THE disclosure today that nearly 90 per cent of 'at risk' children on Lancashire's Child Protection Register are not being visited by social workers is appalling.

Nor is it any comfort that Social Services in Blackburn with Darwen do better, with 63 per cent of the children on its register seen at least every six weeks as they should be. That is still far from good enough.

For, together with the shocking shortcomings of Lancashire Social Services, it means that scores of vulnerable youngsters are not receiving the protection they should.

And if reminders are needed of what can happen when the child protection system fails such children, then the recent cases of six-year-old Lauren Wright, beaten to death by her wicked stepmother in Norfolk, and of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie's equally brutal death in London at the hands of her evil aunt spell out what the dreadful consequences can be.

Yet, disturbingly, this is failure by Lancashire is no blip. These disclosures come after three deaths in four years of babies under the supposed protection of Social Services -- that of four-month-old Emma Jade Dyson, thrown into the canal at Burnley last year by her mentally disturbed with a known record of child violence; Jack Shackleton, aged 16 moths, killed the year before by his father in Burnley; and five month old Levi Rose, also of Burnley, killed by his parents in 1996.

And even after two of these tragedies, it was revealed in a damning report by the government's Audit Commission watchdog that 13 children of the 'at risk' register did not even have a social worker allocated to them and that social workers were not intervening in cases involving both children and adults until they had reached crisis point. Now, we find they are still failing the vulnerable they are meant to protect.

A sweeping review of this department is needed and the question asked whether the right people are in charge of it. We need to know urgently what is going to be done.

Nothing less than an prompt and thorough action plan by the County Council -- put openly before the public for its judgment and approval -- will suffice. For what is happening now is totally unacceptable.