This is the second of three articles in a mini-series for this week about giving children and families the best start in life.
In that sense, his speech could easily have been given by a much more fitting figure for the Ditchley Foundation: Tony Blair.
The Government’s plans for divorce law reform are the lesser of two evils. But it needs to think more and act decisively to help couples who stay married.
Many are vulnerable people in need of specialist help. Far better use could be made of the existing Public Health budget.
A new era beckons, the strings on the public purse are loosening, and it’s time to show what a compassionate, one-nation Conservative government can achieve.
Giving a boost to Family Hubs would show a genuine commitment to bolstering the social fabric which binds local communities together.
Our task is to improve a system that is already very effective, albeit far from perfect.
Fewer children are going into care. Crime is reduced. The taxpayer is saving money. The Government was right to defy the critics of this initiative.
My decades of experience suggest that the knowledge, experience, and will to combat this crisis is out there. We need to tap it.
The second piece in a five-part series on ConHome on a new Manifesto to Strengthen Families, which will be launched in Parliament this week.
A focus on children in isolation misses the need for stable families.
The Government is not only for the JAMs (Just About Managing), but now also apparently for the NAAMs (Not At All Managing).
There is plenty of evidence that married couples provide children with a major head-start in life, but this privilege is increasingly confined to the wealthy.
The tale of the Troubled Families programme helps to prove that if the state doesn’t work properly, we won’t gain from leaving the EU.
At present, too many youngsters are become invisible when they leave the system, and not receiving the education they need.