The case of the two Doncaster boys with their terrible crime shows how important it is to get the right support for families and how important a good social services system is. I am really pleased that we are concentrating on helping families in our draft manifesto which has come from the work that Ian Duncan Smith MP and his team have been working on for many years at the Centre for Social Justice (www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk). The Centre for Social Justice has been talking to many groups and families looking at what is going wrong in our communities and finding examples of organisations who are helping to get it right and learning why.

Toxic family upbringing can create havoc, not only on the children bought up in the dysfunctional family but the knock on effect they have on others in society. I frequently hear about how badly behaved children and parents are affecting the neighbourhood and anti-social behaviour is one of the biggest concerns from people returning my surveys.

All this type of behaviour stems from their background and it is important that we start making sure that as a government we focus on strengthening families, giving them the support when they need it and ensuring that there are good school and opportunities for those that have missed out on education the first time to rediscover a love of learning and skills. Many people who have been out of the workplace for some time feel demoralised and lack confidence which often has a negative effect on the rest of the family, and it is important that there is easy access to training which has a positive impact on finding jobs and building confidence.

Our policies include recruiting 4200 more health visitors, having continuity with one health visitor is crucial especially in giving confidence to new parents. They know how to recognise any problems and will continue a good level of support until the child reaches school. I know how important my health visitor was to me in giving me confidence with my first child.

Early intervention is important and I am really pleased that we will be creating Early Years Support Teams with all the funding and bureaucracy bought into one team so there is no duplication and missed families in the process. Sure Start, which has been criticised by professionals that it is not helping the families it was set up to work with, will be focussed on the neediest families. This make good sense as every family will have a health visitor but not every one needs extra support all the time.

Lastly, I am a supporter of recognising marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system. If it helps a parent to stay at home longer to look after young children because it alleviates financial pressures, then that is a benefit to society as a whole. Parenting is not recognised enough in this country as the most important job that any one can do, and this is one way of recognising that. We need to make Britain more family friendly with flexible working and affordable child care along with help to those who give up their careers to look after children, and I am really pleased that we will continue to support the provision of free nursery care for pre-school children through a variety of providers, including child minders and private, voluntary and independent nurseries.

You can read our draft manifesto on the website www.conservatives.com