came from just 50 of 1,222 council wards. Furthermore, 1 in 29 men of all 23 year old men in these communities were in a Scottish prison, revealing the probability of imprisonment increases with deprivation. This provides enormous scope to deal with the factors of deprivation: employment, health and disability, education, skills, training and access to services, which compound an individual’s chances of incarceration. This could shift the focus from the offender to the needs of the excluded in general, a departure from the current approach to crime prevention.
Preventing disengagement from education Youth disengagement is a big and costly problem. In the UK, around 11.5 per cent of children start school without the behavioural skills they need and are subsequently more likely to drop out of the education system. This has enormous repercussions on the economy: the current generation of 16-18 year olds not
in education, employment or training will cost society an estimated £31bn over their lifetime, including the costs of unemployment, to health services and to the criminal justice system.
Scotland has the one of the highest proportion of people not in education, employment or training between the ages of 16-19 years in the OECD25. The proportion of 16-19 year olds NEETs has remained between 12-15 per cent since 1996. Persistent disengagement is often underpinned by a range of factors that manifest themselves early in a child’s life; properly resourced interventions that tackle disengagement amongst younger children could help prevent disengagement from becoming endemic.
UK Government spends £650m on truancy and £800m on school expulsions each year, while only £111m is spent on preventative techniques. This means the Government spends twice as much on children once they have been excluded from school rather than providing
extra support before it gets to this stage. One study, examined the work of two charities, The Learning Challenge and School-Home Support, and found for every £1 spent tackling exclusions £1.24 was saved; and every £1 spent tackling truancy saved over £11. Traditional models of public service delivery are increasingly overstretched. Well planned, timely preventative services may promote individual well-being, and could also lead to a reduction in the consumption of expensive services. As these examples demonstrate radical approaches can deliver better results effectively, yet they too often remain outside the mainstream of public service delivery. For preventative approaches to take hold there needs to be a transformational shift in public service delivery.
This article is an edited version of a written submission by NESTA to the Scottish Parliament Finance Committee’s inquiry into preventative spending.
Time for Decisive Action
As we approach next month’s UK Comprehensive Spending Review concern continues to grow that the financial savings required from the Scottish public sector will be too great to be delivered within the required timescale. The Independent Budget Review which reported in July 2010 could not have been clearer, highlighting the importance of taking immediate action and the need for strong leadership from the Scottish Government and Parliament, but as yet there has been little real action to set out or proactively plan for essential cuts.
The challenges are immense. Policies on universal entitlements will have to be modified; eligibility
criteria will be required on personal care, concessionary travel and free prescriptions – and so forth. And with staff representing 55-60% of costs for most public bodies, there will need to be significant savings in this area. The public sector must follow the example of the private sector, for example, by reducing the working week to ensure service delivery whilst protecting employment. Redundancy and early retirement packages will need to be brought more in line with statutory levels.
Structural reform of the public sector in Scotland is considered off the agenda due to the one-off costs associated with it, but with local government looking at
reducing staff numbers by around 12,000 maybe now is the right time for change. For example, the opportunities for rationalising the eight police and fire forces must be considered. If the improved local linkage with community planning partners can be protected, whilst standardising and sharing systems and back office functions, all the better.
Local and national politicians have a critical role to play. Participation and joint decision making is required by all parties. Grand- standing or failing to offer solutions is not constructive and will be seen as such by an increasingly cynical electorate.
Nick Bennett is Managing Partner, Scott-Moncrieff
Nick.Bennett@scott-moncrieff.com
www.scott-moncrieff.com 4 October 2010 Holyrood 25
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