At last week's 4Children conference in London, David Willetts, shadow minister for universities and skills, said that his party wanted to maintain balance in addressing policy across all stages of a child's development.
'Excessive weight is placed on what happens in a child's early years,' he said. 'Within our education system there is a tendency for problems to be pushed back to a stage before, so it goes back down the system. I believe we need to put our shoulders to the wheel at every stage of a child's development.'
Mr Willetts reiterated the Conservative party's commitment to the role of health visitors. He said, 'Key universal provision starts with health visitors, and the decline in numbers needs to be reversed. This will be partly funded out of the health service budget.'
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