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New database will put children at risk, say parents
Tim Ross26 Jan 2009
Security fears were raised today over a government database listing the personal details of every child in the country.
The names, dates of birth, GPs, schools and home addresses of all 11 million children in England have now been entered on the £224 million ContactPoint system.
Ministers said parents had no right to withdraw their children from the online directory, which will be accessed by nearly 400,000 people and began operating today.
Parents condemned the system, warning that they did not trust the Government to keep sensitive information safe from paedophiles.
ContactPoint is intended to improve communication between health, social workers, teachers and the police as part of moves to prevent more tragic cases such as Baby P.
But the database has led to fears that it could be open to misuse and warnings that it will never be completely secure.
Margaret Morrissey, from campaign group Parents Outloud, said: “As parents we have absolutely no faith in any kind of security or protection that Government has over our information.
“This has a real danger of putting a lot of children in a vulnerable position.”
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin said all staff will undergo rigorous enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks before being given access to ContactPoint.
The directory will be protected from hackers through sophisticated passwords, PINs and user identities, she said.
But the minister acknowledged that tens of thousands of children at risk of abuse would need extra protection on the system to keep them safe.
Details for these children will be “shielded” and only accessible to a limited number of professionals.
For the vast majority of children under the age of 18, however, personal details will be available to 390,000 professionals, including workers from charities such as NSPCC and Barnardo's.
“This is a universal database of all children,” Lady Morgan said. “We are working with local authorities and voluntary organisations to make sure parents understand what ContactPoint is.
“What we are looking at is an online directory of all children. ContactPoint can ensure that no child falls through the net.”
The database will help council staff identify children who are missing from the school system, for example.
The scheme has sparked fears among children and teenagers that paedophiles could gain access to their home and school addresses.
An official evaluation found ContactPoint could never be 100 per cent secure.
Liberal Democrat children's spokesman David Laws said: “This intrusive and expensive project needs to be scrapped.
“An independent review has already undermined all of the Government's assurances that the database will be secure.
“The Government has shown it can't be trusted with sensitive data.
“Parents have every right to demand that their children's personal details are not put at risk.”
Reader views (13)
I checked the Gov website and it informs that as a parent I have a right to know what information Contact Point holds on my child. However, despite 'trawling' the whole site, I can find no means of exercising this 'right'.
As a responsible parent, I am concerned that such personal details will be available to so many without my permission or consent, let alone verification of authenticity and/or accuracy.
- Charlotte, Lancaster UK, 27/01/2009 11:20
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If it's all for the best and poses no danger. Why then are children of peers, MP's, Ministers, Royals and so called celebrities exempt?
Once more..one rule for them one rule for us.
- Ethan, UK, 27/01/2009 11:14
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Good question, Charles, London. The purpose of this database and the NIR database is the same as all of this (Blair’s and Brown‘s) government’s intrusive, oppressive legislation: to increase government power over us. It has become Gordon Brown’s obsession to intrude, control and track us to further his authoritarian leadership.
Brown says he listens to the people, but he doesn’t - he only listens to himself. That is why the government ratified the new EU constitution (under a pretend name) without allowing us the promised referendum. It got us into unwanted and massively expensive wars, it has been a puppet to a right-wing US government, it is destroying our democracy with thousands of new laws and draconian anti-civil liberties measures, it has made parliament a rubber stamp for Gordon Brown’s decrees, it is quietly rushing through an unwanted Chinese / Middle Eastern ID Card system and NIR database, ContactPoint and eBorders, it is sneaking through new powers (buried in the Coroners and Justice Bill) to dismantle our constitutional law by allowing the government to set aside the Data Protection Act, data protection principles and common law confidentiality. None of these will make us safer, but they will reduce our freedom, privacy and democratic power.
Unfortunately, protests against this government’s policies have no effect.
- Stan, Midlands, UK, 27/01/2009 02:18
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'The directory will be protected from hackers...'
Leaving aside the government's track record so far, you only have to search Google for 'data breach' to realise how utterly laughable this statement really is.
And while you're there, look up Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill to see just how toothless the Data Protection Act will become once it comes into force.
Your kids' data is not only at risk from opportunistic hacking and careless losses, but also legitimate information sharing orders once this goes through.
Smile - you're on camera!
- Michelle Graham, Birmingham, UK, 27/01/2009 01:11
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Lets hope theres an early disaster and the whole thing get scrapped. Its far too dangerous and besides children at risk there will be adults at risk as well.
It could lead to a rise in kidnaps let alone from divorced fathers who have no idea as to where their kids are.
- Tony Islander, Herts, 26/01/2009 19:46
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Anything in a database or other computer file can be stolen (copied). Once this has happened and the data in in the hands of bad people, there is no way for it ever to be brought back under "proper" control.
The contents of this database, in the wrong hands, amounts to a one-stop shop for paedophiles and blackmailers. Inevitably and soon, they will get their hands on it. The losers will be the UK's most vulnerable children who it is supposed to be protecting! And one cannot over-emphasize, once the data has been stolen, there is no way ever to get it back.
- Nigel, London, 26/01/2009 18:36
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Forgive me if i seem a little dense here, the pupose of this dfatabase is precisely WHAT? Not being a parewnt myself i fail to see any relvance to this intrusion ( yet again) on family life, Its unwanted, unwarranted and unsafe......who please ( and how ) is it supposed to "protect"?
- Charles, London, 26/01/2009 18:16
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This is a cynical move to condition our children. By the time they reach voting age they will have been conditioned to believe that Big Brother is protecting them and that monitoring them is necessary to that end.
Parents who are against it are being portrayed as wantonly putting their children at risk.
- James Taylor, London, England, 26/01/2009 18:02
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As an IT professional I would query why some records need to be shielded ? If the security is good there is no need for two levels. If you have two levels it is an admission you have no faith in the first level.
I'll give it a maximum of a year before a copy of the database is left on a train/in a toilet/in a bar/in a taxi or ..........
- Roger, England, 26/01/2009 17:53
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As the children become adults the government will have it's national database by the back door.
- George, ramsgate uk, 26/01/2009 17:11
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I think that no child is safe until all the schools in the UK remove their signs and the government outlaw them appearing on maps or listed in the yellow pages, I mean imagine what might happen if a paedophile discovered the exsistance of a school in his neighbourhood!
- Nj, London, 26/01/2009 17:05
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The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is launching a publicity campaign to let families know how much information on them will be held by ContactPoint.
In defiance of Government guidance, it will tell them they can have details kept from the estimated one million officials who would otherwise be allowed to access them.
If parents around the country decide to have their records shielded, it risks undermining the effectiveness of ContactPoint as a way for authorities to share information on England's 11 million children.
I urge any parent to insist on having their children's records shileded.
- Gill, birmingham UK, 26/01/2009 16:36
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And how as the parent and guardian of 4 year old do i get my childsn details off this system, surely his personal infomation is being processed and being made available without his or my express consent
- Dave, manchester, 26/01/2009 15:35
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