Mr Loughton announced last week the Department for Education's plans to permanently decommission ContactPoint. The Government revealed in May that it would scrap the database, which holds details of all children under 18 years (News, 19 May).
After the database was decommissioned, Mr Loughton said, the existing data would be safely removed and destroyed.
Guidance has been issued to local authorities on how to ensure ContactPoint is closed down in a managed, safe and controlled way.
In a written statement to MPs, the children's minister said, 'It has always been our view that it was disproportionate and unjustifiable to hold records on every child in the country, making them accessible to large numbers of people. Accordingly, 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.'
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