Evidence-based initiatives can be delivered very effectively through Sure Start services as long as they are properly resourced and faithfully delivered by well-trained regular staff. Considering all the arguments about Sure Start's progress in England, that's the simple message for politicians, policy makers and practitioners that has emerged from implementing and carefully evaluating The Incredible Years program in Wales.

This is how we approached the work. At the outset Sure Start services trained staff in North and Mid Wales to deliver the program; this was in marked contrast to England where the strategy was more random; in Wales 11 communities all used the same parent program.

This consistency created an opportunity for a research study, and in 2002 the Health Foundation made £315k available for a randomized controlled trial of effectiveness. Sure Start services agreed to target the intervention at identified high-risk families and they committed their staff to weekly supervision in Bangor to ensure that the program was delivered with fidelity.

The Welsh evaluation indicated a 46% reduction in conduct problems among intervention children compared to 7% among those in the control group. There was also a reduction in violent incidents and parental criticism, and significant improvement in positive parenting and parental mental health. Significant improvements were also found among the siblings of the target children.

In short, Wales took a program developed in Seattle, trained