Universal Child Database
Encyclopedia
ContactPoint was a government database
that held information on all children under 18 in England. It was created in response to the abuse
and death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié in 2000 in England; in which it was found that various agencies involved in her care had failed to prevent her death. ContactPoint aimed to improve child protection
by improving the way information about children was shared between services. It was designed by Capgemini
and previously had the working titles of Information Sharing Index (or IS Index or ISI) and the Children's Index.
The database, created under the Children Act 2004
, cost £
224m to set up and £41m a year to run. It operated in 150 local authorities, and was accessible to at least 330,000 users. The database was heavily criticised by a wide range of groups, mainly for privacy
, security
and child protection reasons. On 12 May 2010 the new UK Coalition Government announced plans to scrap ContactPoint and on 6th August 2010 the database was switched off. From that date the Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) Regulations 2007,
as amended in 2010, no longer applies.
, Ivory Coast
, died 25 February 2000 in St. Mary's Hospital, London
) and her great aunt Marie-Thérèse Kouao arrived in London, sent by her parents for a chance of an education. A few months later, Kouao met Carl Manning on a bus which he was driving, and she and Victoria moved into his flat. It was here that she was abused, including being beaten with hammers, bike chains, and wires; being forced to sleep in a bin liner in the bath; and being tied up for periods of longer than 24 hours. Up to her death, the police, the social services of many local authorities, the NHS
, the NSPCC
, and local churches all had contact with her, and noted the signs of abuse. However, in what the judge in the trial following Victoria's death described as 'blinding incompetence', all failed to properly investigate the abuse and little action was taken. On 24 February 2000, Victoria was admitted into an accident-and-emergency department, semi-unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, multiple organ failure and malnutrition. She died the next day, aged eight. On 20 November 2000, her guardians, Marie Thérèse Kouao and Carl Manning, were charged with child cruelty and murder
; on 12 January 2001, both were found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Victoria's death led to a public inquiry
, launched on 31 May 2001 and chaired by Herbert Laming
, which investigated the role of the agencies involved in her care. The report, published on 28 January 2003, found that the agencies involved in her care failed to protect her and that on at least 12 occasions, workers involved in her case could have prevented her death. The Laming report led to, amongst other things, the creation of the Every Child Matters
programme, which consists of three green paper
s: Every Child Matters, published in September 2003; Every Child Matters: The Next Steps, published in early 2004; and Every Child Matters: Change for Children, published in November 2004. The
database proposals were announced in September 2003, alongside the publication of Every Child Matters, and was being created under Section 12 of the Children Act 2004. The idea of a child database, however, preceded the Laming report and was suggested in a report, Privacy and Data Sharing: The Way Forward for Public Services, by the Performance and Innovation Unit, published on 11 April 2002 – over a year before the Laming report – and was not related to child abuse.
in 2003 and was used by eleven other local authorities. There were doubts as to the legality of Bolton council obtaining data of children from the local Primary Care Trust
to put on the database, but the council was eventually advised that it was legal. The other pilot areas followed, in different ways. On 8 December 2005, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills
, Ruth Kelly
, made the official announcement of the introduction of the database, confirmed by the Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, Beverley Hughes
.
To allow the introduction of the database, the government required all local authorities to implement the Integrated Children's System, a framework to help improve outcomes for children. The government set a deadline of 1 January 2007, and 92 out of the 150 local authorities failed to achieve this. The government began a consultation on the 2007 draft regulations on 21 September 2006 which ended on 14 December 2006. In October 2006, the government selected Capgemini to design the database. On 15 February 2007, the database was renamed from Information Sharing Index to ContactPoint, following research with stakeholder groups, including children and families, who decided that the name ContactPoint made clear what the purpose of the database was: to improve communication between those working with children. A consultation on a guide for database users was launched on 4 May 2007 and ended on 27 July 2007.
The database was expected to cost £224m to set up, spread over three years beginning December 2005 (therefore costing £81m a year for the first three years), and £41m a year thereafter. The database, which would be operating in 150 local authorities and would be accessible by at least 330,000 users, was expected to be fully operational by the end of 2008; however, following the 2007 UK child benefit data scandal
, the deadline was pushed back for five months to allow a security review prior to implementation. Training for the workers had been planned begin in spring 2008.
