UK Parliament / Open data

Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2010

My Lords, I thank the Minister for explaining the regulations so carefully. As she said, they deal with the ContactPoint database, and who has access to it. ContactPoint was developed, among other things, as a response to the failure of authorities in north London to work together to protect Victoria Climbié, who was tragically murdered by relatives a decade ago. However, it has been dogged by safety problems and technical difficulties, as the Minister acknowledged. While acknowledging that this is far from an easy matter to deal with, we on these Benches are very concerned that the risks to security posed by ContactPoint have not yet been adequately addressed. Therefore, I wish to ask the Minister the following brief questions. First, if the database is secure, why will the Government not publish the full Deloitte report into ContactPoint security? Secondly, what guarantees can she give to preserve the identity and security of children who are adopted? Thirdly, if, as the Explanatory Notes indicate, the response from piloting authorities has been "overwhelmingly positive", how is that reconciled with the fact that there have been five reported security breaches when we are only at the pilot stage? Fourthly, and lastly, will she inform the House what other feedback—especially negative feedback—the Government have received from pilot authorities?
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
718 c740 
Session
2009-10
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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