CYP Now - Information sharing: Government set to limit data content

The Government is to severely restrict the information held on information-sharing databases and who should have access. Junior education minister Baroness Ashton announced the substantial climbdown on databases in the House of Lords, after peers expressed concerns that the Children Bill would allow professionals to access detailed and confidential case histories.

She promised to bring forward an amendment this month to specify what information can be recorded. This would comprise: name, date of birth, address, a unique identifying number, name and contact details of the person with parental responsibility or in charge of day-to-day care of the child, educational setting, GP and health visitor.

Further amendments would list organisations required or permitted to supply information to the databases, and to ensure information from existing public records is cross-checked to ensure accuracy, and lay out those with access to the database.

Ashton said it was likely the list would comprise senior professionals only.

The Government had not decided whether there should be a national database or only regional or local ones, although she expressed support for a London-wide database.

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