Julian Le Grand, Professor of Social Policy at the London School ofEconomics, said the new policy would create a high-quality service togive social workers more control over their budgets.
The debate, 'The Contested Family: Under-valued or over-nannied?', wasorganised by the Family and Parenting Institute. It considered factorsoutside the home that influence family stability, in particularunemployment.
Anastasia de Waal, head of Family and Education at the think-tankCivitas, said, 'Telling people how to parent won't create stability.Looking at employment is the most important thing'.
Professsor Le Grand suggested that to reduce the number of relationshipbreak-ups, marriage should be the 'default' setting once co-habitingcouples have children, making them automatically regarded in law asmarried and obliged to get a divorce to separate.
Delegates also raised questions over the value of childcare and fathers'level of involvement, citing family policy in Scandinavia, where it isthe norm for fathers to take 'Daddy Weeks' to stay home from work andlook after their children.
They addressed concerns over parents who feel compelled to workextremely long hours and cannot get home to read to their children inthe evening.
Closing the debate, Mary Macleod, chief executive of the Family andParenting Institute, stressed that poverty and work were important tothe family policy agenda, but warned that relationships are personal'and the state needs to tread very carefully'.
