A rejection of "pie-in-the-sky tax cuts", backing the NHS "with all our hearts", and a commitment to "a new spirit of social responsibility", all sound like they could have come from the pen of Tony Blair's chief speech writer. In fact, they were three of the major themes under discussion last week at the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth.

Speaking for the first time as leader of the party, David Cameron usedthe event to set out where he sees the battle lines to be in thestruggle to win the hearts and minds of the British electorate. Most ofit looks like good news for children's professionals: a high profile forchildren and families, an acknowledgement of the importance of Labour'sEvery Child Matters agenda, and a desire to trust and empowerprofessionals, rather than the state, to solve problems such as poverty,crime and urban neglect (see Analysis, p11).

What's more, the recognition that professionals are fed up with changeand simply want to get on with the task in hand will resonate in manychildren's services departments up and down the country. So, on thewhole, it looks as if the progress that's already been made to improvethe lives of children and families in the UK will continue, even if theBlair-Brown project comes to a halt.

However, what will ring bells is the memory of what happened the lasttime the Conservatives were in power, the after effects of which arestill felt now: a doubling of children growing up in poverty, years ofunder investment in children's services infrastructure, such as schools,and the now infamous assertion by Margaret Thatcher that "there is nosuch thing as society".

So far, Cameron and co haven't completely allayed fears that a new ToryGovernment will simply return to such policies. This is exacerbated bytheir refusal to explain in any meaningful detail what they will do ifthey win the next election. The only thing we do know with any certaintyis that the Conservatives are beginning to muscle in on those areas ofgovernment that previously seemed to be ringfenced by Labour. But,equally, it is very clear there are still a lot of question marks overthe Tories' future plans for the sector - and a track record thatdoesn't offer too much reassurance.