A group of MPs is calling for an urgent review of child protection in England and says more children at risk of harm should be be taken into care. It comes as the government launches a new police inquiry into child abuse allegations in north Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lisa Harker, the head of strategy at the NSPCC, told the Today programme that, despite recent cases, social workers are still reluctant to remove children from their families.

"If anything, professionals are over-optimistic about the capacity of situations to improve," she told presenter Justin Webb.

"It's never a decision taken lightly by professionals to take children into care and it is regrettable that children need to be taken into care but if anything professionals wait too long to make those decisions."

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