Hansard

Such questions are better posed elsewhere. I am relaying to Parliament a positive report, rather than the usual negativity that is produced in debates. I say to Elaine Smith that early interventions can significantly help to prevent or reduce the likelihood that children will develop social problems that might necessitate a future intervention by the state. Such an approach could save sizeable sums of money, as the number of interventions that public bodies must provide would be significantly reduced. That approach is of obvious and considerable appeal to the Finance Committee.

It would be a dereliction of duty if I did not echo the many voices who made it clear that early intervention is also the right thing to do from a moral and societal perspective. I mentioned that powerful and passionate views were expressed throughout our inquiry, so I will share some of them with the Parliament. As Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, a senior lecturer at the University of Dundee, put it:

“Children’s brains develop more quickly between birth ... and the age of three than they ever will again. So we need to get the money into services and get support to families because, after that age, those brains are in place. If we delay, all that happens is we continue to spend our money in ways that are, frankly, dumb.”—[Official Report, Finance Committee, 2 November 2010; c 2614.]

One charity, the WAVE Trust, pointed out that

“Study after study ... demonstrates that to invest money in prevention is simply the best economics and the best investment for national and local government.”—[Official Report, Finance Committee, 9 November 2010; c 2655.]

The committee acknowledged the work of the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities in establishing and driving their long-term early years framework. However, some disquiet was expressed during our inquiry and at our chamber event that the framework is built on a relationship between central and local government that may place too much emphasis on local delivery. For example, although the Scottish Government claimed that

“the key to success ... is what happens at local level”,—[Official Report, Finance Committee, 30 November 2010; c 2832.]

we heard several voices calling for more concerted central direction if early years provision is to flourish and if outcomes are to improve.

We also asked the Scottish Government to consider whether its framework should be more focused on the zero-to-three age group, given the stark evidence that we heard about the importance of investing in the very earliest years.

The second area on which our report focused was preventative spending from a health and social care perspective. In simple terms, the debate is about the extent to which people can be supported in their own homes rather than in far more expensive institutional settings, such as care homes or hospitals. Much enthusiasm was expressed for such a switch, but witnesses were very honest about its challenges, including making the shift to investing in cheaper social care services by disinvesting in more expensive health services when there is no sign that demand for such services is abating.

COSLA discussed the need for a new approach that would involve disinvestment and reinvestment in individual public sector organisations, between public sector organisations and at Government level. Such a move might well require far better partnership working than we have sometimes witnessed in the public sector.

Our inquiry heard particularly blunt views about the likelihood of some organisations working together to realise the benefits of preventative spending. For example, Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan of the violence reduction unit considered that

“There is still a deal of territorialism between agencies, including the voluntary agencies, that is more corrosive and pernicious than that between the gangs in the east end of Glasgow”.—[Official Report, Finance Committee, 26 October 2010; c 2561-2.]

Aside from partnership working, we are well aware of other potential barriers to preventative spending; for example—and inevitably—the impact of budget cuts. If we politicians are honest, we must acknowledge that our focus is too often on the short or even immediate term. As we all know, that is especially the case at election time. Realising the full benefits of preventative spending will require concerted planning over a much longer timeframe. Otherwise, we run the risk of paying only lip service to it.

For the first time since devolution, a parliamentary committee has examined preventative spending in depth and across different spending areas. We heard remarkably strong evidence about the benefits of that approach. We must face up to that, so I call on everyone involved to work together and to acknowledge that preventative spending is not top of the political agenda. We must make the preventative approach irresistible to politicians at local and national levels.

The Finance Committee considers that the Parliament’s committees are ideally suited to driving that agenda forward on a continuing cross-party basis. The committee’s legacy paper recommends that scrutiny of preventative spending should be integral to the annual budget process and that appropriate guidance should be issued to subject committees to help them to scrutinise the Scottish Government’s progress. I hope and trust that the new committees that will be established after the forthcoming election will meet that challenge and ensure that real progress is made.

I thank my colleagues on the Finance Committee and I thank the clerks for their expertise and contributions. I hope that action will follow and that Parliament will let this unanimous report be a positive start to solving some deep-seated problems.

I move,

That the Parliament notes the conclusions and recommendations contained in the Finance Committee’s 1st Report, 2011 (Session 3): Report on preventative spending (SP Paper 555).

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