During a Commons debate on the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, minister for community care Stephen Ladyman said that NHS funding increases would ensure that child health would improve.
But he added: "If anyone says we should ringfence part of the money exclusively for children, I would say that they have missed the point of the National Service Framework.
"The framework is about mainstreaming children's services so that primary care trusts develop those services, not as an afterthought or add-on, but as a key priority in the commissioning of services."
He also said inspectors would require agencies to demonstrate progress towards service levels laid out in the National Service Framework. "That is why we can be confident about delivery."
Ladyman revealed that from next year the key inspectorates - Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection - would undertake joint area reviews and contribute to thematic inspections of children's services.
According to shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley many indicators of children's health were getting worse. "One of the child's journeys reflected in the framework relates to asthma," he said. "We now have very high and rising levels of childhood asthma.
"We have rising levels of childhood diabetes. Children with adult-onset diabetes are starting to present themselves for treatment in their teenage years. These are serious problems and things are moving in the wrong direction."
Jeff Ennis, Labour MP for Barnsley East and Mexborough, asked what the framework would do to address low levels of government funding for children's hospices.
"It is about five per cent, compared with between 30 and 35 per cent for adults' hospices," he said.
Ladyman rejected the call, saying decisions on funding should be left to individual primary care trusts.
"Most palliative care for children is delivered not in hospices but at home," he explained. "What I want, and what the National Service Framework calls for, is a range of provision in every area that is suitable for all children with long-term conditions who are receiving care."
Julia Drown, a Labour backbencher, welcomed the emphasis on parenting in the framework. "It is always a surprise to me that our society created and provides antenatal classes for parents-to-be and that there is so much intensive work focused on the birth of the child, yet when the baby pops out - I hope with the minimum amount of pain and difficulty - suddenly we have apparently created two wonderful parents, even though they may have had no knowledge or experience of looking after children before."
