1 February 2008
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime to abandon plans to create the Information Sharing Index, a national database of all children aged between birth and eighteen."
Details of Petition:
"How many parents are aware that the DfES is planning a huge national database of every child in the UK. AS well as their names and addresses, it will also hold parent’s contact details and the name and contact details of every education, health and social care practitioner that children come into contact with. At this stage we don’t know exactly who will be able to access that information, but the plan is that practitioners will be able to contact each other to share information without parental consent. Parents will no longer have the right to act as gatekeeper and your child’s privacy and the right to withhold information about their education, health and social welfare will be lost completely. Remember, this will effect every child, not just children deemed to be ‘at risk’. Could this be a national identity scheme by the back door? Once a child has been given a unique ID in a database such as this, how easy will it be for the Government to keep that ID after the age of 18. This is the single most important issue facing the electorate at this time."
Read the Government’s response
Thank you for your e-petition. The Government remains committed to introducing ContactPoint in England.
ContactPoint will provide a quick way for practitioners to find out who else is working with the same child or young person to make it easier for them to deliver better coordinated support to children and families.
ContactPoint will be a simple online tool containing:
- Basic identifying information for each child; name, address, date of birth, gender, and contact details for parent or carers. Each child will also have a unique identifying number;
- Contact details for the child’s educational setting and GP practice and for other practitioners or services working with them; and
- An indication as to whether a service or practitioner holds an assessment under the Common Assessment Framework or whether they are a lead professional for that child.
No case information will be held on ContactPoint - it is not a replacement for practitioner action to support a child or young person.
ContactPoint places no obligation on practitioners to share information.
Practitioners must use their professional judgement, as they do now, to decide whether it is appropriate to share any information with any other practitioner who contacts them. Obtaining consent to share information is good practice - ContactPoint does not change that.
ContactPoint is being developed with extensive input from a wide range of stakeholders, including:
- Children, young people, parents and carers;
- Practitioners and managers from across children’s services, and bodies that represent them; and
- Delivery partners - local authorities, national and local partners including voluntary and community sector organisations.
ContactPoint will cover all children in England because it is not possible to predict accurately, in advance, which children will need additional services. Any child or young person could require the support of additional services at any time in their childhood.
The Government has been considering stakeholder feedback and looking carefully at the implications that the proposed changes could have on the system. It is clear from the considerable work done so far that more time than originally planned is needed to address the changes to ContactPoint which potential system users suggested. ContactPoint will be made available to early adopters from autumn 2008 and to remaining local authorities and national partners by summer 2009.
Security is, and always has been, of paramount importance. The Government is working closely with Information Commissioner’s Office and is mindful that the Data Protection Act 1998 requires that the level of technical and organisational security must be appropriate for the data held.
Like all other Government Departments, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has recently conducted a review of how personal data is stored and protected. As a result of that review the Government is confident that there are very robust procedures in place for ContactPoint. In addition, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families has commissioned Deloitte to undertake an independent assessment of ContactPoint security procedures. The independent assessment will report back in early in early 2008.
Thank you once again for your e-petition.