Government plans that could require teachers and health workers to report concerns about children they suspect of being involved in violent crime have been criticised by headteachers and GPs.

The government has launched a public consultation to assess whether there should be a "public health duty" to report concerns over children at risk.

Teachers, NHS workers and police officers in England and Wales could be held accountable for failing to spot violent crime among young people.

Phil Wellbrook speaks to campaigners about the issue

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has launched a consultation on the idea, saying he will use "all the tools" at his disposal to end violent crime.

Paul Luxmoore, the executive head of the Coastal Academies Trust - a group of five schools in east Kent - said teachers already raised concerns about the welfare of children with the police and social services.

He said: “Of course, we already refer ‘suspicions’ about children whose safety we are concerned about - to social services and to the police. We have always done this. The problem is that, as a consequence of austerity, social services and the police struggle to respond to these concerns because they lack the necessary resources.

“I believe that focusing only on knife crime misses the point. The huge majority of crimes involving knives relate to drug gangs. We have been shouting loudly for a long time about our children who are being groomed by gangs, but we have been mostly ignored or accused of being alarmist.

“We don’t need a consultation - we just need the government to listen. And, of course, we are also being ignored when we try to tell the government that by slashing funding for schools, which has resulted in cutting support staff, they are also undermining our ability to protect our children. Is the government capable of listening?”

There was also concerns from GPs. Medway GP Dr Julian Spinks said: “The idea that a fundamental part of my job should be to spot children in gangs is going too far and I am worried that we are going to reach the point where health staff are blamed rather than the person committing the crime.”

Kent Police recently announced plans for a Medway Task Force to help tackle violent crime in the wake of data pointing to an increase in offences.

As part of a crackdown codenamed Operation Sceptre, Kent Police have arrested 150 people as part of the campaign.

The government says its plan is intended to "help spot the warning signs that a young person could be in danger, such as presenting in A&E with suspicious injury, to worrying behaviour at school or issues at home".

Home Secretary Sajid Javid called violent crime "a disease rotting our society" and said he was "committed to ending this scourge."

Councillors are meeting today to discuss whether to set up a committee to tackle the rise in knife crime.

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