CONFIDENTIAL SHS

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

14^th June 2005

Dear Sir,

We are writing to express our concerns about the Interim Pan-London Protocol on Sexually Active Teenagers, a copy of which is enclosed.

The protocol is aimed at all professionals working with young people, and advises that where it comes to their attention that a person under the age of 18 is in a sexual relationship, a full assessment process should be carried out. The professional should then decide whether to conduct police checks on their client and his/her partner in order to determine whether the relationship is abusive.

The Metropolitan Police have indicated that they will hold the details of the enquiries that they receive concerning under-16s. If no problem is found to exist within the relationship, the information will be held as ‘soft’ intelligence. A copy of a report from ‘Children Now’ confirming this is enclosed.

We are profoundly concerned about this matter. The existence of accumulated data against the name of a particularly sexually active young person may of itself give rise to unjustified suspicion. We are further concerned at the implications for a young person who subsequently seeks employment with children, where enhanced police checks might reveal the existence of such data.

We should be very grateful to receive your comments on this matter.

Yours faithfully,

Terri Dowty

Policy Director