This is an edited transcript of our live online chat with David Cameron, leader of The Conservative Party, that took place in February, 2006.

Spursmum: What would you do to help us single mums that are royally screwed over by absent dads and the CSA? Would you reform the CSA or scrap it and do something different? A lot of women are left to struggle on their own without any help and the CSA is worse than useless.

David: The system at the moment is clearly in a mess. Like all MPs I deal with lots of cases in my surgeries – some of them are heartbreaking. A third of a million cases haven’t been processed, and the CSA’s enforcement unit actually costs more to run than it recovers! So I support the Government’s announcement of a review of the whole thing – it’s just a great pity that it’s taken so long for them to get here. The fundamental principle is this: wherever possible, children should be supported financially by both parents. Whatever now happens, we shouldn’t lose sight of that. We have made various suggestions. For example parents at the moment deal with a new member of staff each time they contact the Agency, and we think a new system must allow a designated caseworker to establish continuity of contact with both parents. We also think the various functions of the CSA should be looked at separately, to see if some of this work could be carried out better by others. For the sake of all parents who are dealing with the CSA – those currently receiving payments and those who aren’t – we need to end this period of uncertainty and anxiety as quickly as possible. We are ready to work with the Government if their latest review comes up with a clear, simple and effective system.

Mommie: Have your children had the MMR vaccine? Will Arthur have it, or single jabs? And is it still Tory policy to offer single vaccines on the NHS?

David: Yes, my children have had all the jabs necessary. My daughter Nancy and my first son Ivan have both had the MMR jab and Arthur will have it too. We’ve suggested ways to improve the whole process of approving vaccines, to make it more open and to increase public confidence. Where parents insist that their children won’t have the MMR vaccine, it’s wrong for the Government to rule out completely the possibility of giving them a single vaccine on the NHS - especially if vaccination rates continue to fall.

MotherOfDen: I wonder how much you have thought about what effect becoming Prime Minister would have on your family, and especially on your wife? After seeing what the media have done to Cherie, how could you inflict it on Samantha?

David: This is a really difficult one. Obviously Sam and I talked about it a lot before I stood for the leadership. I think that you can combine a high profile career with a family life. In the last fortnight I have been able to help out at home, for example. All the time it means trying to strike the right balance between work and family life and also trying to let people see what you are on about without giving up all your privacy.

Kelleen: What will you do to give families tax incentives to stay together? At the moment people who live apart get higher tax free allowances detering families from staying together when they otherwise would.

David: This is an important point. Parts of the tax and benefit system seem to send a message that it is better to live apart than stay together. I have set up a policy review to make sure that the tax and benefit system encourage people to come together and stay together. We will announce our conclusions next year.

CheekyMonkey22: Congratulations on the arrival of young Arthur David. Tell us The truth now: who gets up at night, and if you are doing your share does it mean Tony Blair will have an edge over you at last?

David: I am helping at night, but Sam is being very generous and letting me have lots of sleep if I have a busy day coming up. So far the little one is being pretty good - feeding every three hours and sleeping quite well. Better make sure I have a good night sleep before PM questions... (Sam might say "sounds like a good excuse...")

Cod:Favourite abba track please...

David: Haven't really listened to Abba for a while.... Could be Dancing Queen, Fernando or I suppose the Winner takes it all.

Ginnye: Disposables or reusables?

David: I am afraid that it is disposables ... we have three children in nappies and so it would be a big move. We have been sent some reusables and so maybe we will give it a try.

Soapbox: Life with a child with SN must be hard. In addition, your wife has a high profile job as indeed you do. What childcare arrangements do you have in place and what made you choose the type of childcare you did? How do you juggle all the balls? A tax break for those of us employing nannies would be nice - a refund of a portion of their national insurance and PAYE would be very helpful.

David: Our son Ivan is profoundly disabled and needs round the clock care. Social services provide for some of his care at night – and we employ carers ourselves. It is not nearly as tough for us as it is for some others because we are able to afford extra help – and we have very supportive families as well. The issue of childcare is a really important one. I see it in my own constituency, where the costs of childcare for working Mums is a vital issue. We want to support women who want to work - or who must work. That means three things. First, affordable childcare should be available to all. As part of that, we are committed to retaining SureStart. We are not planning to close it down. But we do have concerns about the way SureStart is developing. One of the most attractive feature of the SureStart scheme and the new children’s centres when they began was that both were embedded in the local community, run by those who had campaigned to bring the new project to their area. But as the initial SureStart scheme is being broadened out across the country, and new children’s centres are created, control is increasingly been handed over to local authority bureaucracies and real community involvement is diminishing. So we support SureStart and children’s centres. But we want them to develop in the spirit in which they began by involving local families closely in the management and operation of their centres. And we do not want the Government rigging the childcare market against those private, voluntary and independent providers operating outside the SureStart umbrella. Second, as any parent knows, childcare must be flexible. We want to allow and encourage the informal, private and voluntary sectors to play a larger role in raising the life chances of children. Finally, to address the issue of childcare, we must address a much more broad range of issues - like equal pay, flexible working hours, maternity and paternity leave. So we are today asking our Social Justice Policy Group, as part of its work, to conduct a review of childcare policy.