Following the 2010 General Election the new government
scrapped the database as one of their measures 'to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government and roll back state intrusion.' A YouGov poll found that there was no consensus over whether this was the correct decision.
checks and training. Each local authority would decide who may access the database provided their role was listed in the ContactPoint Regulations. Users would need to provide a reason for accessing a record, and an audit trail
would be kept on access to the database to help detect misuse. Professionals who have completed a Common Assessment Framework, a tool used to identify the severity of a child's situation, would be able to record on a child's record that they had carried this out. No information discovered in this way would be held on ContactPoint. Under the Data Protection Act, all organisations supplying data to the database would have to inform children and guardians through fair-processing
notices. Subjects of the database could make access
requests, in writing, to view any personal data that organisations hold on them on the database and to correct any mistakes. The government estimated that the benefit of reducing unproductive work time using the database was valued at more than £88m.
The database would not hold case or assessment material or any subjective observations. The database could include information of a 'sensitive' nature, defined as issues relating to sexual health
, mental health
and substance abuse
, although consent from the child or the child’s guardians would have been needed, and it would not have appeared as such on the database; it would only note that the child was receiving help from 'sensitive services' and would not say what this was. Refusal of consent could be overridden if this could be justified. Margaret Hodge
, then children’s minister, had said that drug or alcohol use by parents, relatives and neighbours, together with other aspects of their behaviour, may be recorded. Government guidelines reveal that other information recorded may have included 'family routines', evidence of a 'disorgan-ised/chaotic lifestyle', 'ways in which the family’s income was used', signs of mental illness or alcohol misuse by relatives, and 'any serious difficulties in the parents’ relationship'.
In August 2006, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) announced that the database would not include telephone numbers or addresses of celebrities' children, nor of those of children with violent parents. Records of children who may be at risk could be 'shielded'; this would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The technical specification for ContactPoint did not include the capacity to store biometric data.
leavers or had learning disabilities
(although the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
only applies to those under 18 in England and Wales), and their permission was needed.
produced a report in November 2006, Children’s Databases – Privacy and Safety, saying the database guidelines ignored family values and privacy, and that the details on the database needs to be 'looked at carefully'. The government responded by saying they had 'serious reservations about [the] report's objectivity and evidence base'. Terri Dowty, one of the report's authors, replied, 'it's an appalling aspersion to throw at some of the leading academics in this field. I'm astonished they are challenging the evidence we used since much of the evidence in the report is from the Government itself.' Action on Rights for Children
said that the proposals invaded a child's right to privacy given by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while the Joint Committee on Human Rights
said that the 'serious interference' with the rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
– the right to respect for private life – seemed to be 'difficult to justify'. Liberty
, a civil liberties
interest group, said governments should not interfere with family life, warning against complacency 'about the importance of privacy in a free society'.
raised concerns that it may breach doctor–patient confidentiality
. The phrase 'any cause for concern' was criticised as being potential overly wide-ranging and intrusive, and there were fears of function creep
. A study by the Office of the Children's Commissioner,' I think it’s about trust' : The views of young people on information sharing, found that children themselves were concerned about invasions of their privacy, and that they would be reluctant to use 'sensitive services' if this would go on the database.
