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06/08/2010
Child Contact Database Scrapped
Details of millions of children have been deleted today as a controversial £224 million Labour government database holding the records of all 11 million children in England was scrapped.
The data, known as ContactPoint, was established by the Labour administration in the wake of the Victoria Climbie abuse scandal to improve child protection measures.
It held the names, ages and addresses of all under-18s on a central computerised database, along with the contact details of their parents, schools and GPs.
Hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers and social workers had access to the register, which was designed to help co-ordinate who was working with children.
Now, it is all change as the coalition Government pledged to shut the database down, saying it was 'disproportionate and unjustifiable'.
As well as the enormous cost, the controversial system was beset by delays, technical problems and fears over security.
"Ministers do not believe that a database, which holds details of all children in England and which is accessible to hundreds of thousands of people, is the right way to help vulnerable children," the new Government said.
The database is now to be destroyed 'using government-approved security standards and processes'.
Victoria Climbie, eight, died in 2000 after months of abuse and neglect while living with her aunt Marie-Therese Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning.
She was seen by dozens of social workers, nurses, doctors and police officers before she died but all failed to spot and stop the abuse, as she was slowly tortured to death.
Announcing ContactPoint's closure last month, Children's Minister Tim Loughton said he recognised the problem, but commented: "We have never agreed that ContactPoint was the answer."
(BMcC/CD)
The data, known as ContactPoint, was established by the Labour administration in the wake of the Victoria Climbie abuse scandal to improve child protection measures.
It held the names, ages and addresses of all under-18s on a central computerised database, along with the contact details of their parents, schools and GPs.
Hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers and social workers had access to the register, which was designed to help co-ordinate who was working with children.
Now, it is all change as the coalition Government pledged to shut the database down, saying it was 'disproportionate and unjustifiable'.
As well as the enormous cost, the controversial system was beset by delays, technical problems and fears over security.
"Ministers do not believe that a database, which holds details of all children in England and which is accessible to hundreds of thousands of people, is the right way to help vulnerable children," the new Government said.
The database is now to be destroyed 'using government-approved security standards and processes'.
Victoria Climbie, eight, died in 2000 after months of abuse and neglect while living with her aunt Marie-Therese Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning.
She was seen by dozens of social workers, nurses, doctors and police officers before she died but all failed to spot and stop the abuse, as she was slowly tortured to death.
Announcing ContactPoint's closure last month, Children's Minister Tim Loughton said he recognised the problem, but commented: "We have never agreed that ContactPoint was the answer."
(BMcC/CD)
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