The government launched a high level official inquiry last week into the use of expert witnesses in child abuse cases, in the face of a shortage of paediatricians willing to undertake court work.

Margaret Hodge, the children's minister, announced that the chief medical officer for England, Professor Liam Donaldson, would look at the competencies required to give expert evidence in the family courts, and ways of remedying the dearth of paediatricians, paediatric pathologists, and other experts who will agree to do the work.

The move comes amid what seems to be a …