Commentators expressed concern about the country's increasing surveillance. In August 2004, the information commissioner, Richard Thomas, drawing a parallel with the way that governments in Eastern Europe and Spain gained too much power and information in the 20th century, expressed concern over this and other national databases, including the Citizen Information Project
, NHS National Programme for IT, and the introduction of identity cards
, warning that there was a danger of the country 'sleepwalk[ing] into a surveillance society
'. On 18 April 2006, Des Browne
, the secretary of state for defence
, said 'the Department for Education and Skills should also consider whether there is scope to realise further efficiency and effectiveness benefits through a child population register', and it is thought that the database may be used in conjunction with the National Identity Register and other databases. Phil Booth, national coordinator of NO2ID
, a group opposing identity cards, said this was 'cradle-to-grave surveillance'. Conservative Party
member of parliament Oliver Heald
said, 'there is already public concern at government plans for a compulsory identity card database, a nanny state
children's database and a property database for the council tax
revaluation'. Liz Davies of London Metropolitan University
argued that 'ContactPoint, the new database for every child in the country, is in effect a population-surveillance tool' and that 'for five years, the system to prevent child abuse has been vanishing before our eyes'. Fiona Nicholson of Education Otherwise
, a home-education support group, agreed with this assessment and said that 'frontline staff working to protect vulnerable children have also expressed disbelief that investing hundreds of millions in IT can be the best way to safeguard children'. Laming, however, said that Davies' assertion was a 'gross distortion of what is an intelligent application of technology aimed at ensuring every child benefits from the universal services'. Privacy International
awarded Hodge the 2004 Big Brother Award for 'Worst Public Servant', partly due to her backing of the database.
Security concerns about the database were significant, and commentators said that there was a large risk of abuse of the system. Evidence presented in 2006 to the management board of the Leeds NHS Trust
showed that in one month the 14,000 staff logged 70,000 incidents of inappropriate access. Sex offenders targeting children
might have used the database to find vulnerable
victims. The celebrity exclusions were attacked, with critics saying that it underlined fears about security, and that government ministers could have decided to exclude their own children from the database. The proposals might have broken data protection and human rights
laws.
Some had said that the database might lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
, where children from difficult backgrounds were treated as potential delinquents. The government was accused of using the public's response to the death of Victoria Climbié to force through the unpopular proposal and to curb civil liberties. There were concerns that the database would undermine child protection and parents, weakening the power of parents to look after children, and would 'do more harm than good'. The sheer size of the database could have meant that serious cases would be overlooked due to the abundance of minor incidents. There were doubts towards the government’s estimate of the cost of the database. The information commissioner estimates it at £1bn, which Hodge said was 'absurd', and others raised concerns over the cost, noting that government projects tend to go over-budget. Some questioned children’s ability to give informed consent
in their own right. Mary Marsh
, chief executive of the NSPCC
, wanted the database to cover the whole of the United Kingdom, not just England and Wales, saying 'the information held would be only partial and potentially worse than useless'. On 27 June 2006, a child protection conference, 'Children: Over Surveilled, Under Protected', held at the London School of Economics
, reached the conclusion that the database would do nothing to prevent child abuse, and that it would undermine parents' ability to look after their children.
The government rejected most of the negative criticism. The DfES said that the database would only contain basic information and 'will certainly not be including any information on children's diet or school attainment'. Laming had said that information for every child needs to be kept so that they would not be at risk. The government denied any possibility of function creep. They rebutted the concerns over privacy, with a spokesman for the DfES saying 'we are conscious of the need to respect personal privacy'. Hodge said that the database would be secure, that it would not undermine child protection and that it would help various agencies share information. Hughes said that the database would be secure and that 'we are confident we are doing all we could to ensure security'. The government said that they were confident that the database complied with the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act
. Paul Ennals
, chief executive of the National Children's Bureau
, said, 'the index is a proportionate response to a continuing problem and any action that helps reduce the number of children who slip through the net must be welcome'.
With the publication of the accreditation procedures for organisations to access ContactPoint, it became clear that the vast majority of voluntary organisations would not have been able to access ContactPoint. This meant that the majority of organisations that work with children or young people e.g. sports groups, uniformed groups and faith groups, would not be able to register their involvement, representing a real challenge for practitioners who wanted to see who as working with a particular child or young person.
Government database
Government databases collect personal information for various reasons .-Canada:...
that held information on all children under 18 in England. It was created in response to the abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
and death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié in 2000 in England; in which it was found that various agencies involved in her care had failed to prevent her death. ContactPoint aimed to improve child protection
Child welfare
Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability...
by improving the way information about children was shared between services. It was designed by Capgemini
Capgemini
Capgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...
and previously had the working titles of Information Sharing Index (or IS Index or ISI) and the Children's Index.
