Early ContactPoint adopters report positive outcomes

The system holds the details of more than 11 million children throughout England and Wales in a bid to make it easier for practitioners to find out who else is working with a child.

Since January it has been trialled in 17 early adopter authorities, as well as children's charities Barnardo's and Kids.

The database, which has proved controversial due to fears over security, is now in the process of being rolled out nationally.

The government says a new report, Lessons Learned from the Early Adopter Phase, shows ContactPoint is making a positive difference to practitioners already using it on a daily basis.

The report states that early feedback from practitioners is good, with more than 75 per cent stating they believe ContactPoint will be helpful in their future work.

It adds that in one area a deputy head teacher has been able to locate eight students missing from school for over a year by using the database.

Children’s minister Delyth Morgan said ContactPoint is helping practitioners to intervene earlier and prevent problems escalating.

"ContactPoint does what it was designed to do and early users have given positive feedback on its usefulness," she said.

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said: "It is excellent news that frontline practitioners from all over England can start to use ContactPoint to quickly and easily see who else is working with a child.

"No system can alone guarantee that all children will be safe, but we know from the support we have had from across the children’s workforce that ContactPoint is the right system to make a real difference for professionals and the children in their care."