Prevention is the key to better youth justice and health services

This year marks two major anniversaries relevant to children and young people - the 60th anniversary of the NHS and the tenth anniversary of the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act which established a new youth justice system. In their own ways both demonstrate the enormous challenges in ensuring that every child does matter, and the enduring failure within government to take a long-term approach and invest in prevention.

Sixty years on from the creation of the NHS, children's health inequalities remains a key concern. Deprivation, poor housing and a range of other social factors remain key determinants on infant mortality, physical and mental illness, life chances and life expectancy.

Whilst the universalism of the NHS has been of tremendous importance it is nowhere near delivering universal outcomes from the cradle, perhaps because a one-size fits all approach to health fails to do enough to target those most at risk. Despite a welcome focus on tackling obesity, the smoking ban and the forthcoming Child and Young People's health strategy, our health system remains far more focused on acute intervention rather than prevention, especially aimed at early years.

As with the NHS, 10 years on from the creation of the Youth Justice Board, our youth justice system still pays inadequate attention to prevention. Most of the YJB's spending, 64 per cent, purchases custodial places for children and over - 10 times more is spent on custody than on prevention, which accounts for 5 per cent. This is especially concerning as reoffending rates remain stubbornly high. Indeed if a form of treatment within the NHS were as unsuccessful as youth custody there would be a national outcry.

This continued lack of focus on prevention lies at the heart of the government's current youth justice crisis and must be urgently addressed. While there have been some welcome reforms and improved inter-agency working, it is still the most socially excluded children and those with complex needs who are the most likely to be drawn into the youth justice system and in practice prevention sadly is not viewed as better than treatment. The result of this has been a continued lack of confidence in the youth justice system and a continued failure to focus on preventing the next victim.

That is not to say that there should not be hope for the future. The aspirations laid out in the Children's Planaere commendable, not least the commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is also welcome recognition of the unique contribution that the voluntary and community sector can make in improving the lives of children, although national rhetoric does not always translate to local reality.

However, if the government is to achieve its vision of making this country the best place in the world to grow up in, it must learn from the past and put prevention at the heart of public policy, including in health and justice.

Joe Levenson, director of policy and communications