Excerpts from the report:
This report is about children's Early Years -- why they matter and how we can improve them. But it is about more than that. It is about the kind of Scotland we want to live in. The kind of society we are and aspire to be. It is about what goes on in our homes, families and communities as well as what happens in our schools, nurseries and clinics. It is about what matters to us as human beings and what we can do to support one another -- as individuals, as well as through our public services and professionals. It is also about Government, politics, public policy and public services -- and how, with increasing pressures on the public purse we can try and do the right things and do them well.
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In June 2010, the Scottish Government pledged to renew the national effort on children's early years. As part of this effort, Michael Russell MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, invited [Professor Susan Deacon] to champion action on children's early years and to lead a wide-ranging dialogue on how best to take action to improve children's early years of life.
[She] was tasked with building agreement on the importance of the early months and years of children's lives and to identify practical ways to improve these given the unprecedented pressures on the public purse.