some of the more traditional methods we have used, such as income transfers between families, the Government and individuals.

The agenda is very exciting and I know that the Government will have the chance to respond to the hon. Gentleman’s second report. I look forward to taking forward some of his suggestions and developing them.

[Mr Allen]

Does the hon. Lady realise that she might have three more minutes and that the debate does not need to stop at 6.30pm? I know she has further notes prepared.

[Justine Greening]

I did not realise that. I am delighted because it means I will be able to get through a few more of the comments I wanted to make.

As I mentioned briefly, the agenda is not just about money but about the quality of public services delivered on the ground. The hon. Gentleman talked about joined-up government and we must focus more on that. Community budgeting will help as will stopping ring-fencing at local authority level, but there are broader challenges in how we knit together national and local government policy at that local level. The work he is doing could feed into some of those thoughts.

Just the other week, on 11 July, we published our “Open Public Services” White Paper, which set out the Government’s vision for excellent services. The principles that we have set out of choice, decentralisation, diversity, fair access and accountability will start to open up local authorities’ ability to deliver services more innovatively. The contribution to this agenda made by the charities and organisations we all come across—perhaps the hon. Gentleman more than other Members—will be better able to be made with a more open approach to public service delivery than we have perhaps had in the past.

I also want to talk briefly about a couple of other aspects. The hon. Gentleman talked about the independent foundation he wants to set up and we very much welcome that as it can play an important role in this whole process. He also mentioned the use of innovative financing mechanisms and he was absolutely right. Again, that is one of those boring but important aspects of the agenda. We need to unlock Government financing so that it does not hinder the right projects. He also mentioned payment by results, which is one thing on which we are keen to push ahead across government.

I can see that I have now run out of time—