The Department of Health is said to be planning to "re-energise" a programme of reform to improve the lives of children in care.

The Government's Quality Protects programme was launched in 1998 to improve children's social services. The initial three-year programme has been extended to five years.

But the progress by local authorities, although good was "very variable", Amy Weir, lead inspector for Quality Protects, told the social workers' magazine Community Care.

Councils across England have recently had to produce action plans for the Quality Protects initative but about 25 of 150 local authorities have been told to do significant extra work on their plans to bring them up to scratch.