Allan Levy: Something can be done to prevent another Ainlee

The facts in the independent report into the case of two-year-old Ainlee Walker, whose parents starved and tortured her and were convicted of her manslaughter, have a sickening familiarity. The roll call of children who have died in similar circumstances includes Maria Colwell, Jasmine Beckford, Tyra Henry and Kimberley Carlile. We are drowning in recommendations from various inquiries. Where do we go from here?

The brutal killing of seven-year-old Maria Colwell by her stepfather, and the subsequent inquiry in 1973, prompted a commentator to write that it signalled "the beginning of modern political, public and professional interest in child abuse". That interest has been sustained by a series of high-profile inquiries, including, Cleveland, Orkney, "Pindown" in Staffordshire, Leicestershire, North Wales, and Victoria Climbié, which investigated various kinds of serious child abuse.

The deaths of Maria Colwell, Jasmine Beckford, Tyra Henry, and Kimberley Carlile had a substantial impact on the public and the professions. In each case a relative or carer had caused the child's death from neglect and physical abuse. The professionals involved, whether social workers, health workers, health visitors or the police, had failed to carry out any effective interventions. Warning signs were missed or ignored, inter-professional and inter-agency co-operation was found wanting, and, crucially, no proper evaluation of the available data was carried out. No one intervened and removed the children before the brutal ending of each child's life. The echoes in the case of Ainlee Walker are obvious.

Something has gone seriously wrong. It would, of course, be too ambitious to hope to eradicate all the cases that lead to children's unlawful deaths. Should we perhaps retire from the field and say that such deaths are inevitable, so nothing further can be done? This would be a profoundly wrong and defeatist view. We must continue to look critically at our laws, systems and procedures, and seek to improve them. It is the price of keeping our society civilised.

The solution does not appear to lie in further legislation. The Children Act gives social services, for instance, formidable powers to intervene when social workers reasonably suspect that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. Emergency action can be taken and care or supervision orders sought from the courts. Human rights instruments buttress the situation. The new Human Rights Act provides children with the right to life and the right to be protected from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child contains wide-ranging measures aimed at protecting all children.

There is a battery of laws. In addition, reams of paper circulate with guidance from central and local government. While one must appreciate that much, rarely acknowledged, good work has been done by social workers and others over the years, we cannot get away from the reality of unfilled posts, poor recruitment, poor training, inadequate supervision and organisation and many examples of an inability to assess and evaluate data vital to the welfare of children.

The present government has not been inactive. A national council is in place to register social workers and propagate good practice, and training will be extended by an extra year. Care standards have been addressed and measures put in place to ensure those who work with children are suitable to do so. The Social Services Inspectorate, a part of the Department of Health, also exists to inspect and evaluate the quality of services experienced by children. Lord Laming, in the Climbié report expected in the New Year, will no doubt have something to say about the Inspectorate's role and effectiveness. The Government has also set up a Children and Young People Unit – a cross-departmental government body reporting to a minister for young people.

Anxiety and great disquiet stemming from the sequence of terrible cases, now including Ainlee Walker, must lead to a more radical rethink and the demonstration of a political will to stem the dreadful events of the past generation. One suggested measure that has widespread support – except in central government – is the appointment of a children's commissioner for England, with real independence and wide powers. Acting as a champion of children, the commissioner would oversee reviews of children's deaths and other major cases, examine practices and procedures, stimulate reforms and ensure systems are working effectively.

Wales already has a commissioner, following the report of Sir Ronald Waterhouse after the North Wales Inquiry; Northern Ireland is committed to one, and Scotland is considering an appointment. One would hope that, eventually, the posts would merge. Countries, such as Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Costa Rica, already have the benefit of such a post.

There can certainly be no cause for complacency, and no excuse for relaxation, in the search for ways to reduce the incidence of unlawful child deaths. Our children deserve the best we can give them. And there is surely room for considerable improvement.

The writer was chairman of the Staffordshire Pindown Inquiry