Meysey: Will you do anything to promote part-time working for higher-qualified women? I know so many women who have valuable qualifications and experience - lawyers, PR, medics, businesswomen etc. They do not want to abandon their children to full-time childcare, but can't find part-time work. There seems no easy way of finding out which firms will take on part-timers (as opposed to firms allowing existing workers to return part-time). The country is missing out on a large resource. The only part-time jobs advertised are for things like cleaners, teaching assistants etc - important jobs but not right for everyone.

David: You are right that businesses are missing out here. If women with high qulaifications choose to give up work altogether because firms don't offer flexibility then it is the companies that miss out as well. One issue that can be looked at is the right of women to ask for flexibility. In all cases - like this one - we have to balance new rights for employers with the costs for employers, including small businesses.

Willow2: Following on from Cod's insightful music question - Arctic Monkeys or Coldplay?

David:Bought the Artic Monkeys - quite like, but am still a Coldplay fan.

Debbiethemum: I am a highly qualified, well paid worker in IT, but after deducting the cost of me working, childcare, tax & travel expenses I only take home £30 a day (yes, I do know that there are people worse off) and at the moment that £30 is essential. If there were some decent tax breaks on childcare it might feel worthwhile. All my male colleagues (I only have one female colleage- she's also a mother and on a similar take-home) say that they wouldn't bother getting out of bed for my salary. Alternatively if my husband received a tax break to enable me to stay at home that would be a viable option. What are your thoughts on this scenario?

David: I completely understand your situation. My wife and so many of our friends have this debate with themselves all the time. It does seem unfair that all the child care costs have to be paid out of taxed income. My policy review is looking at this issue very carefully. There are lots of different ways of trying to get this right- transferable tax allowances, tax relief on childcare or a reform of the tax credit system, which is too complex and bureaucratic.

WhoIsCodAnyway: I have heard that you are a West Wing fan David. Excellent telly taste but which character do you most identify with?

David: It is a great programme. Our TV broke last week so we watched quite a lot of episodes all in a row, which someone had given us on DVD. The script and shooting is so brilliant. Your question is a bit tricky, if I say "President Bartlet" you will think I am a megalomaniac... But i like the way he cuts through all the bull and does the right thing.

CountessDracula: Is Sam a mumsnetter? If not will you be pointing her in our direction?

David: No she hasn't used it but i will tell her about it tonight. I think the sections on SEN will be really helpful for us and the guide to products is helpful. We have all bought car seats or other kit and then found they are hopeless, so may be we should use your guide first.

Caligula: What measures will you put into place to ensure that the rate of breastfeeding babies is raised? How will your government support mothers to breastfeed their children and ensure that they are not harrassed when they do so?

David: Breast feeding is clearly good for babies, especially in the early weeks – and campaigns that promote this are clearly a good thing. But this mustn’t spill over into undue pressure on mums who don’t feel breastfeeding is right for them. Likewise there certainly shouldn’t be harassment for those who want to breast feed. It’s important that mothers, with the support of their partners, can make an informed choice.

TheDullWitch: Will you send your children to local state schools?

David: My son Ivan goes to a state special school/day centre. We hope to send Nancy to a local state school, but I will always do the right thing as a parent.

Cod: Can i ask a flippant question? What is the best cheap thrill you have as being leader? Is it ... the driver? Getting tickets to things? Go on - fess up!

David: So far I suppose the biggest thrill would be being followed the whole way to work on my bicycle by a BBC helicopter. It lost me in Hyde park and then sort of criss crossed London to find me, rather surreal....

Puddle: What were your reasons for voting against: Giving parents of young and disabled children the right to request flexible working? Extending maternity leave to 26 weeks? Raising maternity pay? Introducing 2 weeks paid leave for fathers? What do you think of the IPPR report on the £11 billion 'baby gap'? Should the government be intervening to make parenthood more attractive to working mothers and fathers?

