Interview: Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North - Earlyintervention pioneer

At the heart of the plan is an idea the MP, who also chairs the localstrategic partnership One Nottingham, poses every time he sends anemail.

"In the work of Texan psychologist Bruce Perry, there's a photograph ofthe brains of two three-year-olds, one properly nurtured and loved, theother abused, neglected and unloved. The second is smaller, partly dueto a lack of the stimulus that the ordinary child receives throughinteraction," he says. "There's a picture of these brains in my sign-off- One Nottingham wants children with bigger brains."

One Nottingham, which brings together public, private, community andvoluntary sector partners, has taken up this cause since it relaunchedlast year with a vision of "prevention, pre-emption and earlyintervention". Its aim, explains Allen, is to shatter the cycle ofintergenerational failure, rather than service it. And making surechildren from birth to two get the right help is central to theplan.