The database, created under the Children Act 2004
Children Act 2004
The Children Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The Act amended the Children Act 1989, largely in consequence of the Victoria Climbié inquiry....
, cost £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
224m to set up and £41m a year to run. It operated in 150 local authorities, and was accessible to at least 330,000 users. The database was heavily criticised by a wide range of groups, mainly for privacy
Data privacy
Information privacy, or data privacy is the relationship between collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them....
, security
Information security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....
and child protection reasons. On 12 May 2010 the new UK Coalition Government announced plans to scrap ContactPoint and on 6th August 2010 the database was switched off. From that date the Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) Regulations 2007,
as amended in 2010, no longer applies.
Development
In spring 1999, Victoria Climbié (born 2 November 1991 in AboboAbobo
Abobo is a northern suburb of Abidjan and urban commune of this city in Côte d'Ivoire. Abobo is one of the most populated communes in the country with about 1,500,000 inhabitants in an area of 9,000 ha , a density of 167 inhabitants per hectare. It is home to a railway station located on the road...
, Ivory Coast
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
, died 25 February 2000 in St. Mary's Hospital, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) and her great aunt Marie-Thérèse Kouao arrived in London, sent by her parents for a chance of an education. A few months later, Kouao met Carl Manning on a bus which he was driving, and she and Victoria moved into his flat. It was here that she was abused, including being beaten with hammers, bike chains, and wires; being forced to sleep in a bin liner in the bath; and being tied up for periods of longer than 24 hours. Up to her death, the police, the social services of many local authorities, the NHS
National Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
, the NSPCC
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.-History:...
, and local churches all had contact with her, and noted the signs of abuse. However, in what the judge in the trial following Victoria's death described as 'blinding incompetence', all failed to properly investigate the abuse and little action was taken. On 24 February 2000, Victoria was admitted into an accident-and-emergency department, semi-unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, multiple organ failure and malnutrition. She died the next day, aged eight. On 20 November 2000, her guardians, Marie Thérèse Kouao and Carl Manning, were charged with child cruelty and murder
Child murder
The murder of children is considered an abhorrent crime in much of the world; they are perceived within their communities and the state at large as being vulnerable, and therefore especially susceptible to abduction and murder. The protection of children from abuse and possible death often involves...
; on 12 January 2001, both were found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Victoria's death led to a public inquiry
Public inquiry
A Tribunal of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body in Common Law countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland or Canada. Such a public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more...
, launched on 31 May 2001 and chaired by Herbert Laming
Herbert Laming, Baron Laming
William Herbert Laming, Baron Laming, CBE isa British social worker and Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. On 29 June 2011, it was announced that he had been elected to succeed Baroness D'Souza as Convenor of the Crossbench Peers; he will take up the post in September 2011 when the House...
, which investigated the role of the agencies involved in her care. The report, published on 28 January 2003, found that the agencies involved in her care failed to protect her and that on at least 12 occasions, workers involved in her case could have prevented her death. The Laming report led to, amongst other things, the creation of the Every Child Matters
Every Child Matters
Every Child Matters is a UK government initiative that was launched in 2003, at least partly in response to the death of Victoria Climbié...
programme, which consists of three green paper
Green paper
In the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland and the United States a green paper is a tentative government report of a proposal without any commitment to action; the first step in changing the law...
s: Every Child Matters, published in September 2003; Every Child Matters: The Next Steps, published in early 2004; and Every Child Matters: Change for Children, published in November 2004. The
database proposals were announced in September 2003, alongside the publication of Every Child Matters, and was being created under Section 12 of the Children Act 2004. The idea of a child database, however, preceded the Laming report and was suggested in a report, Privacy and Data Sharing: The Way Forward for Public Services, by the Performance and Innovation Unit, published on 11 April 2002 – over a year before the Laming report – and was not related to child abuse.
