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7. ‘ContactPoint’ – formerly the Information-Sharing Index The Children Act 2004 empowered the Secretary of State for Education to create a database (or databases) of everyone in England who is aged under 18. In July 2007, the regulations that will bring this first national database of children into being were passed by Parliament. The government has announced that the database will be called ContactPoint. It was originally known as the Information-Sharing Index, but re-branded in February 2007 because of negative publicity about information sharing. ContactPoint is effectively a file-front that serves the whole range of agencies that may be involved with a child. It is intended to provide a complete directory of all children from birth, together with a list of the agencies with which s/he is in contact. It won’t hold any case records, but will enable practitioners to indicate their involvement with a family and contact each other in order to share information. It will also show whether an eCAF (an in-depth personal profile under the Common Assessment Framework) has been carried out and is available for sharing. The regulations can be seen on the Office of Public Sector Information website {hyperlink: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/20072182.htm ] Schedule 1 specifies the data that will be collected on each child Schedule 2 lists the children’s charities that can grant access Schedule 3 lists the categories of people who are allowed access All children will be included in the database, but the records of some children will be ‘shielded’ if it is thought necessary. Information that a ‘sensitive’ service – sexual health, substance misuse and mental health – is being provided will only be included on ContactPoint with consent. The government estimates that ContactPoint will cost £224m to establish and £41m per year to run. The contract has been awarded to CapGemini, and it is expected that ContactPoint will be operational at some point from early 2009.
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