Renewed doubts have been expressed about the role the planned English children's commissioner will have in Wales.

Questions were first raised on Tuesday when the government set out its response to a report by the Welsh affairs select committee on empowering children and young people in Wales.

The MPs had warned that existing arrangements, in which the children's commissioner for Wales can only review devolved matters, were "inadequate".

They had called for his powers to be extended to cover non-devolved areas.

But the government said the planned commissioner for England would "deal with all non-devolved matters affecting children, irrespective of their geographic location".

This raises the prospect of two separate commissioners being responsible for children's issues in Wales.

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Following the announcement, the Welsh Liberal Democrats accused Westminster ministers of undermining the Cardiff ombudsman.

"The government is failing Welsh children with respect to their rights," health spokesman Kirsty Williams warned on Wednesday.

"This anti-devolution stance today only seeks to underline the fact that the current representation of young people with regard to non-devolved matters is inadequate.

"Peter Clarke, the children’s commissioner for Wales, has already spoken out against these moves. He is right to say that giving these responsibilities to the English commissioner will only confuse young people in Wales.

She called for the children’s commissioner for Wales’ powers to be extended to cover Welsh children in secure estate outside Wales.

"The interests of all Welsh children would be best served by extending the powers of our commissioner to cover all non-devolved matters," Williams argued.

But the UK government insisted that there would be close cooperation between the two officials.

The English commissioner would be "proactive in seeking the views of the other UK children's commissioners" said the response to the report.