Two years after the death of Victoria Climbie thousands of children still do not have an allocated social worker, warn the Liberal Democrats today.

Ministers have been formally given the report of the Laming inquiry into the death of the eight year old girl.

Lord Laming is expected to criticise social workers for failing to intervene in time to save Victoria - who died with 128 injuries on her body - and will paint a picture of confusion within social, health and legal services aimed at child protection.

Lib Dems argue that the government does "not have to wait for another report to start putting things right."

The party's social services spokesman, Paul Burstow, believes "local and central government have not acted on the obvious lessons of Victoria Climbie's death".

He highlights research showing that thousands of at risk children do not have a dedicated social worker.

"As many as 4000 vulnerable children do not have an allocated social worker. There are around 11,250 children where there are serious question marks over arrangements for their safety," he said.

"Chronic shortages of cash and staff in social services put children's lives at risk."

"Lack of supervision and coaching of social workers, extra work that comes from staff shortages and the pressure to keep a lid on budgets have produced a system that fails to safeguard children."

Burstow backs the creation of a English children's rights commissioner to head up a strategy with "the long-term aim of reducing child homicides".

"A children's rights commissioner is not a quick fix for the child protection system," he suggests.

"The commissioner should promote and protect the welfare and rights of all children, oversee all inquiries into and reviews of child deaths, monitor legislation and advise on new legislation."

The new watchdog "would monitor the practice of public agencies", argues Burstow, and overcome problems of poor coordination between child protection agencies.

"The lack of communication and co-ordination between local agencies has repeatedly been identified as a key factor in a child's death," he said.

"The government must also give local Area Child Protection Committees the statutory powers they need to ensure that all of the agencies involved in the welfare of children stop paying lip service and start paying attention to child protection."