Cameron speech at Demos on creating a responsible society

Cameron speech at Demos on creating a responsible society; Politicians are the ones who take taxpayers’ money and write billions of pounds worth of cheques to deal with educational failure, crime, anti-social behaviour. So I think politicians have a responsibility – to the taxpayer and to society – to do what we can to bring these costs down. And that means looking at the evidence, recognising that parenting has a massive part to play, and doing something about it. Our Sure Start health visitors will have a vital role here. The substantial increase in the number of health visitors will mean that families get more support - from properly trained professionals. Health visitors will be able to spend time with families, have the opportunity to spot parenting issues, and build the trusted relationships needed to help with them. For instance, if they feel a mother is not bonding with her baby, and recognise the cause as post-natal depression, they might gently recommend that she visit her GP, or steer her towards a local counsellor. The increase in health visitors will benefit all families. But we also need to recognise that some families need extra help. Perhaps they are not functioning properly or – in the worst case scenarios – are in such a bad way that the development of their children is being harmed. We can’t just stand by for fear of looking judgmental, and we can’t pretend that our other family-friendly policies are enough here. It is our duty to meet the urgency of these cases with active intervention. Labour understood this. Sure Start was conceived as a way of helping the most disadvantaged children in their earliest years. But the truth is that today, it isn’t working as well as it should. There is little accountability in how Sure Start money is spent so the funding doesn’t necessarily follow the support programmes that work. There’s not enough diversity of provision, because the voluntary sector and other community organisations ...