The Government has made the
£40m ContactPoint children's database available to the police,
to the
dismay of
privacy campaigners.
The
ContactPoint system, built by Capgemini, was intended to ensure
none of the 11m under-18s in England could slip through the child
protection net.
The system was planned after the torture and murder of eight
year-old Victoria Climbie in 2000, by her aunt.
But the
London Evening Standard reports government guidance reveals the
ContactPoint database can now be accessed "for the prevention or
detection of crime" and "the prosecution of offenders".
ContactPoint, when it goes live later this year, will include
children's names, their ages and addresses, plus details of their
parents, schools, medical records and social workers.
The government says it will connect the different
services dealing with children. The Government says this will
allow police, council staff, head teachers, doctors and
care and probation
workers to more easily see if a child is at risk.
Officials now admit the records can now be checked by police for
evidence of criminality.
The Liberal Democrats described police access to the database as
evidence of a "police state".
The government says ContactPoint will provide a quick way for
practitioners across education, health, social care and youth
offending to find out who else is working with the same child.
Privacy groups have raised concerns about the children's
database after several public data leaks from government
departments. The government said the database will contain only
basic information and no case details.