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A national assessment of the training, skills and experience of foster carers has been announced by the government.

Education minister Lord Filkin said he planned to build a picture of the number and "characteristics" of the UK's approved foster carers.

In a House of Lords debate on looked-after children last week, Lord Filkin said the data would feed into the forthcoming children's workforce strategy.

He said the quality of support and training to foster carers varied greatly and the government needed a better analysis of the situation.

Felicity Collier, chief executive of Baaf Adoption and Fostering, said she was delighted to see training for foster carers on the government's agenda.

She argued that foster carers should be registered with the General Social Care Council, have continuing professional development and training, and be paid according to their skills and experience.

Collier said the number of foster carers in the UK needed to be increased from the estimated present number of 38,000 to 45,000, and that they had to be highly skilled to look after challenging young people.

During the debate Lord Filkin pledged to set up a round table of experts to look at other ways to prevent children being taken into care. Family Rights Group chief executive Cathy Ashley, who has been approached about the idea by Filkin, said the experts were likely to focus on family group conferences, mediation and early family support.

The minister will also meet representatives of the Oregon Social Learning Centre, a US research organisation, to discuss their work with foster parents and carers, including research into a play technique which allows foster parents and carers to better understand a child's preoccupations and thoughts.