The latest news:
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.
It’s a shame the PA Newswire couldn’t get this bit right:
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.
Just to reiterate the Government’s own words:
Is ContactPoint all about child protection?
No, ContactPoint is principally about supporting early intervention for the 30-50% of children who at some point in their lives need additional services to ensure they achieve good outcomes. But it will also aid communication about children identified as being at risk of significant harm.
Nevertheless the myth persists. This has to be one of the most successful pieces of spin ever devised: even when the government makes perfectly clear what some of us have been saying all along, journalists keep right on parroting the original mantra.
November 28, 2007 at 12:53 pm |
[...] ContactPoint delayed November 28, 2007 See ARCH blog. [...]
December 12, 2007 at 9:56 am |
[...] once more, here’s that government FAQ: Is ContactPoint all about child [...]
December 18, 2007 at 3:51 pm |
[...] pointing to the Government’s own words: the children’s database (ContactPoint) is primarily about ‘early intervention’, [...]
August 26, 2008 at 6:30 pm |
[...] 26, 2008 The Telegraph: A flagship database intended to protect every child in the country [er - no] will be used by police to hunt for evidence of crime in a “shocking” extension of its [...]