At the same time, the Office of the Children's Commissioner unveiled itsown research, which was carried out by the NSPCC, on what across-section of young people aged 14 to 20 think about the index (seeNews, p4).
Unfortunately, it would seem that, even after fairly extensiveGovernment consultations, children and young people are still unhappyabout their details - even innocuous ones such as name, address, genderand date of birth - being stored electronically for professionals toaccess.
The children's commissioner reveals that many of the 71 teenagers whotook part in the research are deeply suspicious of Government plans. Notonly do they not trust the system's confidentiality, many believe thatinformation sharing between professionals such as social workers,teachers and the police could exacerbate rather than solve problems,especially if information falls into the wrong hands. More worryingly,they predict that some young people will stop using sensitive services'such as family planning and mental health services, or will avoid havingtheir details recorded on the index because they believe it to be toointrusive.
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