Opinion: The Minister's view - We can all try to be more dad-friendly

Fathers today want to be more actively involved in their children's upbringing and it's fantastic that more are doing so. We know that children with highly involved dads develop better friendships, more empathy and higher levels of educational achievement and self-esteem.

That's why in 'Support for All - the Families and Relationships Green Paper' we set out a new package of measures to support the modern family, especially helping fathers to play a greater role in the development of their child during pregnancy, the early years and onwards.

While there is some excellent work being done across the country in provision of services for parents, too often the way services are delivered means that fathers don't always get the support they need and can be made to feel unwelcome.

That's why we have set out our commitment to support the modern family, no matter what shape or size. In particular, we want to encourage services and employers to be more responsive to fathers' needs.

For the first time, fathers will receive their own tailored advice and tips through the popular Bounty packs. The Dads' Guide, written with the Fatherhood Institute, offers practical and legal advice and gives all the information fathers need about what services they can access.

By giving fathers more information around the birth of their child, we can encourage and support them to fulfil their responsibilities, especially if they are young or disadvantaged. I am delighted that the Royal College of Midwives will be producing guidance for midwives and health visitors on how to better engage fathers before, during and after the birth.

We are also encouraging more mothers and fathers to take advantage of flexible working, and setting minimum standards for employers. In the last few years we've reformed employment rights and made free childcare accessible to thousands of families.

We've now got to go further to spread family-friendly working practices among employers, building on the Work and Families Act 2006, which provided fathers with paid paternity leave and introduced the right to request flexible working for both parents.

We are working closely with BT on a business case to promote father-friendly working practices to employers and employees, which will be produced in March. A new campaign, run jointly with the Department for Business, will also raise awareness of the benefits to businesses of flexible working and will make sure that parents know what they are entitled to.

Over the last few years, we have been running our 'Think Fathers' campaign to stimulate debate and help change attitudes and practice among public services. We've also produced guidance for practitioners and providers to help them identify small changes they can make in their services to make fathers feel more welcome.

Finally, I know from first-hand experience that there is some fantastic work being done to reach out and engage dads in the lives of their children. Many Sure Start children's centres offer evening or weekend opening, with specific sessions or networks to enable more fathers to meet up and feel confident to use their local centre. We are currently building national awareness of Sure Start centres so that families know where their local children's centre is and understand the services it provides.

If you are thinking about how much more you could do, why not do the simple self-assessed test for dad-friendliness in the Dad Test (www.think-fathers.org/) which also includes ideas for changes you can make.