The second recommendation in Lord Laming's report is that the government should set up a new national agency for children and families, to be led by a chief executive who "incorporates the responsibilities of a children's commissioner for England", writes David Callaghan and Alex Dobson.

Campaigners calling for an English equivalent of the Children's Commissioner for Wales may have started to celebrate, until they realised the exact nature of the new 'commissioner's' role.

The post will be part of a new structure featuring a ministerial children and families board chaired by a cabinet minister. The new agency would report to the board through its chief executive, under Laming's proposals.

So there would be a new structure leading to the very top of the government in order to ensure children and families issues will always be close to the centre of national policy thinking.

Laming's plan has attracted support in parliament through an early day motion backing his proposals tabled by former social worker Hilton Dawson MP.

Felicity Collier, chief executive of Baaf Adoption and Fostering "applauded" the idea of having a commissioner "as an advocate for children at the heart of the policy-making process".

But for Welsh commissioner Peter Clarke there is a serious flaw in the plan. He warns that the essential element of a commissioner is complete independence from government.

"My suggestion is therefore that the title of 'children’s commissioner' should be dropped, and that the separate argument about the need for a truly independent commissioner for England still stands," he added.

Alongside the question of independence from government, Clarke says that a commissioner could not take responsibility for both children and their families.

"We know families and children often have joint interests, but those interests can come into conflict and that is particularly likely where family members are harming children. What is vital is that children are given the opportunity to have their voices heard," he said.

He adds that there also appears to be quite narrow restrictions on what the English commissioner for children could actually do.

"The remit seems only to extend to serious case reviews as outlined under the Children Act 1989, whereas I have extremely wide powers that allow me to consider any matter affecting any child ordinarily resident in Wales," he says.

Ministers in Scotland are planning for a commissioner on the lines of the Welsh commissioner, with a stated intent to publish legislation before the parliamentary elections in May.

England already has a children's rights director, Roger Morgan, whose appointment nearly 18 months ago was seen as an attempt to appease the lobby calling for a commissioner in the wake of the Waterhouse Report into abuse in north Wales care homes.

But although health minister Jacqui Smith described the director as a "powerful champion for some of the most vulnerable children in our society", the post is based within the National Care Standards Commission so is far from independent. His role is to have an overview of the rights of children receiving services regulated by the commission.

Health secretary Alan Milburn gave an immediate response to Lord Laming's report, and welcomed some of the recommendations. But he did not mention a children's commissioner and that may be an indication that the government is still cool on the idea.

So the calls for a truly independent children's commissioner for England are likely to continue, but  the likelihood of one being established still appearing remote.