UK prevention evaluation center still on the cards

The UK city of Nottingham has been given a Prime Ministerial pat on the back for its efforts to become the country’s leading provincial prevention strategist. [See: Nottingham to become UK's first early intervention city [1].]

At the end of last month, Nottingham was the destination for the latest in a series of Government away days. Gordon Brown and a retinue including Chancellor Alistair Darling and Children’s Secretary Ed Balls visited schools and community centers before staging a cabinet meeting in the city Council House.

The parliamentary advocate of the city’s early intervention program and of long term government investment in the financial strategy that would support such initiatives nationally is Nottingham North Labour MP Graham Allen.

He was congratulated on his efforts when feedback on the November excursion to the English Midlands was reported to the House of Commons.

In doing so, the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, Angela Smith, referred to continuing discussions within the Department for Children Schools and Families about the possibility of setting up a national center for excellence in outcomes to assess the impact of early intervention initiatives across the UK.

Graham Allen said he hoped something would come it “to ensure that local authorities that wished to embark on an early intervention program have a strong, central evidence base from which to draw, rather than replicating individual projects”. He asked Angela Smith to back the idea to support initiatives not only in Nottingham but also in Manchester, Glasgow, London and South Wales.

“There’s no doubt that as more authorities get involved with early intervention it’s very important that they can share best practice and understand what works best to get value for money. Departments will be discussing how best to achieve this, including the role that can be played by such a center of excellence in outcomes,” she told him.
 
On the wider front, Graham Allen has been promoting an all party approach to early intervention through an alliance with former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith. [See: Is early intervention printing the dream ticket? [2].]

Gordon Brown appeared to endorse it. “I welcome everyone working together on early intervention. There are 50,000 families who need our help, and breaking inter-generational cycles of deprivation requires us all to work consistently on early intervention over the years," he told the House.
 
Graham Allen asked him if accepted the financial argument – that investment at a time of restraint, would save billions in the longer term by reducing the bill for low educational attainment, crime, drink and drug abuse, and “lifetimes that are currently wasted on benefits”.
 
“If we are going to have early intervention, we must also have Sure Start,” the Prime Minister replied. “There are 3,000 centers – an average of six in each constituency – and it is something that we want to build upon, not destroy."
 
All party agreement sounded unlikely, all the same. The Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, Andrew Selous, asked Mr Brown if he accepted that early intervention work was especially important in addressing the root causes of poverty?

“Tackling the root causes of poverty means helping people to deal with health problems. That is why we spend money on the health service – instead of calling it a 60-year-old mistake,” he said.
 
See also: UK prevention evaluation center still on the cards [3]