PHT June 2011_Jan 10 - UK Faculty of Public Health

INTERVIEW
not fire engines’
The big bogies are
institutional anxiety and
territorialism, at
Whitehall and local level,
both of which get worse
‘when budgets are tight
‘
What about the short-termism of public sector
managers? Any quick wins?
We need as a society to change that philosophy. Looking back
over the past 30 years, can we say that short-termism (what I call
late intervention) has been successful? Clearly the answer is no. I
think our party leaders need to have the courage to say that this
isn’t the way to run public services. We need to think prevention –
more smoke alarms rather than fire engines – to show how
children with social and emotional capability can save on all the
things that are the cost of failure: drink and drug abuse, literacy
problems, antisocial behaviour, magistrates courts, lifetimes on
welfare – billions of pounds. And the trick is to monetise the
savings and to use that to repay investors.
Many of our readers will soon be moving into new
public health structures with broader responsibilities
for health and wellbeing. What would you say to them?
The whole early-intervention strategy is in essence a public health
strategy. We see it in Scandinavia and in Scotland. There’s no
reason we can’t see it in England. While good people can make
almost any structure work, they can do even better if backed up by
the philosophy of early intervention. There’s tremendous potential
in the proposed new structures providing we can theme them to
take on the philosophy of investing in early years. This is not to
neglect teenagers and older people, but to see ages 0-8 as
absolutely key to the future, so that kids can be self-starters and
we don’t wait until problems become deeply rooted.
With all this in mind, what keeps you awake at night?
The big bogies are institutional anxiety and territorialism, at
Whitehall and local level, both of which get worse when budgets are
tight, often at the expense of a longer-term approach. Changing
from a culture of late intervention to early intervention takes real
political will, and I think a public health view is a strong driver for this.
Finally what gives you hope – what keeps you going?
In Nottingham and around the country I’ve seen what can be done
with the right drive. We can make a difference. The challenge now
is to learn from best practice and take it to scale. We’ve got 27
local authorities saying they want to become Early Intervention
Places. If we can encourage and support this movement with an
Early Intervention Foundation we can roll it out across the country.
As ever it’s about partnership, investment and political will. A lot
depends on whether the Government listens to my report and is
able to drive it through Whitehall and the Treasury. But I’m
confident that the case is so self-evident we will see real progress.
Graham Allen was talking to Alan Maryon-Davis
To download a copy of Early Intervention: the Next
Steps, go to www.dwp.gov.uk. For a hard copy, email
matthew.woolston@parliament.uk
JUNE 2011 5