The report said there was an urgent case for more investment for disadvantaged children Society will suffer “immense penalties” unless more money is spent improving the lives of children from deprived backgrounds, a report has warned.
The prime minister asked Labour MP Graham Allen to look at the benefits of intervening to improve the life chances of children from poorer backgrounds.
In his second report, Mr Allen said more investment was needed urgently.
Mr Allen suggested more money could be raised through private sources, given constraints on public spending.
He called for “political commitment” from Prime Minister David Cameron to turn talk into action.
Mr Allen, the MP for Nottingham North, was asked by Mr Cameron to assess how children from disadvantaged backgrounds could be given the best start in life.
In his first report earlier this year, he advocated “early intervention” by the government to help the social, emotional and intellectual development of pre-school children from deprived backgrounds.
In his second report – Smart Investment, Massive Savings – he turned his attention to how to pay for this.
Mr Allen said in an accompanying letter to the prime minister that there was an “urgent case” for greater investment.
His argument is that there would be a “deadweight to the economy” of having to meet the costs of underachievement and poor educational attainment in the future.
This could be avoided by improving children’s development in the very early years of life.
He said such early intervention should be seen as the best deficit reduction programme available to governments.
Recognising the current constraints on spending, he suggested more money could be raised from private sources through an Early Intervention Foundation which would have close links to the Big Society bank.
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