Implementation and discontinuation
The pilot schemes (designated as identification, referral and tracking (IRT) schemes) began with Bolton councilMetropolitan Borough of Bolton
The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Bolton, but covers a far larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley and Westhoughton, and a suburban and rural element from the West Pennine...
in 2003 and was used by eleven other local authorities. There were doubts as to the legality of Bolton council obtaining data of children from the local Primary Care Trust
NHS Primary Care Trust
An NHS primary care trust is a type of NHS trust, part of the National Health Service in England. PCTs commission primary, community and secondary care from providers. Until 31 may2011 they also provided community services directly. Collectively PCT are responsible for spending around 80% of the...
to put on the database, but the council was eventually advised that it was legal. The other pilot areas followed, in different ways. On 8 December 2005, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
The Secretary of State for Education is the chief minister of the Department for Education in the United Kingdom government. The position was re-established on 12 May 2010, held by Michael Gove....
, Ruth Kelly
Ruth Kelly
Ruth Maria Kelly is a British Labour Party politician of Irish descent who was the Member of Parliament for Bolton West from 1997 until she stood down in 2010...
, made the official announcement of the introduction of the database, confirmed by the Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, Beverley Hughes
Beverley Hughes
Beverley June Hughes, Baroness Hughes of Stretford is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Stretford and Urmston from 1997 to 2010. In 2004, she was appointed to the Privy Council...
.
To allow the introduction of the database, the government required all local authorities to implement the Integrated Children's System, a framework to help improve outcomes for children. The government set a deadline of 1 January 2007, and 92 out of the 150 local authorities failed to achieve this. The government began a consultation on the 2007 draft regulations on 21 September 2006 which ended on 14 December 2006. In October 2006, the government selected Capgemini to design the database. On 15 February 2007, the database was renamed from Information Sharing Index to ContactPoint, following research with stakeholder groups, including children and families, who decided that the name ContactPoint made clear what the purpose of the database was: to improve communication between those working with children. A consultation on a guide for database users was launched on 4 May 2007 and ended on 27 July 2007.
The database was expected to cost £224m to set up, spread over three years beginning December 2005 (therefore costing £81m a year for the first three years), and £41m a year thereafter. The database, which would be operating in 150 local authorities and would be accessible by at least 330,000 users, was expected to be fully operational by the end of 2008; however, following the 2007 UK child benefit data scandal
2007 UK child benefit data scandal
The loss of United Kingdom child benefit data was a data breach incident in October 2007, when two computer discs owned by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs containing data relating to child benefit went missing. The incident was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, on...
, the deadline was pushed back for five months to allow a security review prior to implementation. Training for the workers had been planned begin in spring 2008.
Following the 2010 General Election the new government
Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement
The Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement was a policy document drawn up following the 2010 general election in the United Kingdom...
scrapped the database as one of their measures 'to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government and roll back state intrusion.' A YouGov poll found that there was no consensus over whether this was the correct decision.
Use
The government said the database was set up to improve child protection by improving the way information about children was shared between services. Only professionals whose job involves supporting children would be able to access the database, and they would be required to undergo enhanced Criminal Records BureauCriminal Records Bureau
The Criminal Records Bureau , is an Executive Agency of the Home Office, which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales...
checks and training. Each local authority would decide who may access the database provided their role was listed in the ContactPoint Regulations. Users would need to provide a reason for accessing a record, and an audit trail
Audit trail
Audit trail is a sequence of steps supported by proof documenting the real processing of a transaction flow through an organization, a process or a system.....
would be kept on access to the database to help detect misuse. Professionals who have completed a Common Assessment Framework, a tool used to identify the severity of a child's situation, would be able to record on a child's record that they had carried this out. No information discovered in this way would be held on ContactPoint. Under the Data Protection Act, all organisations supplying data to the database would have to inform children and guardians through fair-processing
notices. Subjects of the database could make access
requests, in writing, to view any personal data that organisations hold on them on the database and to correct any mistakes. The government estimated that the benefit of reducing unproductive work time using the database was valued at more than £88m.
