HOW WILL THE MONEY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Health visitors, social workers and teachers will next week find themselves
at the forefront of the Government's fight against delinquency and youth crime.

Ministers are convinced that early intervention by 'investment' in
disadvantaged children and their families can steer them clear of a life of
delinquency, drugs and crime. It can also save money in the long term.

The Home Office and the Department of Health will spell out a commitment to
provision for children and young people as part of the Comprehensive
Spending Review. It is billed as an approach in which Whitehall is finally
beginning to think across departmental boundaries to produce solutions to
the major causes of poverty in Britain.

Jack Straw, in his role as chair of the Ministerial Group on the Family,
will outline the importance of a good start for children - from their very
first breath. Much has been heard of the Government's 'tough on crime'
message. This is the detail of its 'tough on the causes of crime' twin-track
approach.

Health visitors and specialist outreach workers are to be put at the
forefront of plans to provide greater support and help for new parents -
many of whose own childhood experiences of abuse, care and neglect have left
them ill-prepared for parenthood. They will be introduced to basic
parenting, health and life skills.

Over the next three years UKP540 million will be spent on pre-school
children in 'Sure Start' programmes in the most deprived areas, providing
more support and improved child care, health care and early education.

The move is the culmination of eight months' work by Ministers from 13
departments. They have been convinced by a growing body of evidence -
particularly from early intervention schemes in the United States such as
Head Start and Follow Through - that investment at an early age can prevent
children from being a risk to themselves and others.

It can also help performance at school, prevent truanting and reduce levels
of unemployment, drug abuse and crime later in life. According to the most
recent research from America, unless children achieve a minimum social
competence by the age of six they may be at risk for the rest of their lives.

The Home Secretary has visited schemes in the US showing the importance of
preventive policing. One idea will be to break down the old barriers between
police and teachers to work together at the outset to identify children who
may drift into crime.

The proposals need to be seen in the context of extending provision for
three-year-olds and four-year-olds seeking nursery provision. Last week Tony
Blair said the era in which school was seen as starting at five is over.

But if children continue to slip through the new safety nets the Crime and
Disorder Bill will give courts the power to issue parenting and child-safety
orders - under which supervision and counselling for parents will be aimed
at making them take greater responsibility for their children. Curfews could
take troublesome under-10s off the streets.

With youth justice at the centre of Straw's concerns, he will announce a new
three-year development fund to find the best programmes for tackling bad
behaviour and steering young people away from crime.

A new Youth Justice Board covering England and Wales will invite competitive
bids from differing bodies delivering youth justice services. Its brief will
be to establish effective programmes to steer young people away from crime.
It will also encourage greater bail supervision and support as well as
mentoring schemes.

Previous Home Office research, given little prominence under Tory
administrations, has shown that the experience of the early years defines a
young person's propensity to crime.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett