BIG INTERVIEW: A new vision of collaboration - Margaret Hodge, minister for children and young people

"Our aim is to build services around the needs and aspirations of children, young people and their families, rather than the other way round. We want to ensure access to universal services for all children and within that ensure that we provide targeted services to those with particular needs.

And across all that, we also have to ensure that children are properly protected." This is one of those carefully worded formulae that sounds as though it came straight out of a policy briefing. What it means in practice, though, is a complete restructuring of services and professional practice to do with children and young people. "We want people to bring their particular professional skills but also to work collaboratively," she says. "People are very used to working within their own professional hierarchical structures.