Staff urged to 'inform on violent'

The proposals could raise civil liberties issues by lowering the "danger" threshold at which individuals are put under surveillance, and even detained by authorities.

They may also lead to large amounts of personal information being circulated between agencies in an unprecedented fashion.

The draft plans on "multi-agency information sharing" - obtained by The Times - were circulated around Whitehall by Simon King, head of the Home Office's violent crime unit.

The document states: "Public bodies will have access to valuable information about people at risk of becoming either perpetrators or victims of serious violence.

"Professionals will obviously alert police or other relevant authority if they have good reason to believe (an) act of serious violence is about to be committed.

"However, our proposal goes beyond that, and is that, when they become sufficiently concerned about an individual, they must consider initial risk assessment of risk to/from that person and refer (the) case to (a) multi-agency body."

Under the plans, two new agencies could be set up - one for potential criminals and the other for potential victims. The suggestion is that these bodies would collate tip-offs from the front line and carry out "full risk assessments".

Danger signs could apparently include a violent family background, heavy drinking or mental health problems, while potential victims may seek treatment for stress from their GP.

Supporters say they could identify serious offenders such as Soham killer Ian Huntley - who had been subject to complaints of violent behaviour which were not circulated to authorities in Cambridgeshire, where he became a school caretaker.