Contactpoint will be switched off at noon today

Contactpoint, the controversial database containing the details of every child in Britain is to be switched off today at noon.

A spokesman for the Department for Education (DfE) said all the log-in details and information held about children will be erased.

“From midday today, no users will be able to access the Contactpoint database. The discs and systems which currently hold the data will be wiped clean and the data, namely all child records created or fed into Contactpoint will be destroyed.

“This will be conducted and validated in accordance with approved Government standards.

"The deletion process will also include the secure destruction of all backups that have been taken of the data. DfE will retain audit logs for the minimum period required by government standards,” the DfE told Computeractive.

Contactpoint, which launched in January, last year, was set up after the Victoria Climbie inquiry. The purpose was to allow social workers, doctors and other child-care professionals to liaise with each other to help children at risk.

However it was the database was dogged by serious concerns over security and privacy and its launch was delayed many times.

The Government said it did not consider Contactpoint was the answer. It initially delayed closing the database but in July sent a letter to directors of children’s services around the country saying it was considering a national signposting system.

“It said this would 'focus on helping a strictly limited group of practitioners to find out whether a colleague elsewhere is working, or has previously worked, with the same vulnerable child.

"We are working closely with our partners to assess the feasibility and affordability of such an approach and will provide an update in the autumn.”