Published: FT Letters, 2 August 2010
Sir,
The launch of the Cabinet Office's "early intervention review" and the article "To build a Big Society, we must intervene early" (July 28) by Graham Allen and Jim O'Neill raise a number of interesting issues.
Firstly, there is nothing new about the emphasis on early intervention. When Tessa Jowell - then a health minister - and I put together the first local Sure Start programmes and later the Family Intervention Programme, we were drawing on evidence from across the world (including Headstart in the US) that early intervention and investment could save both damaged lives and substantial funding.
Second, we were painfully aware, however, that it was difficult to convince colleagues - never mind the electorate - that money spent wisely to intervene to prevent later problems should take precedence over immediate amelioration of those challenges. This can be seen at the moment most graphically in the abolition of the Child Trust Fund - with the real danger of a massive asset divide in generations to come.
Third, the most perverse aspect of this new review is the notion that, while public sector investment is considered to be unaffordable and counter to deficit reduction (even when it would save substantial funding down the line), the private sector is being called on to borrow in order to make a profit at a later date - through investment in exactly the same projects!
The government has, of course, refused to do just this in denying Sheffield Forgemasters the loan it sought for cutting-edge carbon technology; but Iain Duncan Smith finds himself in the same cleft stick in seeking to bring about radical welfare reform.
A further twist is the reduction in Area Based Grant to local government in the current financial year, which has resulted in more than £3m being cut now from the children's budget for Sheffield City Council, including £200,000 from the campaign to avoid unwanted teenage pregnancy.
Quite simply, this all feels like déjà vu, with the players deluding themselves and the wheel being once again invented.
Rt Hon DAVID BLUNKETT MP
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