Attachment: Prevention and Early Intervention Framework

This Memorandum revises and updates the Government’s Prevention and Early Intervention Framework (M2007-20).

Prevention and early intervention is premised on the idea that stopping a problem from occurring or acting early to stop it from getting worse offers better, more cost effective outcomes for society than interventions later in the lifecycle of a problem.

The State Plan commits to embedding the principle of early intervention into Government by:

• shifting resources to support early intervention and prevention programs within our agencies; and
• gaining a better understanding of the costs and benefits of early intervention, particularly when benefits are across agencies.

The NSW Prevention and Early Intervention Framework, launched in December 2007, was the first of its kind in Australia. At that time, the Government announced that the Framework would be trialled in the human services and criminal justice portfolios, before being reviewed and applied more broadly across all agencies.

Since that time, there has been a significant and growing shift towards prevention and early intervention across the NSW Government, and it is clear that there has been considerable progress in achieving the central aim of the framework to embed the principle of prevention and early intervention in decision and policy making. The Prevention and Early Intervention Framework has been revised and updated in light of this experience, and aligned with the commitments in the revised State Plan.

The revised Framework, which is attached to this Memorandum, applies to all agencies, not only those in the justice and human services cluster. Under the Framework, all agencies should consider the following principles when reviewing or developing policy directions, programs or funding decisions:

• In addressing increasing demand for services, prevention and early intervention measures that reduce or manage long-term demand should be considered as a priority over short-term measures.
• As part of the development and assessment of any new policy or program, agencies must consider whether there are prevention and early intervention alternatives that may generate better outcomes for the investment made, having regard to the benefits to all agencies.
• Existing policies and capital and recurrent programs should be progressively reviewed to identify opportunities to shift effort towards prevention and early intervention.
• Agencies must work together to maximise the cross-agency benefits of prevention and early intervention, and are encouraged to identify areas where further cross-agency work is required.
• Effective prevention and early intervention approaches are based on a strong evidence base. In developing or reviewing any policy or program, agencies should consider the available evidence and work towards improving the evidence base.
• In applying these principles, it is recognised that increased effort in prevention and early intervention needs to be balanced against the ongoing need to invest in a range of other services, including services that occur later in the lifecycle of a problem.

The Framework also sets out a number of specific actions and strategies that will be pursued by the Government, including:

• Conducting agency reviews
• Finalising a policy assessment tool, which will provide agencies with practical guidance on implementing prevention and early intervention strategies
• Identifying priority groups
• Embedding prevention and early intervention into the budget process
• Exploring innovative funding mechanisms
• Improving evaluation and research
• Pursuing opportunities at a national level
• Monitoring the progress of the Framework

I encourage all Ministers and agencies to familiarise themselves with the Framework.

Kristina Keneally MP
Premier

This memorandum supersedes Premier’s Memorandum M2007-20 State Plan Priority F4: Embedding the Principle of Prevention and Early Intervention.