State nannies to be sent in to target 'at risk' families

Jailed fathers of young children can expect their families to be automatically targeted by state-sponsored nannies in a dramatic escalation of "early intervention" policies to be unveiled by Tony Blair this week.

The state should step in to turn around young lives at the first sign they are becoming blighted by crime, poverty, violence and drug abuse, Mr Blair will say.

If a parent is sent to jail, families could be given a period of "intensive home visits" by health visitors, suggest officials.

In making the state responsible for the delivery of "bespoke" packages for "at-risk" families, Mr Blair hopes to draw a dividing line between the Government and David Cameron's Tories.

Mr Cameron, meanwhile, will today claim his party backs the NHS "heart and soul", while promising to free the health service from ministerial control. In a speech at his party's spring conference in Nottingham he will contrast Labour's "mania for controlling and directing things from the centre" and "pessimism about human nature" with his determination to "put people back at the heart of the NHS".

The Tory leader has called for a "social responsibility" revolution in which private firms, voluntary bodies and citizens take control of the delivery of public services. Mr Blair, on the other hand, is leaving No 10 insisting that the state should step up its efforts to provide better-quality services. The Prime Minister will suggest that tens of thousands of families should receive "makeovers" designed to change every aspect of the behaviour holding them in poverty.

On Tuesday, ministers will launch a review expanding existing policies aimed at identifying potential troublemakers in the womb, with home visits for "vulnerable" mothers over a two-year period.

Cabinet Office sources suggested that the project could be extended to include families in which there is domestic violence or a parent has been sent to jail.

Other ideas to be floated include ranking GPs, schools, hospitals and other services by public satisfaction and allowing uncensored reviews to be posted on the internet.