ContactPoint

I've picked up 5+ items about ContactPoint in the last few days so I thought I'd better get it straight in my own mind as to what this "thing" is and what it's designed to do.


According to the Every Child Matters website:

• ContactPoint will be the quick way for a practitioner to find out who else is working with the same child or young person, making it easier to deliver more coordinated support.


• It will be a basic online directory, available to authorised staff who need it to do their jobs.


• It is a key part of the Every Child Matters programme to improve outcomes for children.

The information about ContactPoint, its development and plans for implementation is divided into the following sections:

• About ContactPoint
  How ContactPoint will work and who will use it.


• Access and security
  Overview of the security of ContactPoint, who can access it and how access will be restricted.


• Engaging children, young people, families and practitioners
  Strategy for involving these key stakeholders in the development of ContactPoint.


• Legislation
  The legal basis for ContactPoint.


• Background and trailblazers
  Includes trailblazer case studies.

_________________________________

That's the background, according to the government.

Two issues which appear to be causing concern:

• Access to the data by person or persons other than those working in Children's Services
  
  It appears, has been rumoured, has been stated by an unidentified source (take your pick depending on your point of view) that the police services will be able to trawl the database looking for evidence of criminal activity.
  
  Which is countered by: even if police services have access to the information in the database it will be on a very limited basis and each access will have to be authorised for a specific purpose.
  
  And: Police access to Contact Point will not threaten the welfare or protection of vulnerable children, according to the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS).
  Read the story by Janie Davies in Computing.
  
• Yet more delays in the technology
  
  ContactPoint children's database hit by delays by Janie Davies in Computing concentrates on the "technical glitches" that emerged during testing.
  
  ContactPoint child database delayed again from Kable's Government Computing also brings into play the reason why the system was delayed from April 2008 to October (security issues following the HMRC fiasco). It's now going to be January. Maybe.

And this is what's costing us, the British tax payers, £224 million so that the government can have access to personal information about all under-18s in England.

I give up.

Now.

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