Child welfare agencies criticise delay in closing Contactpoint

The decision not to immediately shut down Contactpoint, the controversial child protection database, has been criticised by child welfare organisations and security experts.

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat parties have criticised the database in the past and promised to shut it down.

But in a letter to directors of children's services, Tom Jeffrey, director general of the Department for Education (DfE), said: “As an interim measure, ministers have decided to maintain Contactpoint in limited operation pending firmer decisions on what should come after it.”

The Children’s Rights Alliance of England (Crae) said that the news was “extremely” disappointing.

“The coalition Government has not yet acted on its pledge to scrap Contactpoint. Children themselves have told us they are anxious about how data kept about them will be used, retained and secure,” the lobbying body for children’s rights told Computeractive.

Contactpoint was set up to help a wide range of organisations and children’s services to identify vulnerable children. It was a key recommendation from the public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Victoria Climbie.

It holds the details of every child in the country and £227m has been invested in the database. But its launch was delayed three times because it has been dogged by security issues.

There have also been huge concerns because more than 330,000 people can access the data.

The system has been severely criticised by the House of Lords Select Committee on Merits of Statutory Instruments and by a report by the Foundation for Information Policy Research for the Information Commissioner, the Conservative party and the Lib Dems.

This month campaigning group, Action on Rights for Children (Arc) used the Freedom of Information Act to view a report on the security problems that have dogged the database.

The report, compiled by Deloitte in 2008, outlines a number of "residual risks" involved with the database.

These include a risk that security controls will not be effective because they have not been formally assured to a recognised standard.

“We have consistently raised concerns over several years about the lack of compliance of the database with human rights and data protection law.

"The database is disproportionate in nature (in retaining the details of all 0- to 18-year-olds in England) and its misrepresentation as a tool for child protection.

"It is time for the Government to demonstrate its commitment to the privacy rights of children and cease the use of Contactpoint,” said Crae.

The DfE said it would eventually close down Contactpoint and has told local authorities that no more money must be ploughed into the database.

“We are scaling Contactpoint back and will be closing it down in due course but when it is practical to do so and hope to be able to give further information in a few weeks,” a DfE representative said.