Children's database goes live

Every child will be on the ContactPoint database

The government's £224m children's database launched today, allowing
doctors, social workers and police to look up details on every child in England.

The ContactPoint database was set up in response to an inquiry into the murder of Victoria Climbié in 2000, and aims to improve information sharing between social services, GPs and police.

The system will contain the name, address, date of birth, GP and school of every child in the country, and the name and contact details of any professional working with that particular child.

The database will not hold information on a child's suspected abuse or family history, and will be impossible to download.

Ed Balls, secretary of state for children, schools and families, said that ContactPoint will help those who work with children to intervene earlier.

"It is good news that, after very careful planning, we can now actively start to deliver Lord Laming's crucial recommendation from the Victoria Climbie Inquiry," he said.

"We have seen from recent serious case reviews that the lack of proper and timely information sharing can have tragic consequences."

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have both pledged to scrap the database, calling it intrusive and unnecessary.

But Lord Laming, who led the inquiry into the murder of Victoria Climbié, said that the database was a key development in children's services.

"It will not replace the need for children's services organisations to ensure effective working across teams, across services and agencies, including sharing information where this is appropriate," he said. "But, in time, I believe ContactPoint will be an important tool in supporting this practice."

Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo's, said that the children's charity was supportive of ContactPoint.

"We believe that the directory will provide a quick way for authorised professionals to find out who else is working with a child, making it easier to deliver more co-ordinated and better services and helping us better to identify children of particular vulnerability," he said.