Parenting classes for men are to be launched after a survey showed Britain’s 16-year-olds are now more likely to own a smartphone than have a father living at home.

Iain Duncan Smith says today that radical steps are needed to reverse the collapse in the two-parent family, which means that a million children are growing up without the influence of a father.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said the Government is planning to offer classes in parenting, tailored only for men, to rival the traditional ante-natal sessions attended by most pregnant women.

Parenting classes for men are to be launched after a survey showed Britain’s 16-year-olds are now more likely to own a smartphone than have a father living at home

Pilot projects will begin this year in areas with high rates of family breakdown, including Cheshire and Merseyside, the North East, London, East England and the Midlands.

Mr Duncan Smith told the Daily Mail: ‘It is not only the bond between a mother and her child which makes a real difference to a child’s life, it is the bond between a father and his child too.

‘The problem of absent fathers is far too common – with households left worse off and, more importantly, children left without the positive involvement of two parents in their life.’

Research by the think-tank Mr Duncan Smith set up, the Centre for Social Justice, has found that 62 per cent of teenagers sitting their GCSEs own a smartphone, compared with only 57 per cent who are still living with both parents.

‘This is a shocking reality – and I believe it cannot but have a negative impact on our society,’ he said.

‘As a society, we must do more to nurture loving family relationships and encourage parental attachment. Government has a role to play too. That is why we are introducing relationship support for fathers, and families as a whole. If we are serious about promoting a strong society, then we also have to be serious about seeking to support and strengthen families.’

Iain Duncan Smith says today that radical steps are needed to reverse the collapse in the two-parent family, which means that a million children are growing up without the influence of a father

The CSJ warns that without concerted Government action, by 2020 nearly half of all children taking their GCSEs – 48 per cent – will come from broken homes.

Mr Duncan Smith, the Cabinet’s staunchest champion of marriage, said many single-parent families do an ‘exceptionally good job’ of bringing up children.

But he said there was clear evidence that divorce ‘does harm to children – affecting everything from school work to eating habits, as well as their relationship with mum and dad’.

He believes classes teaching about the importance of fatherhood should become the norm.

An expert panel of charities and organisations which have already drawn up new advice on parenting, which is being added to ante-natal classes, will design the scheme.

The Department for Work and Pensions is proposing ‘men-only sessions’ and ensuring supporting material is not ‘mother-centric’.