Loughton says that the government is still committed to information sharing among children’s professionals, particularly those in different council areas, however, a "more proportionate approach" is needed.
ContactPoint would have held records on every child, a system that Loughton says was unjustifiable. Any new information-sharing system needs to focus only on the most vulnerable children, he added.
He said: "We are exploring the practicality of a new national signposting service, which would focus on helping practitioners find out whether another practitioner is working, or has previously worked, in another authority area with the same vulnerable child.
"Social workers in particular, and potentially other key services like the police or accident and emergency departments, may need this information very quickly."
The government believes that the existing database is not needed for the development of this alternative system and it will be switched off next month. A process of decommissioning will then take place with all data removed and destroyed.
Guidance has now been issued to councils on ensuring data is protected during the switching off and decommissioning process.
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