Courtesy of a forgetful researcher or MP who, whilst using a Parliament photocopier, left behind a document they really shouldn’t have left behind, we in Liberal Democrat Voice Towers can bring you an exclusive preview of the new family policies Gordon Brown & co are working on.

Susan Kramer, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesperson on family issues, is likely to be kept very busy in the next few months if the draft policy statement – which according to the covering note is about to be submitted to Cabinet for discussion – is anything to go by.

Ed Balls wants to introduce a new policy to support single mothers bringing up children. So far, so good – even if the memo does wrap the policy up in tough on crime rhetoric and bureaucratic New Labour speak such as this:

3.4.1 Facilitating full clock cycle (ie 24 hours) support for single adult child rearing units is a key priority for our 10 year social foundation strategy.

3.4.2 Previous emphasis on facilitating whole family support networks has failed to link up with the needs and responsibilities of single adult units in a joined-up strategy.

The memo lays out a strategy to reallocate a “significant” slice of benefit funds towards the direct employment of child carers, in what will be called the “State Second Parent Scheme.”

An analysis of the workforce attached to the memo suggests that the vast majority of those employed under the SSPS will be recent migrants from Eastern Europe:

We need to avoid clichés about nannies from Poland, but we should also be robust in arguing that this scheme will help ensure that migrants to the UK are fully contributing to the UK’s welfare.

A handwritten note (probably in a female hand, so unlikely to be Mr Balls himself) says in the margin:

We should ensure the policy is established before the next general election and that it is presented as an alternative to the Conservative policy of cutting immigration levels. The key dividing line will be ‘Labour support for families’ versus ‘Opposition threaten to take away (State Second) parents from children’. Painting opposition to immigration as costing families their parents will allow us to move on from Guardian/Independent opposition to Tory immigration polices to Daily Mail / Express pro-family policies making them at best neutral on the impact of Cameron and immigration.

Well, that’s one way of describing the policy.