ContactPoint was a government database in England that provided a way for those working with children and young people to find out who else is working with the same child or young person, making it easier to deliver more coordinated support. It was created in response to the abuse and death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié in 2000 in England. Various agencies involved in her care had failed to prevent her death, in particular by individually never realising other agencies had been in contact with Victoria.
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 6 August 2010 the database was shut down. From that date the Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) Regulations 2007, as amended in 2010, no longer applies.Decommissioning ContactPoint, Department for Education, (22 July 2010). Retrieved 2 August 2010
Motivation
In April 1999, Victoria Climbié (born 2 November 1991 in Abobo, Côte d'Ivoire, died 25 February 2000 at 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 over 24 hours. In the period leading 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","Inquiry into Climbie officials", BBC, 12 January 2001. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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."Timeline: Victoria Climbie", BBC, 28 January 2003. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
Victoria's death led to a public inquiry, launched on 31 May 2001"Victoria (Anna) Climbié inquiry is launched ", The Victoria Climbié Inquiry, 31 May 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007. and chaired by Herbert Laming, which investigated the role of the agencies involved in her care."About the Inquiry ", The Victoria Climbié Inquiry. Retrieved 27 June 2007. The report, published on 28 January 2003,"Victoria Climbié Report Calls for Radical Change in the Management of Public Services for Children and Families ", 28 January 2003; , 28 January 2003. The Victoria Climbié Inquiry. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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 papers: 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."Every Child Matters: Change for Children ", teachernet.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2007."Background to Every Child Matters ", everychildmatters.gov.uk. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 27 June 2007 The database proposals were announced in September 2003,Batty, David; Carvel, John, "Plan to keep file on every child", The Guardian, 9 September 2003. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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.Munro, Eileen, "National child database would increase risk", The Guardian, 6 April 2004. , Performance and Innovation Unit, 11 April 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
Development and closure The pilot schemes (designated as identification, referral and tracking (IRT) schemes) began with Bolton council in 2003Batty, David, "Bolton kick-starts child database pilot", The Guardian, 12 November 2003. Retrieved 27 June 2007. and was used by eleven other local authorities.The twelve local authorities were Barnsley; Bolton; Coventry; Cumbria; Dorset with Bournemouth and Poole; Gateshead; Knowsley; Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland; Nottinghamshire; Sheffield; Telford and Wrekin and Shropshire; and Wandsworth. Children Act – The Index , Action on Rights for Children, April 2004. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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.Carvel, John, "All eyes on the child", The Guardian, 19 May 2004. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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.House of Commons Hansard Written Ministerial Statements for 8 December 2005 (pt 1), Column 114WS, United Kingdom Parliament, 8 December 2005. Retrieved 27 June 2007. "Better services for children as government acts on Lord Laming recommendation", Department for Education and Skills, 8 December 2005. Retrieved 27 June 2007.Lightfoot, Liz, "Information on every child to be kept in new database", The Daily Telegraph, 9 December 2005. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
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.Kablenet, "Councils to miss child database deadline", The Register, 11 December 2006. Retrieved 27 June 2007. The government began a consultation on the 2007 draft regulations on 21 September 2006 which ended on 14 December 2006."ContactPoint*: Consultation on Draft Information Sharing Index (England) Regulations and Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment ", Department for Education and Skills. Retrieved 27 June 2007. In October 2006, the government selected Capgemini to design the database.McCue, Andy, "Capgemini to design £224m national child database ", silicon.com, 12 October 2006. Retrieved 27 June 2007.Lipowicz, Alice, "Capgemini captures $400M UK database deal ", washingtontechnology.com, 18 October 2006. Retrieved 27 June 2006. 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."ContactPoint – formerly known as the Information Sharing Index ", Nottingham City Council, February/March 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007. A consultation on a guide for database users was launched on 4 May 2007 and ended on 27 July 2007."ContactPoint: Consultation on Draft Guidance ", Department for Education and Skills. Retrieved 27 June 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,Ward, Lucy, "330,000 users to have access to database on England’s children", The Guardian, 27 June 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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."Child database system postponed",BBC News,27 June 2007. Training for the workers had been planned begin in spring 2008."Information sharing: Training on child index set for 2008 ", Children Now, 23 May 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
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."Conservative Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement , Conservative Party, Published 12 May 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2010Conservative Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement , Liberal Democrats, Published 12 May 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2010 A YouGov poll found that there was no consensus over whether this was the correct or wrong 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 Bureau 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."Child index: Information sharing: your questions answered ", Children Now, 2 May 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007. Professionals who have completed a Common Assessment Framework,See the Common Assessment Framework form at: , everychildmatters.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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."Children’s Database Guidance Consultation Launched ", participationworks.org.uk, 31 May 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007. 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."Information Sharing Index ", North Tyneside Council. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
Content The entries for a 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 for them (within the meaning of section 3 of the Children Act 1989) 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);