early-intervention-next-steps

approach to fdelity – staying true to the
programme – meaning that intended efects are
often lost.
9. I make three broad recommendations in
response to the lack of progress. First, I believe
that proven Early Intervention models such as
those described in Chapter 6 should become
more available in the UK. I recommend that
alongside this development greater support
should be given to local innovators to reach higher
standards of evidence, which will help to get
more UK models onto international databases of
proven practice.
10. Second, I recommend the creation of Early
Intervention Places to make a coherent start on
Early Intervention, encouraging 15 localities to
make the most of central and local initiatives.
This would involve the use of central government
initiatives in the 15 sites, greater fexibility for
those in the Places to innovate and evaluate,
and better dissemination support so that local
areas can learn from each other. At the heart
of these recommendations is a commitment
to localism, to support local innovation, and for
central government to be the national advocate,
encouraging and enabling local people rather than
controlling their activities. However, my review
team also heard many calls from local people and
agencies for high-quality central advice to avoid
expensive replication of provision. Localities do
need additional support to help them to make
optimal decisions from the many options now
available to them. There is clearly a thirst for such
an alternative or additional ofer. The following
quotations are typical of the comments made by
contributors to the evidence sessions I held for
the review:
‘We need help to explain the importance of
Early Intervention. It isn’t recognised by all the
right people locally, including political leaders.’
‘There are problems with the way Early
Intervention initiatives or programmes are
implemented. All of the good ideas and
enthusiasm at the beginning of a project needs
to be sustained as it is taken to scale. We have a
poor track record in this.’
Chapter 8 The Early Intervention Foundation: bringing programmes and resources to places 101
‘Guidance on which programmes are going to
give us the best result given our local needs
would be welcome. As commissioners we
are bombarded with directives from central
government and requests for business from
private and voluntary organisations. More
support to make better decisions would help us
a lot.’
‘It is difcult to join up services that are funded
through diferent government funding streams,
for example health and education.’
11. To meet these frequent comments from
contributors, my third broad recommendation is
to establish an Early Intervention Foundation to
support local people, communities and agencies,
with initial emphasis on the 15 Early Intervention
Places. It would also tie in to the potential of raising
capital from private and other investors, which
I will examine further in my second report. An
additional responsibility of the Foundation would
be to help local agencies make the best use of
central government initiatives. This chapter sets
out the potential contribution of the Foundation.
It also makes suggestions about its governance.
The objective
12. I recommend that the Foundation be charged
with establishing demonstrable improvements
in the social and emotional bedrock of children
in the 15 Early Intervention Places. In addition,
it should be able to sell its services to the many
other local authorities that are already showing
an interest in the proposal. I believe that pumppriming
funding could be sought potentially
from local government, foundations and private
investors. Central government would provide the
strongest possible political support (always on
an all-party basis) but initial central government
fnancial help, while always welcome, may not be
essential. Indeed, there is a strong argument that it
will be much easier for the Foundation to attract
private and non-governmental investment capital
if it is seen to be independent (rather than an
arm) of central government. I describe below how
this could work. My aspiration aim is for the Early
Intervention Foundation to become self-funding as
quickly as possible. My second report will consider
the appropriate models for achieving this.