Tragedies like the death of Baby P are doomed to be repeated unless action is taken to ensure that the children of today do not grow up to become the kind of adults capable of torturing and killing a child, a cross-party group of MPs warns in a report today.

A failure to invest sufficiently in support services for younger children already meant thousands of today’s children were destined to leave school “illiterate, pregnant, unqualified, unaspirational and underachieving”, the report claims.

This is reflected today in soaring numbers of children educated in pupil referral units. Since 1997, the number has risen from 7,740 a year to 16,010 in 2008, the report, to be published by the Centre for Social Justice and the Smith Institute, says.

“These figures suggest that we risk sleepwalking into a discipline and behavioural crisis in many schools,” it states.

Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, who is publishing the report with Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and David Laws, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said that short-term inquiries into individual cases such as Baby P were necessary. But these must be accompanied by a longer term approach to break the long-term cycle of disadvantage handed down from one generation to the next in troubled families.

“The baby Ps are the extreme tip of the iceberg of neglect, abuse and poor parenting. Effective intervention must start 20 years before the child is born. Looking for problems when a child has been abused, while necessary, is, on it’s own, too little too late,” he said.

He added that every child had the right social and emotional skills to grow, develop normally.

“We should ensure every child reaches the standards taken for granted in most middle class households,” he said.

Providing effective support for children while they were growing up would be “massively cheaper” than picking up the human pieces after a tragedy, he added.

The report, published today (Tuesday) by the Centre for Social Justice and the Smith Institute, outlines innovative ways requiring “tiny amounts of money” in which primary school children from deprived backgrounds can improve their communication and social skills and so grow into more balanced adults.

These include the provision of one-to-one reading support for six-year-olds, speech therapy and coaching in social and emotional skills for special needs or disadvantaged children to keep them out of Pupil Referral Units.

In Nottingham, Mr Allen has been behind a city-wide early intervention programme for all children. It includes the Nurse Family Partnership where single parents and their babies get intensive care from health visitors and nurses to projects supporting the children of prolific offenders and those who witness domestic violence.

Times Recommends

• What makes the perfect mum?
• To keep me stress-free, no more awareness days, please
• What do lottery winners buy?