Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) Regulations 2007

My Lords, I appreciate the contribution of all noble Lords, who with the exception of the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, have all expressed great anxiety. I especially thank noble Lords from the Merits Committee, who I understand are nominated for an award at tonight’s House Magazine ceremony; I wish them well. The speech of my noble friend Lord Jopling summed up perfectly our objections to the regulations. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, for her support. I agreed with every word of her powerful speech, and we support her amendment. The Minister was, as always, thorough and courteous in his reply and I accept that his undertakings are made in all good faith. However, I am not reassured and remain deeply troubled both by the principle of this database and by its operation. The noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, said that the system was safe—or as safe as it could be—because it had five layers, but my noble and learned friend Lord Mayhew pointed out the terrifying statistics from the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. It referred to, "““wholesale sharing and passing on of system log-in identifications and passwords””." I am afraid that that is human nature. I was incredibly moved by the words of the Joint Committee on Human Rights report on the Children Act 2004, where it said that, "““if the justification for the information-sharing about children is that it … is always proportionate where the purpose is to identify children who need welfare services, there is no meaningful content left to a child’s Article 8 right to privacy””." For the sake of our children’s privacy, for the sake of their sense of self and for the sake of those children who most need our protection, I urge the Government to think again to avoid the nightmare of which the noble Lord, Lord Armstrong, spoke. Even though the hour is late and many noble Lords are at the House Magazine awards, we feel so strongly about this that I wish to test the opinion of the House. On Question, Whether the said amendment shall be agreed to? Their Lordships divided: Contents, 46; Not-Contents, 79.