Content
The entries for each child were to consist of:
- their name, address, gender and date of birth;
- a number identifying them;
- the name and contact details of any person with parental responsibility
Parental responsibility (access and custody)In the nations of the European Union and elsewhere, parental responsibility refers to the rights and privileges which underpin the relationship between a child and either of the child's parents or those adults who have a significant role in the child's life...
for them (within the meaning of section 3 of the Children Act 1989Children Act 1989The Children Act 1989 is a British Act of Parliament that altered the law in regard to children. In particular, it introduced the notion of parental responsibility. Later laws amended certain parts of the Children Act...
(c. 41)) or who had care of them at any time;
- details of any education being received by them (including the name and contact details of any educational institution attended by them);
- the name and contact details of any person providing primary medical services in relation to them under Part 1 of the National Health Service Act 1977 (c. 49);
- the name and contact details of any person providing to them services of such description as the Secretary of State
Secretary of State for HealthSecretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
may by regulations specify;
- information as to the existence of any cause for concern in relation to them;
- information of such other description, not including medical records or other personal records, as the Secretary of State may by regulations specify.
The database would not hold case or assessment material or any subjective observations. The database could include information of a 'sensitive' nature, defined as issues relating to sexual health
Reproductive health
Within the framework of the World Health Organization's definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene, addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system...
, mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
and substance abuse
Substance abuse
A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
, although consent from the child or the child’s guardians would have been needed, and it would not have appeared as such on the database; it would only note that the child was receiving help from 'sensitive services' and would not say what this was. Refusal of consent could be overridden if this could be justified. Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge MBE MP, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department...
, then children’s minister, had said that drug or alcohol use by parents, relatives and neighbours, together with other aspects of their behaviour, may be recorded. Government guidelines reveal that other information recorded may have included 'family routines', evidence of a 'disorgan-ised/chaotic lifestyle', 'ways in which the family’s income was used', signs of mental illness or alcohol misuse by relatives, and 'any serious difficulties in the parents’ relationship'.
In August 2006, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) announced that the database would not include telephone numbers or addresses of celebrities' children, nor of those of children with violent parents. Records of children who may be at risk could be 'shielded'; this would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The technical specification for ContactPoint did not include the capacity to store biometric data.
Coverage
The database would hold information on about 11 million children in England. Records would be kept until six years after the child turns 18, or if they leave England and Wales with no intention of returning. The database could also apply to 18–25-year-olds who were careFoster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
leavers or had learning disabilities
Developmental disability
Developmental disability is a term used in the United States and Canada to describe lifelong disabilities attributable to mental or physical impairments, manifested prior to age 18. It is not synonymous with "developmental delay" which is often a consequence of a temporary illness or trauma during...
(although the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
only applies to those under 18 in England and Wales), and their permission was needed.
Criticism
There were significant privacy concerns about the database. The Foundation for Information Policy ResearchFoundation for Information Policy Research
The Foundation for Information Policy Research is a UK-based think tank that studies the interaction between information technology and government, business and civil society. It has been described by academics as "the leading think-tank on information policy issues in Britain."Established in May...
produced a report in November 2006, Children’s Databases – Privacy and Safety, saying the database guidelines ignored family values and privacy, and that the details on the database needs to be 'looked at carefully'. The government responded by saying they had 'serious reservations about [the] report's objectivity and evidence base'. Terri Dowty, one of the report's authors, replied, 'it's an appalling aspersion to throw at some of the leading academics in this field. I'm astonished they are challenging the evidence we used since much of the evidence in the report is from the Government itself.' Action on Rights for Children
Action on Rights for Children
Action on Rights for Children is an Internet-based not-for-profit children’s rights organisation in the United Kingdom established in 2001 with a particular focus on civil rights and liberties...
said that the proposals invaded a child's right to privacy given by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Joint Committee on Human Rights
The Joint Committee on Human Rights is a select committee of both the House of Commons and House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
said that the 'serious interference' with the rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
– the right to respect for private life – seemed to be 'difficult to justify'. Liberty
Liberty (pressure group)
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties . Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith , the group campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights...
, a civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
interest group, said governments should not interfere with family life, warning against complacency 'about the importance of privacy in a free society'.
