Children's database in use after months of delays

All children's details will be on the database

A database which holds the details of every child in England has come online for the first time, after a series of delays.

From today, 800 frontline practitioners including social workers, health professionals and head teachers will start using the system, which aims to give professionals a holistic view of child care.

The £224m ContactPoint system was recommended in Lord Laming's report into the death of Victoria Climbie, and holds details of a child's name, address, date of birth and details of their schools, GPs, social workers and support services.

The database was due to be deployed last October, but was then delayed until January 2009, and then again till March, when work was halted while security problems in the system were ironed out.

A "shielding" system that was designed to protect the records of 55,000 children was found not to work after records were uploaded to the database.

The problem has now been fixed and the system will be available to workers in 17 local authorities as well as charities Barnardo's and the disabled children's charity KIDS in the north west of England, before eventually being rolled out across the rest of the country.

The government says important progress has been made since January when the first steps to activate the system started.

The early adopter local authorities now have management teams in place who manage the quality of data on ContactPoint in their local areas and train frontline users.

"If we are to do our best to make sure children are protected and that no child slips through the net, then it’s crucial the right agencies are involved at the right time and get even better at sharing information. ContactPoint is vital for this because it will enable frontline professionals to see quickly and easily who else is in contact with a child," said secretary of state for children, schools and families, Ed Balls.