ContactPoint is the £224m computer system that will hold basic information about all children in England aged 0-18 years. It is designed to be accessible by 330,000 professionals, including nursery managers. By using the system they will be able to establish where a child lives, who their parents are, where they go to school and the contact details of the doctors, teachers and carers of each individual child.
The implementation of this database was prompted by the murder of Victoria Climbie and subsequent inquiry by Lord Laming, which identified the failure of authorities to co-ordinate their involvement with this child. It has been brought in as part of the Common Assessment Framework and is in line with the Every Child Matters agenda.
ContactPoint was due to be phased in during August but following recommendations in a report by Deloitte & Touche, the launch was delayed to the beginning of 2009.
In the meantime, nursery managers and other practitioners need to understand the system's purpose and benefits. They will need training to enable them to use the system effectively and know what to do with the information they have accessed. They will need to know how to correct errors in the data and who to report this to.
They may also need to be able to reassure parents, who may be anxious about the data that is held and how it will be used.
What are the benefits?
On the positive side, ContactPoint will allow all stakeholders to have a holistic view of a child and to take action promptly.
It will help to track children who regularly move between local authorities and who may be at risk of slipping through the net.
At the same time, it continues to raise many concerns and issues that as yet have not been fully addressed by those responsible for its implementation. These include concern over who will monitor the approval process of those accessing the system. If it is not stringent enough, the data could be available to people who will use it inappropriately. The definition of authorised users is currently very vague. As yet it is not known what level of staff will have access to the system.
The Government's track record regarding the security of data is poor and as ContactPoint will get information directly from other databases, there are significant risks surrounding security and accuracy.
If the benefits of the system are to be realised, the Government must work hard to address public concerns with more specific and detailed information on how it will operate, and ensure that those using the system are well vetted and given adequate training.
www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/contactpoint/
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