All lone children will be registered at point of entry

Their details will be entered into the system at ports or airports before they are passed on to social services.

In 2003 about 3,000 children arrived in the UK without a parent or other adult.

Welfare workers hope the National Register for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (NRUC) will help stop trafficking and other exploitation.

The NRUC has been developed by a consortium of local and central government bodies including the Home Office and Local Government Association.

The NRUC will be accessible through a website but information on children will be password-protected and restricted to those responsible for their care.

The scheme - to come into operation early next year - will be unveiled by Home Office minister Desmond Browne and Lord Filkin, Under-secretary of State for Children and Young People, on Tuesday.

Lord Filkin said: "The human cost of not improving joined up care through information sharing is well documented.

"This national register is important because it helps to reduce these risks greatly."

Runaways

Since 2000 about 15,000 unaccompanied children have entered the UK. Of those approximately 8,000 remain in the care of social services.

Some travel alone to the UK but it is believed many are abandoned by traffickers at ports or airports.

It's a modern, innovative solution to the modern phenomenon of children seeking asylum on their own Peter Gilroy, NRUC committee chair

Only a fraction apply for asylum - and are therefore registered - on entry.

Lone children are generally immediately turned over to the care of social services who are responsible for assessing their case and registering them with the relevant authorities.

However, many children arrive without documentation or proof of age which makes it difficult for their asylum applications to be processed.

In some cases children have run away from the care of local authorities before their cases have been assessed and disappear making them vulnerable to abuse.

NRUC committee chairman Peter Gilroy said: "For the first time local authorities responsible for the care of these vulnerable children will share information directly with central government.

"It's a modern, innovative solution to the modern phenomenon of children seeking asylum on their own."