Social services were heavily criticised for failing to protect Victoria Climbie

Proposed changes also concentrate on improving the identification, referral and tracking of children at risk and the provision of mainstream and specialist child services.

A green paper reveals plans to forge closer links between local authority departments and to promote closer co-operation between health, education and social care services.

BBC Social Affairs Editor Niall Dickson said the green paper would also propose making overall children's services more accountable at a local level.

The consultation paper is the government's response to recommendations made after a public inquiry into the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie at the hands of her great-aunt and her boyfriend.

It is essential that the children's commissioner for England is a powerful children's advocate, independent of government NSPCC Cautious welcome for proposals

Niall Dickson said a new director of children's services and a councillor would be appointed to each local authority.

Co-ordinating bodies known as area child protection committees would also be put on a "statutory footing" to clarify their roles and responsibilities.

David Behan, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, welcomed the proposals but emphasised the need to improve the training and development of the workforce.

"The key to driving these reforms forward once the green paper is published is going to be about how we invest in our staff."

"We need to build and consolidate that work so that all professionals working with children are undergoing inter-agency training and working together."

'Nobody held accountable'

Liz Kendall of the Institute of Public Policy Research think tank, which has advised the government on its child policy, gave her support:

"One of the problems in the past has been that everybody and nobody has been held accountable".

But she was critical of the government for taking too adult-centred an approach to its services reform.

"What tends to happen is that adult services tend to dominate the situation. The government's focus is really on trying to get elderly people out of hospital beds," she said.