David: Lots of questions here. On flexibility for parents with disabled children, we supported this part of the relevant bill as it went through the House of Commons. However it was part of a Bill that we opposed for other reasons. As you can imagine, I am passionate about helping families with disabled children. I have campaigned for more respite care and I fought a parliamentary battle to get the baby bond to help parents with disabled children. In terms of the most recent changes, we supported the Work and Families Bill in December. That would extend paid maternity leave to 9 months from April 2007. As I know from my own experience, it’s vital that parents of young children – both fathers and mothers - are able to take time off to make sure their children get the care they need. But there always needs to be a balance of rights for parents with the costs imposed on business, particularly small businesses. That said I think there is a lot that firms can do to encourage flexible working and helping people to achieve a work life balance. It’s in their interests, as it will help them to keep the best employees. I worked in an office for seven years when I was at Carlton and this was a live and vital issue.

Freckle: Why is there so much emphasis on getting mums back into work, paying childcare costs, etc.? Why not make staying at home to raise your own children more financially viable? What about tax breaks for families where one parent gives up work to raise the family? What about increasing child benefit for those who don't work? With the birth rate dropping and serious problems on the horizon for an increasing elderly population, where are the incentives for women to have more children? Child benefit, for example, decreases for the second and subsequent children. Shouldn't it increase ? Most families have to have two incomes just to survive and many of these would love to have one parent at home raising their children - so why not make it easier to make that choice?

David: As George Osborne said in his speech this morning, all too often in the past the Conservatives have given the impression that young mothers should stay at home. Today the Labour Party gives the impression that all young mothers should work. Both are wrong. Both are trying to impose choices on mothers. We need a new approach. Instead of imposing a choice on mothers, we should support the choices that mothers make for themselves. In general, parents and strong, extended families, including networks of friends, are best placed to provide children with round-the-clock love and discipline. Our new Social Justice Policy Group will look at the whole area of home and family. I have asked it to look at how we might encourage families to come together and stay together, and to support marriage. And I also hope it will examine the potential of relationship education in preventing family breakdown – an area where I believe we can do much more.

Earlybird: I'd like to know what will be done to improve schools. Admissions policies are a nightmare for good schools. If you aren't one of the fortunate ones offered a place at a "good" school, other options are not good. In general, many of us don't feel we can send our children to state schools due to poor academic test results and student populations infested with ASBO gangs. So, at great expense/sacrifice, we opt out and go private. What do you propose to help/change the situation?

David: I agree. We urgently need to improve standards in our schools. We’ve offered to work with the Government on this if it gets it right. To take one example, we have campaigned on the use of synthetic phonics to teach literacy. Ruth Kelly has responded by adopting recommendations to do this. I welcome this and look forward to seeing it turned into positive action. Now we need to raise standards in all our schools, for every child, with more good school places provided. That means the system has to change. It should be easier for popular schools to expand if they wish, and for new schools to be created. I also want to see new mechanisms whereby a range of independent schools, including faith schools, which offer a low cost education should be able to receive public financial support. All these are things we will support if the Prime Minister introduces them in his Education Bill.

Saker:What would your plans be for the future of special schools? Could you guarantee that they would be kept open and would you consider increasing the number of special schools or units attached to ordinary schools? Do you plan to continue the inclusion policy for children with special needs

David: I think special schools play a vital role. My son is at one which we have had to fight to keep open. And I see from my own constituency the important work that they do. The system is in a bit of a mess and needs to be changed. It’s based on good intentions, but the current approach is letting too many down. Children’s needs vary hugely and one size doesn’t fit all. At one end, children who are finding it difficult to keep up are being dragged into the SEN bracket, when what they really need is rigorous teaching methods. And at the other end, children with profound needs are being starved of resources and inappropriately placed in mainstream schools. I led a campaign on keeping special schools open. The Government said it would review provision. That review must take account of parents' views, which are so often ignored, and it must end the bias against special schools. Meanwhile there should be a moratorium on any more closures.

Sophable: Are you going to be the party that realises that one to one consistent midwife care during pregnancy and birth would save the NHS a lot of money in terms of interventions and complications, and that home births for women that want them should encouraged rather than discouraged by healthcare professionals?

David: As long ago as 1994, the then Government said it wanted to build a more women-centred maternity service. That included a consistent midwife throughout pregnancy and birth. Sadly this has taken a long time to achieve. A lot more needs to be done to address the shortages of midwives which lie behind this problem - not least by tackling the high drop-out rates from midwifery courses. Where risk has been assessed properly, and resources are available, women should be entitled to receive a home birth if they wish.

Thanks for all the questions. It's been great fun and very interesting. If I didn't manage to get to your particular question please do email me at camerond@parliament.uk. David