Conservatives plan to ditch ContactPoint database
Kable
Published: 30 Sep 2008 12:56 BST
The shadow education secretary has said the Conservatives would replace the directory of all children in England with a small, targeted system.
A Conservative party spokesperson confirmed a report in The Daily Telegraph that Michael Gove, the shadow education secretary, plans to scrap the £224m system if his party forms a government.
Gove told the newspaper that ContactPoint would "increase the risk" of abuse of vulnerable children.
"The government has proven that it cannot be trusted to set up large databases and cannot promise that inappropriate people would be unable to access the database. It would be irresponsible to implement something that is such a danger to our children," Gove said.
"After all the problems we have had with this government losing sensitive data, we need to do things differently. We need to invest in people — strengthening relationships, not building another Big Brother system," Gove added.
He said that a Conservative government would instead promote data sharing between professionals looking after children, as well as a small, targeted database for children of concern.
The ContactPoint system, which aims to provide a directory of which professionals are responsible for every child in England, was recently delayed again and is now set to open in January.
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