Home Office minister Hilary Benn will hold talks with Sussex Police to discuss extending a pioneering child kidnap alert system across Britain.

He offered to meet senior officers and East Worthing and Shoreham Tory MP Tim Loughton to discuss the success of Child Alert.

The meeting will take place when the county's pilot scheme, which began last month, has been completed.

Mr Benn described Child Alert as "imaginative" and said it could play a crucial role in tracking down children in those "crucial early hours" after they go missing.

Amber Alert, the US scheme on which Child Alert is based, was started in Texas in 1996 and now operates in 15 states.

Within hours of a child going missing, television and radio programmes are interrupted with news flashes and messages are beamed on to motorway signs calling for help from the public.

In California, 11 children have been rescued since July, thanks largely to the scheme.

Following an article in The Argus, Sussex Police decided to pilot the scheme here.

The project has been backed by Sarah Payne's mother Sara, who described it as a "fantastic" initiative to tackle paedophiles.

Speaking in the Commons last night, Mr Loughton said although the Sussex pilot was welcome, it would be useful to see Child Alert up and running over a wider area.

Mr Benn told him: "I gladly undertake to monitor carefully the success of the scheme. I am sure that other forces will be looking with great interest at the work that Sussex is doing."