“I have been a GP for 23 years, I think, in Govan,
and I honestly don’t think I have ever met a parent who has not wanted the best for their child, and had ambition and aspiration for their children to do something better. It’s a common human con- dition, I think. It’s universal. With that in mind, there’s a lot people can do to make that a reality,” she tells Holyrood. Parents of children living in poverty are more likely to suffer poor mental health, relationship and financial problems and substance misuse, which can affect their parenting behaviours, and which often have negative impacts on children’s outcomes too. Te Child Poverty Strategy, updated in 2014, and
“When a
baby is born, they already recognise the voices of the people they've been hearing on a daily basis”
the 2009 Early Years Framework, show Scotland is aware of the problem. Te country’s overall framework, ‘Getting It Right For Every Child’ (GIRFEC), is specifically designed to improve outcomes for children by focusing on interventions and support at the right time to maximise prevention. Te Early Years Collaborative brings voices from many different services and organisations round the table to share learning and innovative practice. However, for all the good intentions, one in five Scottish children
lives in poverty, a higher rate than many European countries. What’s more, child poverty is expected to rise dramatically in the years to
come, according to independent modelling by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). Moreover the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland points out some policy decisions on benefits taken since may make things even worse. CPAG has set up an ‘early warning system’ to gather information and case studies about the impact of welfare reform on children and their families as the changes take effect. As part of its recently published ‘Programme for Scottish Government’, CPAG suggests a child pov- erty act for Scotland should be introduced, setting out a clear legislative framework for prevention, reduction and eradication. Speaking to the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee, global health inequality expert Sir
Michael Marmot said levels of child poverty were a political choice. Instead of focusing on the poorest in society, he argued, policy should recognise the gradient.
“Te fact is people near the top have worse health than those at the
top, and people in the middle have worse health than those near the top, and that applies to every marker of good early child development. “If you look at children’s physical development, growth, if you look
at children’s cognitive development, linguistic development, social and emotional development, it’s a gradient. Look at performance in
Voices Professor James Mitchell, Professor of Public Policy, Academy of Government, University of Edinburgh
Kirsty needs early intervention
▏ The American Declaration of Inde- pendence proclaims that ‘all men are created equal’. It is wrong. Life chances are shaped from the moment of concep- tion. Shaped but not determined. The investment in these years pays back over the course of a life in improved life chances and contributions to society. It also reduces the need for significant intervention later. The Christie report quoted an estimate that 40 per cent of spending was on ‘negative demand’, i.e. matters that could have been avoided had early interven- tion occurred. We can never know with certainty the human and financial cost of ignoring problems and that is part of the reason we fail to act. We count what can be counted but ignore what can’t.
20
www.holyrood.com 23 May 2016
That suspiciously round number was an informed guess and is almost cer- tain to have grown as public bodies are forced to respond to increased demands related to demographic change and wel- fare reform. The report from the Commission on Widening Access to higher education was right to note that there was no such thing as an intervention that is too early but still focused on ameliorative mea- sures. Reversing years of cumulative failures is far costlier than addressing these problems at the outset. Many of its recommendations may be laudable but are unlikely to have the desired impact. A bolder report would have suggested shifting resources to early years and away from middle-class welfare.
This gets to the nub of the issue
confronting us today. It is not the lack of resource that is the problem but how that resource is used. Inter- ests create policies but policies also create interests. Reversing existing poli- cies must confront strong interests that will fight hard to maintain these policies. Shifting resources in a way that would allow Scotland to declare that all people are created equal will first require Scot- land to confront some harsh truths about itself. We like to see ourselves as progressive but if we are to approach the ideal of equal opportunities then we need to be more honest with ourselves. ⌞
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