Before the election, the Conservatives warned 'The Government cannot go on ignoring the importance of strong families. They provide the stability, warmth and love which children need to flourish, and the relationships they foster are the bedrock on which society is built.'

So I reminded one of the newspapers a couple of days ago. Now that the party is in government, I went on to ask, why does the coalition agreement make no mention of the family and why have they replaced their former Shadow Ministers for the Family and for Children with the less significant minister of state and junior minister for children and families in the renamed Department for Education? As our sister charity the Relationships Foundation has written:

While there is merit in refocusing the former DCFS on its original role as the Department for Education, losing Family from any Cabinet minister’s primary responsibility is a strange act, given the Conservative manifesto pledge to make Britain the most family-friendly country in Europe. (The DfE website defines its role as ‘responsible for education and children’s services’, with the only formal responsibility for families disclosed so far delegated to junior ministers.)

Outcomes in many areas – not least education, health, welfare and community safety – depend on the family. The decisions of many government departments impact on the family – intentionally or otherwise. If there is no voice to prompt action and hold departments to account, then it will be all too easy for this key issue to slip through the net.

Refocusing the Department for Curtains and Soft Furnishings (the name by which the Department for Children, Schools and Families was regularly referred to among teachers and governors) as the Department for Education bodes well for the priority to be given to this important area by the coalition government, but schools will remain unable to serve their function properly and children will still not flourish if families do not also receive the support they so desperately need.

UPDATE: Now that The Coalition: our programme for government has been published, it is good to see this includes a section on Families and Children that recognises the 'need to make our society more family friendly' and pledges, among other things, to: bring forward plans to reduce the couple penalty in the tax credit system; take Sure Start back to its original purpose of early intervention and increase its focus on the neediest families; take steps to tackle the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood; make sure that couples are given greater encouragement to use relationship support; and look at how best to provide greater access rights to non-resident parents and grandparents.

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