After the 2001 election there was much policy work to be done: the shape of children's services had yet to be decided, the child poverty pledge was relatively new and untested and Sure Start was still considered a pilot programme.
Now, after a period of intense policy development, when almost every aspect of children's wellbeing has been the subject of a new initiative, ministers will be putting implementation at the top of their to-do lists.
In many ways the hard work still lies ahead. Government is better at formulating policy than putting it into practice, which isn't very surprising when you consider that few civil servants have actually worked "on the ground". And implementation is difficult. It relies on winning hearts and minds, being able to bring about cultural change and (of course) deliver sustained resources. Even well thought-out policy initiatives can quickly start to unravel when applied to the messy, complicated reality of service delivery.
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