Scrapping independent reviewing officers (IROs) could open the floodgates to child abuse, the shadow children's minister has warned.

An independent review on foster care by Sir Martin Narey and Mark Owers, commissioned by the Department for Education and published last month, recommended the scrapping of IROs.

The review claimed not to have seen any evidence supporting the effectiveness of IROs and suggested the money invested in them could be better invested elsewhere.

But speaking in a debate on foster care in the House of Commons yesterday, Emma Lewell-Buck stressed the importance of IROs as the link between children in care and the local authority, arguing they were crucial to protecting the rights of youngsters.