Child database system postponed

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Ministers are postponing a new database on every child in England, pending a security review and changes to the system including its access controls. Children's minister Kevin Brennan told MPs there would be a five-month delay to the £224m system, ContactPoint. The security review was ordered after the loss of child benefit discs. ContactPoint holds name, address, date of birth, gender, parental contact information, details of school and any professionals working with the child. It does not include actual case records. The database came out of the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie and is designed to make it easier to co-ordinate the work of different child protection agencies. 'Questions raised' Mr Brennan said in a statement: "Over the last few months we have been considering the substantial stakeholder feedback we have received and looked at the implications that the resulting proposed changes could have on the system. "It is clear from the considerable work we have done so far that we will need more time than we originally planned to address the changes to ContactPoint which potential system users suggested." The change to the timetable will mean deployment to the "early adopters" local authorities and national agencies in September or October 2008, and to all others by May 2009. Mr Brennan said the loss of the Revenue and Customs child benefit data "has raised questions about the safety of large scale personal data in other government systems, including ContactPoint".