Written question asked by Ed Balls (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 June 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 June 2010. It was answered by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 22 June 2010 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Children: Databases

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he and his Ministerial colleagues have had with (a) local authorities and (b) other stakeholders on the future of ContactPoint.

Answer: We have confirmed with local authorities and other partners our firm intention to end the ContactPoint database as soon as practicable. Both coalition partners' manifestos included a clear commitment to scrap ContactPoint, to fulfil a longstanding policy commitment, discussed with a wide range of interested organisations in recent years. We have consistently opposed a database, which contains details about all children in England, accessed by hundreds of thousands of people and signalled our opposition in debates on the original legislation in the 2004 Children Act.We will consider the scope for a more proportionate approach to protecting children most in need and will continue to engage our partners as we take the work forward.

Secondary information