Four children a week die of abuse

As many as four children die every week in England from abuse or neglect, according to the children's services watchdog Ofsted. A new report shows Ofsted received notifications from local authorities of 424 serious incidents, relating to 282 deaths of children in 17 months.

The report also showed that four in 10 incidents involved children under the age of one. As the fall-out from the shocking death of Baby P continues, inspectors said vulnerable children are being neglected as councils fail to act on the "worst cases of abuse".

The watchdog said "too many" children were being let down because of major flaws in the way cruelty cases are handled.

Christine Gilbert, the chief inspector, said the safety of children in England could not be guaranteed and insisted "everyone involved in child protection in any way must take stock of the role they play". "I really wish we could guarantee that something so tragic will never happen again, but I can't," she said.