British Medical Association
The British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...
raised concerns that it may breach doctor–patient confidentiality
Physician-patient privilege
Physician–patient privilege is a legal concept, related to medical confidentiality, that protects communications between a patient and his or her doctor from being used against the patient in court. It is a part of the rules of evidence in many common law jurisdictions...
. The phrase 'any cause for concern' was criticised as being potential overly wide-ranging and intrusive, and there were fears of function creep
Scope creep
Scope Creep in project management refers to uncontrolled changes or continuous growth in a project's scope. This phenomenon can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled...
. A study by the Office of the Children's Commissioner,
Commentators expressed concern about the country's increasing surveillance. In August 2004, the information commissioner, Richard Thomas, drawing a parallel with the way that governments in Eastern Europe and Spain gained too much power and information in the 20th century, expressed concern over this and other national databases, including the Citizen Information Project
Citizen Information Project
In the United Kingdom, the Citizen Information Project was a plan by the Office for National Statistics to build a national population register....
, NHS National Programme for IT, and the introduction of identity cards
British national identity card
The Identity Cards Act 2006 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provided for National Identity Cards, a personal identification document and European Union travel document, linked to a database known as the National Identity Register .The introduction of the scheme was much...
, warning that there was a danger of the country 'sleepwalk[ing] into a surveillance society
Mass surveillance
Mass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire population, or a substantial fraction thereof.Modern governments today commonly perform mass surveillance of their citizens, explaining that they believe that it is necessary to protect them from dangerous groups such as terrorists,...
'. On 18 April 2006, Des Browne
Des Browne
Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010...
, the secretary of state for defence
Secretary of State for Defence
The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...
, said 'the Department for Education and Skills should also consider whether there is scope to realise further efficiency and effectiveness benefits through a child population register', and it is thought that the database may be used in conjunction with the National Identity Register and other databases. Phil Booth, national coordinator of NO2ID
NO2ID
NO2ID, the public campaign, was formed in 2004 to campaign against the United Kingdom government's plans to introduce UK ID Cards and the associated National Identity Register, which it believes has negative implications for privacy, civil liberties and personal safety.NO2ID is entirely independent...
, a group opposing identity cards, said this was 'cradle-to-grave surveillance'. Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
member of parliament Oliver Heald
Oliver Heald
Oliver Heald is a British barrister and Conservative politician, and the Member of Parliament for North East Hertfordshire.-Background:...
said, 'there is already public concern at government plans for a compulsory identity card database, a nanny state
Nanny state
A nanny state is the perception of a situation characterised by governmental policies of over-protectionism, economic interventionism, or heavy regulation of economic, social or other nature....
children's database and a property database for the council tax
revaluation'. Liz Davies of London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University , located in London, England, was formed on 1 August 2002 by the amalgamation of the University of North London and the London Guildhall University . The University has campuses in the City of London and in the London Borough of Islington.The University operates its...
argued that 'ContactPoint, the new database for every child in the country, is in effect a population-surveillance tool' and that 'for five years, the system to prevent child abuse has been vanishing before our eyes'. Fiona Nicholson of Education Otherwise
Education Otherwise
Education Otherwise is a registered charity based in England for families whose children are being educated otherwise than at school, and for those who wish to uphold the freedom of families to take responsibility for the education of their children...
, a home-education support group, agreed with this assessment and said that 'frontline staff working to protect vulnerable children have also expressed disbelief that investing hundreds of millions in IT can be the best way to safeguard children'. Laming, however, said that Davies' assertion was a 'gross distortion of what is an intelligent application of technology aimed at ensuring every child benefits from the universal services'. Privacy International
Privacy International
Privacy International is a UK-based non-profit organisation formed in 1990, "as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations." PI has organised campaigns and initiatives in more than fifty countries and is based in London, UK.-Formation, background and...
awarded Hodge the 2004 Big Brother Award for 'Worst Public Servant', partly due to her backing of the database.
