Tory pledge for poor families
- Published: 04 August 2008 14:36
- Last Updated: 04 August 2008 16:17
More investment in health visitors and a new role for maternity nurses to help poor families are being promised by the Conservatives if they win the next general election.
The pledge came from the shadow education secretary Michael Gove in a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research.
He signalled the Conservative Party's intention to introduce more health visitors to ensure that "professional help is there, when parents want it … freely available mentoring, not on your case monitoring".
Mr Gove praised the SureStart programme but criticised the government for cutting its budget by a third.
"It's because we want to nudge those who would benefit towards the services that Surestart provides that we're prepared to invest in an enhanced universal health visitor service to provide families with stronger, personal support and guidance in the crucial early months.
He also laid out plans for the implementation of the Dutch 'kraamzorg' model of maternity nurses so that families in need have an "extra pair of hands" to help out after childbirth.
"It's because we're serious about helping strengthen relationships that we want to intervene, and direct state resources, to support relationships at the time of greatest need, for those most in need," Mr Gove added.
