Impact of ContactPoint will be tracked by annual survey
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A new annual survey has been launched to track the progress of the government's controversial children's database ContactPoint.
The £224m database, which will hold the records of 11 million children, is due to launch nationally in the autumn.
It is designed as a quick way for professionals working with children to find out who else is working with the same child or young person so support can be co-ordinated.
A survey carried out by the Department for Children, Schools and Families has assessed how practitioners go about their work currently and will be carried out every year from now to assess the impact of ContactPoint.
Among other findings, the first survey revealed that on average a single practitioner spends two hours a month searching for details of other professionals involved with a child, with a 79 per cent success rate of finding the right details.
Delyth Morgan, junior children's minister, said: "ContactPoint will save practitioners a lot of time because they can't now quickly or easily find the critical information that ContactPoint will provide for them.
"We conservatively estimate time saved to be at least five million hours per year which will be better spent working directly to support children and young people."
