Labour produced a set of plans last week to improve the lot of young families.
Proposals include giving all pregnant women the right to give birth in the place of their choosing, while fathers will be given the opportunity to spend the first night in hospital with their baby.
The announcement was portrayed by many pundits as a move to secure the female vote, but is it a realistic goal or an ill-thought-out policy announcement, just weeks before a general election?
Announcing the policy as the government reached its target of opening 3,500 children's centres, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said there were a number of practical issues to overcome, without elaborating on what these were.
"We need to work harder to make the experience of giving birth better," he said, announcing the moves. "There are practicalities we have to iron out, but it is a commitment. We have got to ensure we have midwives in place to make that a reality."
He added there is a need to improve facilities to allow fathers to spend the first night in hospital.
He also said he wants to increase numbers of midwives "where they are needed" and reiterated the desire to boost numbers of health visitors.
Meanwhile, the Department of Children, Schools and Families has kept quiet on exactly how the pledge would be achieved assuming Labour stay in power.
Midwives central to pledge
The issue of boosting the midwifery workforce is central to the new pledge being delivered.
However, figures provided by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) show that increases in the numbers of midwives in recent years have not kept pace with increases in the number of births each year.
The RCM also points to the fact that the government has previously pledged to offer pregnant women four "choice guarantees" on how they access maternity care, the type of antenatal care, the place of birth, including home birth and a choice on postnatal care.
These feature in Maternity Matters, published in April 2007, which had an implementation deadline of the end of 2009.
Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, says: "Women already have a guarantee that they can choose where they want to give birth, including the choice of a home birth.
"Unfortunately, this does not mean that trusts at local levels always provide this, so we would support women being given the legal right to choose where they give birth."
Warwick adds that the government's continuing focus on maternity care, and particularly its emphasis on continuity and improved integration of maternity services and social care, is welcomed.
She continues: "Children's centres increasingly provide a local venue for midwives to deliver community-based care, allowing them to develop local relationships to support and deliver services that meet the needs of new families in those communities."
She believes the key issue is what action will be taken if women are granted the legal right to choose, but are denied it at a local level.
Another aspect of the government's plans is to reform the current standard of maternity services. At present, the aim is to see the majority of women by the end of the 12th week of pregnancy, whereas the government wants this raised to seeing every woman by this point.
However, Warwick believes it is "optimistic" to assume access to 100 per cent of women by the 12th week of pregnancy can be achieved.
"It is something to aspire to, but in reality, and with the best systems in the world, some women will present for care later than this," she says.
Unachievable plans
The plans have also come in for criticism from the Liberal Democrats, whose shadow health secretary, Norman Lamb, labelled the announcement "unachievable".
"Labour promised mothers a choice over where to give birth at the last election but they simply haven't delivered.
"Mothers aren't being given a choice because there simply aren't enough midwives to handle the growing birth rate," says Lamb.
"Nothing that Labour is proposing will address that problem.
"Rather than reeling off even more undeliverable pledges, Labour should concentrate on delivering on the promises they've already made.
"Recruiting extra midwives so that everyone can have a safe birth should clearly be the priority."
FAMILY-FRIENDLY HOURS: PLANS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING
Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper is calling for a shake-up in the way businesses approach flexible working arrangements, in a bid to help young families.
The call comes after the Family Friendly Working Hours Taskforce report Flexible Working: working for families, working for business was published last week.
The report sets out to challenge the perception of the 9am to 5pm working day, and looks at how employers and employees can benefit from flexible working.
To promote cultural change across the labour market, the taskforce recommends the government brings together a small group of business representatives to communicate the benefits of flexible working to employers.
Leading by example is key according to the report, which proposes that central government departments and public sector organisations improve their own flexible working practices.
The report states that 65 per cent of employers said flexible working practices had a positive impact on recruitment and retention, and that 70 per cent of employers said flexible working had improved employee relations.
The taskforce recommends that the government works with recruitment agencies on how to best stimulate the job market for permanent and high quality flexible workers. It also calls for support to be made available so that small businesses without a dedicated human resources function can manage flexible work practices.
The report estimates the impact of people working below their potential costs the economy up to £23bn.
