Senior social workers have warned that a database designed to protect children in England could be exploited by paedophiles, a newspaper has reported.

{mosimage}The £224m Contact Point System will contain details of the 11m children in the country. It goes live next year.

But the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) has outlined “significant” concerns, The Times said.

However, the Department for Children, Schools and Families insisted the system would be secure.

The system was set up after the official inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie concluded the eight-year-old’s murder could have been prevented if there had been better communication between the professionals involved.

However, The Times said the ADCS had written to Christine Goodfellow, who is in charge of Contact Point, expressing concerns about the policing and vetting arrangements.

Richard Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS information systems and technology policy committee, said it “may allow a situation where an abuser could be able to access Contact Point for illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions”.

Thousands of crime suspects are to be housed in flats and houses in cities around England and Wales while awaiting trial, in an emergency measure to ease prison overcrowding.

The number of child murders in England and Wales has halved in the last decade, according to an analysis of official figures.

Three people were today charged with the murder of a 23-year-old man with learning difficulties after a street attack.