The government has promised new powers to enforce contact orders in the wake of parental separation.

Education secretary Ruth Kelly, constitutional affairs secretary Lord Falconer and minister for women Patricia Hewitt presented their response to a consultation on the issue, pledging to give fathers greater access to their children

However they insisted the move had nothing to do with the campaigns by groups such as Fathers4Justice who have used civil disobedience to gain public attention.

New legislation will be introduced to ensure court orders are implemented by parents, with those who fail to provide access being threatened with community service punishments or even electronic tagging.

But Kelly said "the government was not persuaded that any legislative change to introduce a presumption of equal contact would benefit children".

Other measures put forward included better information and parenting plans to help parents make good arrangements, investment in efforts to keep cases out of court and in-court conciliation and mediation for those parents who do go to court.

"The new parenting plans published for consultation today will help parents reach the most appropriate arrangements for their family and their circumstances," the education secretary said.

"They offer realistic examples of workable contact arrangements for a variety of family situations. These should be available to parents through solicitors' and advice and mediation services this spring.

"In addition, we are making a further £7.5 million available over 2006/07 and 2007/08 to sustain and develop services to support contact between parents and children, including those delivered through child contact centres."

Pressure

Lord Falconer denied groups such as Fathers4Justice had prompted the rethink.

"It's the increasing recognition that in this area justice has been quite hard to find for many parents," he told the BBC.

"I don't think the justice system has been producing good results in too many cases.

"That's why we have got to change the system. It is not because of the civil disobedience campaigns but it is because there is a recognition that something is wrong."

But Theresa May, Conservative family spokeswoman, said the plans "lacked any teeth".

"I welcome the fact that the government has recognised that there is a problem with the system but we feel that the response is completely inadequate," she said.

"What they are trying to do is just tinker with the current system."