Research published today by the National Audit Office (NAO), which examined early intervention programmes in health, education and youth crime, concludes that early action has the potential to result in better outcomes and greater value for money.
However, it goes on to say that while Government has signalled its commitment to the principle of "early action" it does not plan a significant shift in resources to early action projects, or cross-Government co-ordination.
According to the NAO, the total amount spent each year by the Department of Health, Department for Education, Home Office and Ministry of Justice on early action intervention programmes has remained constant at around £12 billion, about six per cent of the departments’ spending in 2011-12.
The report - 'Early action: landscape review' - identifies four key challenges which it says could help in the design and implementation of early action programmes:
more consistent and robust gathering of evidence of what works;
overcoming short-term thinking and other practical barriers;
effective cross-government co-ordination of early action;
strengthening departments’ capacity to innovate and take bold long-term decisions.
It also makes a number of recommendations. For Government it recommends that a definition for early action should be agreed by its departments and local bodies to ensure compatibility of early action activity and spending, while it suggests the Treasury measure the potential of early action to reduce public spending and increase economic growth.
For Government departments and commissioners, the NAO recommends that before the next spending review they consider how early action could reduce long-term demand. It also suggests examining current early action in a rigorous and consistent way, including identifying opportunities for more early action and stopping or modifying projects that produce poor investment returns.
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said, ‘A concerted shift away from reactive spending towards early action has the potential to result in better outcomes, reduce public spending over the long-term and achieve greater value for money.
‘Government has signalled its commitment to early action as a principle, and taken some tentative steps towards realising that ambition. There remains much room for improvement however. Short-term thinking, a lack of integration in many areas and poor evidence gathering are impairing effective adoption and implementation of early action across Government.’
Graham Allen MP, chair of the Early Intervention Foundation, has welcomed the National Audit Office report.
He said, ‘The National Audit Office make clear that early intervention as well as being great for individuals and families, is also the biggest deficit reduction programme available to the UK because of the massive long-term savings that it produces. Yet it is clear that much of Whitehall is still mired in a late intervention culture, waiting until problems are deep rooted before belatedly taking expensive and only ever partially successful late action.
‘The report is yet another solid slab of evidence from an unimpeachable source topping out an ever growing mountain of proof about early intervention. The Treasury now have to take this evidence much more seriously and build in the early intervention culture. Instead of continuing to throw money wastefully at problems far too late, they should respond positively to the recommendations in the report.’
Mr Allen added, ‘If the Treasury do not now analyse the consequences of Early Intervention properly they would be guilty of failing to exercise due diligence and it could be argued that once serious weighty evidence of this nature is put to them, to fail to follow it up would be tantamount to wilful neglect.’
