Early Attachment Adjournment Debate

On Tuesday I secured the Adjournment debate in the House of Commons. The debate was called 'Public disorder of August 2011 and the case for Early Intervention.' 'Mob Rule' and 'Flaming Morons' were headlines we saw back in August as a minority of mindless thugs spread fear and intimidation through our society. There can be no justification or excuse for the actions of this minority; it was simply selfish opportunism which can have no place in our society.

We owe a great debt of gratitude to our police officers up and down the country who worked so hard to restore order in such difficult circumstances. I am pleased that strong action was taken against the rioters and that subsequently tough punishments have been handed out. No one made them loot and pillage, no one dragged them out onto the streets to take part. We have to get back to a Society where responsibilities are taken in equal measure to rights.

I am not seeking to justify or excuse the actions of the rioters in August but I would like to explore how we can prevent these scenes from ever being witnessed again. Early Attachment is the ultimate in prevention and I believe that prevention is not only far kinder, but far cheaper, than cure.

I put forward the case that the way to prevent the social breakdown we saw so vividly last August is by early years intervention from conception to age two. This means providing psychotherapeutic support for families struggling with the earliest relationship with their baby. I explained how secure attachment or 'parental love' literally hard wires the baby's brain. 'Loved' babies go on to become emotionally secure adults, able to hold down a job, make friends and keep a partner. Babies who are neglected or abused are likely to become the bullies, the victims, the mentally ill and the criminals - emotional damage done while the baby's brain is still developing has far reaching effects on our society.

It was a great pleasure to discuss the work of the Early Intervention charities OXPIP and NORPIP, who work to support families who may be struggling to bond with their babies. Helping parents to build the strongest possible relationships with their babies during the first two years produces huge benefits for that child as he / she grows up - and society also reaps huge dividends.

I was pleased to be given the opportunity to explain Early Intervention and highlight the impressive, vital and essential work that Parent Infant Projects are doing and can do more of in the future. I'm convinced that Parent Infant Projects can offer a massive contribution to mending our broken society and preventing scenes like the ones we saw on our streets in August.

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