Rob Wilson's Westminster Diary, December 16, 2010
Rob Wilson MP • Published 16 Dec 2010 10:30
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I NOTED with great concern and interest that a council scrutiny panel reported more than one in five children and young people in Reading are being brought up in poverty.
Reading apparently has the fifth highest level of child poverty in the South East after Southampton, Portsmouth, Slough and Brighton and Hove. In many ways this is an indictment of the terrible failure of the last Labour Government which promised to tackle this problem but dismally failed. Child poverty was rising when Labour left office.
The Prime Minister asked Labour MP Frank Field to take a look at this issue and his independent review is well worth a read. It found that, as I have argued for some time, the life chances of our children are pretty much decided by the time they are five-years-old. The report found family background, parental education, good parenting and the opportunities for learning and development in these first crucial years are more important to children than money in determining whether they realise their potential.
The things that matter most are a healthy pregnancy, good maternal mental health, secure bonding with the child, love and responsiveness of parents, clear boundaries as well as opportunities for a child's cognitive, language and emotional development.
Essentially, whilst not hopeless, interventions that come later than five have much less chance of success. With the brain 80% formed by the age of three, the influences and experiences are largely shaped, and ability profiles at that age tend not to change much thereafter. Schools do not effectively close the attainment gap faced by those from poorer backgrounds - children who arrive in the bottom range tend to stay there.
The last Government's main thrust to change this was heavy investment in income transfers through tax credits and early years services like Sure Start. Some of its ideas were right, some of its initiatives to be applauded, but much of its implementation was wasteful and woefully misdirected.
Frank Field's review is the template against which Reading Borough Council and all councils should chart their work. The evidence is overwhelming. if you want to stop poor children becoming poor adults spend the money in the pre-school years. A shift is needed to high quality, integrated services aimed at supporting parents and improving abilities of the poorest children during the period when it really makes a difference. By doing so it will improve prospects for qualifications and long-term employment.
We should all thank Frank Field for his review team's work, it could make a real and life-defining difference to the poorest children in our country. At Christmas that would be the greatest present of all.
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