Security concerns about the database were significant, and commentators said that there was a large risk of abuse of the system. Evidence presented in 2006 to the management board of the Leeds NHS Trust
NHS Trust
A National Health Service trust provides services on behalf of the National Health Service in England and NHS Wales.The trusts are not trusts in the legal sense but are in effect public sector corporations. Each trust is headed by a board consisting of executive and non-executive directors, and is...
showed that in one month the 14,000 staff logged 70,000 incidents of inappropriate access. Sex offenders targeting children
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
might have used the database to find vulnerable
victims. The celebrity exclusions were attacked, with critics saying that it underlined fears about security, and that government ministers could have decided to exclude their own children from the database. The proposals might have broken data protection and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
laws.
Some had said that the database might lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior. Although examples of such prophecies can be found in literature as far back as ancient Greece and...
, where children from difficult backgrounds were treated as potential delinquents. The government was accused of using the public's response to the death of Victoria Climbié to force through the unpopular proposal and to curb civil liberties. There were concerns that the database would undermine child protection and parents, weakening the power of parents to look after children, and would 'do more harm than good'. The sheer size of the database could have meant that serious cases would be overlooked due to the abundance of minor incidents. There were doubts towards the government’s estimate of the cost of the database. The information commissioner estimates it at £1bn, which Hodge said was 'absurd', and others raised concerns over the cost, noting that government projects tend to go over-budget. Some questioned children’s ability to give informed consent
Consent
Consent refers to the provision of approval or agreement, particularly and especially after thoughtful consideration.- Types of consent :*Implied consent is a controversial form of consent which is not expressly granted by a person, but rather inferred from a person's actions and the facts and...
in their own right. Mary Marsh
Mary Marsh
Dame Mary Elizabeth Marsh, FRSA was the Chief Executive of the UK National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children from 2000 to 2008.Marsh is a daughter of George Donald Falconer, by his wife, Lesley Mary née Wilson...
, chief executive of the NSPCC
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.-History:...
, wanted the database to cover the whole of the United Kingdom, not just England and Wales, saying 'the information held would be only partial and potentially worse than useless'. On 27 June 2006, a child protection conference, 'Children: Over Surveilled, Under Protected', held at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, reached the conclusion that the database would do nothing to prevent child abuse, and that it would undermine parents' ability to look after their children.
The government rejected most of the negative criticism. The DfES said that the database would only contain basic information and 'will certainly not be including any information on children's diet or school attainment'. Laming had said that information for every child needs to be kept so that they would not be at risk. The government denied any possibility of function creep. They rebutted the concerns over privacy, with a spokesman for the DfES saying 'we are conscious of the need to respect personal privacy'. Hodge said that the database would be secure, that it would not undermine child protection and that it would help various agencies share information. Hughes said that the database would be secure and that 'we are confident we are doing all we could to ensure security'. The government said that they were confident that the database complied with the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act
Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...
. Paul Ennals
Paul Ennals
The Honourable Sir Paul Martin Ennals, CBE is chief executive of the United Kingdom's National Children's Bureau, a post he took up in 1998, having previously been director of education and employment for the RNIB...
, chief executive of the National Children's Bureau
National Children's Bureau
The National Children's Bureau is a children's charity based in Islington, London. It was founded in 1963 The National Children's Bureau (NCB) is a children's charity based in Islington, London. It was founded in 1963 The National Children's Bureau (NCB) is a children's charity based in Islington,...
, said, 'the index is a proportionate response to a continuing problem and any action that helps reduce the number of children who slip through the net must be welcome'.
With the publication of the accreditation procedures for organisations to access ContactPoint, it became clear that the vast majority of voluntary organisations would not have been able to access ContactPoint. This meant that the majority of organisations that work with children or young people e.g. sports groups, uniformed groups and faith groups, would not be able to register their involvement, representing a real challenge for practitioners who wanted to see who as working with a particular child or young person.
External links
- ContactPoint
- Children Act 2004, Part 2, Section 12 • Children Act 2004 • Explanatory Notes to Children Act 2004
- The Information Sharing Index (England) Regulations 2006 •
- Action on Rights for Children – The Children’s Information Sharing (IS) Index • The ARCH Blog
- The Guardian — list of articles at the bottom
- Every Child Matters
- The Victoria Climbié Inquiry • BBC: Victoria Climbié inquiry • The Guardian: The Climbié inquiry