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What Labour has done

Reducing child poverty and intervening early to help those at risk of social exclusion were key planks of Labour's programme for children aged five to 13 over the past four years.

But while the government pursued an anti-poverty strategy, it also introduced antisocial behaviour legislation that can mean £40 on-the-spot fines for children as young as 10. They can be banned from using certain words, wearing certain clothes and gathering in certain areas in what the National Youth Agency says serves to "criminalise young people for non-criminal activity".

Children who breach the terms of an antisocial behaviour order, unlike others facing criminal proceedings, lose their right to anonymity. Children's charities say this contravenes article 40 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Meanwhile, children of asylum-seeking families whose applications have been rejected have lost all rights to welfare benefits and housing under section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004 and can end up in care if their families are destitute.

Professor Al Aynsley-Green was appointed first children's commissioner in England to champion their interests and promote their views. But the House of Commons education and skills committee has complained that he has less power than his counterparts in the rest of the UK and should have a brief to champion children's rights.

Many of the government's plans to integrate children's services stemmed from Lord Laming's report into the death of Victoria ClimbiŽ. Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004 outlined a vision for extended schools, open from 8am to 6pm, all year round to provide wraparound care to all school-age children and plans to create children's trusts in every local authority to ensure joined up services and an integrated workforce.

Key to the government's strategy of early intervention and prevention has been the work at local level of the Children's Fund. It aims to:

• Improve school attendance and performance among five- to 13-year-olds.
• Ensure fewer young people aged 10 to 13 commit crime and fewer children aged 5 to 13 are victims of crime.
• Reduce child health inequalities.
• Ensure services are accessible.
• Harness families and communities to create "pathways out of poverty".

Labour claims to have lifted half a million children out of relative poverty and two million out of absolute poverty since 1997. In April, child benefit rose to £17 for the first child, and £11.40 for subsequent children. The child element of the child tax credit increased in line with average earnings by £65 a year to £1,690.

What the next government should do for five to 13 year olds

An end to the detention of refugee children and the use of prison custody for all children and raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 should be in the election manifestos of all political parties, says the Children's Society.

The charity's chief executive Bob Reitmeier says: "The political parties have a chance to send a message that all children in Britain regardless of their status or behaviour really do matter and will be given equal rights to protection and support.

"Too many children face discrimination and rejection and their voices are rarely heard and often forgotten in the lead up to an election. The next five years will be critical; failure to act will leave a legacy of damaged and shattered lives."

The society says refugee families should be given the same financial support as other families and their children should be given advice, assistance and advocacy.

All political parties should be committed to eradicating child poverty, insists the Child Poverty Action Group, which is calling for the uprating of the child tax credit and child benefit. Chief executive Kate Green says: "We are calling for a poverty impact assessment to be made for every new policy. Policies not  fighting poverty must be altered to ensure they do."

The NSPCC is urging all parliamentary candidates to sign its pledge for children and to back the charity's three key demands for children to be given the same protection as adults from assault, adequate access to post abuse recovery services and protection from abuse via the internet.

What the three main parties say they will do if they win the election   

The Labour Party

• With plans to halve child poverty by 2010-1 and eradicate it by 2020 Labour has promised in Children Forward Not Back to raise the child element of the child tax credit at least in line with average earnings until 2007-8.
• It reaffirms its promise to create children's trusts nationally by 2008 and refurbish 8,900 primary schools at a cost of £9.4bn over the next five years as it promotes extended services to children and families. Children will have access to sport, arts, music and other after-school activities.
• New powers will require parents to pay compensation for damage caused by children under 10. An additional £25m from 2006-7 to 2007-8 will target under-13s at risk of involvement in crime.
• A £280m package has been unveiled for healthy school meals, which Ofsted will inspect, with a promise to halt the rise in obesity among under 11s. A School Food Trust will empower parents to work with schools to raise standards. Parents will also have more say in running their children's schools.
• Labour is also promising measures to tackle under-age smoking, drug and alcohol abuse and dangers from the internet.

The Conservative Party

• The Conservatives are promising stricter enforcement of antisocial behaviour orders and to scrap appeals panels in schools when pupils are accused of disruption, placing control over discipline policy fully in the hands of heads and governors.
• The Tories pledge that parents will have the right to choose school. Local authorities would no longer decide admissions to state schools. Parents would also be entitled to send their child to an independent school at the cost of a state school place  -  around £5,500 by 2007-8.

The Liberal Democrats

• The Liberal Democrats would scrap Labour's Child Trust Fund and use the money to cut class sizes for five to seven-year-olds from 30 to 20 by recruiting 20,000 more teachers.
• Like Labour, they would offer wraparound care to all school-age children by opening schools from 8am to 6pm, co-ordinated by local education authorities to avoid adding to head teachers' workloads.
• Anti-poverty measures would include replacing council tax with a local income tax based on ability to pay and allocating child and working tax credits as a fixed term award for at least six months.
• The powers of the children's commissioner would be beefed-up and the profile of foster carers raised.