Let's hold our nerve for children in this crisis

What is certain is that the credit crunch will bite hard. The next public spending round is likely to be much tighter than anyone would have expected in the first part of the year and the ramifications will be felt for some time. There are at least three areas where cuts could have a profound effect.

The first is preventive services. The economic situation will force many local authority children's services departments to examine which services they can afford to dispense with. There is a real risk that the preventive programmes that are at the heart of Every Child Matters will be sacrificed. A play scheme or youth participation project will be less controversial casualties than many of the harder-edged services. Given that they save money in the long-term, any moves to scale back prevention programmes drastically would be a perverse reaction to the economic crisis. Local authorities and primary care trusts should hold their nerve on prevention.