Constitutional change won’t help kids

Will independence stop Scottish babies being born with genetic damage caused by poverty? If Scots can possibly tolerate another question, this one might radically focus popular debate.

We’ve had Alex Salmond’s independence question. We’ve had a possible second devo max question. We’ve had a weekend to mull over David Cameron’s recent non-question, and the taxman’s PAYE questions about Rangers FC.

The question we have not yet asked is one which can put the dry mechanics of constitutional debate into a human context and get top political Scotsmen to focus on life, not power.

Not my words but those of Alan Sinclair, a founder of the Wise Group – Scotland’s largest social enterprise – and adviser to the last UK government on skills and training. After being awarded a CBE for his efforts, Sinclair had a Damascene conversion to the cause of early years intervention and coined the phrase about Scotland trying (and failing) to retrofit life skills on to damaged teenagers instead of equipping them properly from birth. He also observed that countries with the most evidence about the benefits of early years intervention – Britain and the US – have done least about it, while those with fully-funded early years care for decades – the Nordics and north Europeans – gathered the smallest evidence base before deciding to act.

In short, Sinclair suspects the laudable-sounding search for more evidence is acting as a dead hand on progress in Scotland – which sits, after all, in one of the wealthiest nations on earth.

To read the whole article - click here.

Comments

[Bob Leslie]

If constitutional change brings about a situation where all of our revenue is ours to dispense, then, yes, I think it would help kids. What is crystal clear right now is that we have a party in control at Westminster who couldn't give a damn about social issues. Any movement to promote early-life intervention is going to get short-shrift from that lot. While not claiming that the first government of an Independent Scotland would automatically embrace the notion, any bookie would give you odds that you'd be far more likely to make progress under such a government than under the present arrangement. I think it's actually pretty politically naive to discount the effects of constitutional change on social issues. Just stirring the water a wee bit, Lesley, to see what comes up?
Totally off-topic, if Brian Taylor retires anytime soon, I'd love to see you get the job. It needs someone with your type of edge and lack of sycophancy.