Commenting on the publication of
Early Intevention: The Next Steps today (19 January 2011),
Dr Margaret Murphy, chair of the RCPsych Faculty of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, said:
"Research has long demonstrated the key
role of responsive parenting in the emotional development of babies
and young children. We therefore strongly welcome the
publication of Graham Allen MP's Coalition-backed report which
emphasises the importance of early intervention schemes for the
first three years of a child's life.
"However, we have concerns that some recent
Government decisions seem to run counter to the thrust of this
report. The introduction of the Early Intervention Grant, for
example, removes ring-fencing from essential early years programmes
such as SureStart and represents a cut of 11% for such programmes
in real terms. While the Department for Education states that it
'expects local authorities to use the funding in support of
services' such as Sure Start, the new grant will mean that this and
other key programmes will be required to compete for money from the
same pot. If Mr Allen's report shows anything, it is surely that
supporting parents in the early years of their children's lives is
something we leave to the vagaries of local variation at our
peril."
For further information, please
contact:
Liz Leicester
or Deborah Hart in the Communications
Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 6298 or 6127
Note to editors:
Early Intervention: The Next Steps, an independent report by Graham Allen MP, was published on 19 January 2011.