August 30, 2007

Concern over child register

There are some serious concerns about the new government register that will have the details of every child in England stored on it.

Senior social workers are criticising the new database called “Contact Point” as there is some confusion as to who will be reasonable for the vetting of users and how the system will be managed. The database will contain names, addresses, medical and school details of all children under the age of eighteen.

It is intended to protect the children, yet there are fears that it could actually harm children in the long term. However there are some children who will have extra protection, those of celebrities and politicians, their children may be excluded from the database in order to protect them.

It is proposed that there will be an estimated 330,000 vetted users who will have access to the database, which may include Doctors, Teachers and Social Workers, but there are also plans to allow fire and rescue services have access to it.

The management of such databases has seen some problems in the past, and with this one costing £224 million to build and £41 million to maintain each year, it has to be asked is it worth it?

Source [Rational Review]

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