Professor Susan Deacon was appointed as early years champion last year and commissioned by the Scottish government to lead a review on how to improve children's early years and reduce the need for more costly crisis interventions later on.
In her report, Joining the Dots - A Better Start for Scotland's Children, she criticised Scotland for taking a different approach to England's and not going down the road of providing children's centres. 'In hindsight, this was a missed opportunity,' she said.
'Why not set ourselves the goal of seeking to have a major programme of developing children and family centres to serve communities right across Scotland?'
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