Lib Dems: Ensuring parenting has status it deserves is key part of supporting child development

Baroness Joan Walmsley, Liberal Democrat education co-chair, points to importance of early years in a child's life and pledges to ensure parenting has right status and support:

"Parents are the most important influence in a child's early life. The experiences of children in their earliest years, good or bad, can shape the rest of their life.

"An overwhelming amount of research has stressed the importance of the first few years in a child's development and the effect these foundation years have on their chances later in life.

"Ensuring that parenting has the status and support it deserves is a key part in supporting a child's development and the Liberal Democrats will be working with the Liberal Democrat children's minister, Sarah Teather, to put this into practice."