Work Matters: Training - Contactpoint - Getting to grips with ContactPoint

Early years practitioners are beginning to undergo training to enable them to use a controversial online database holding the details of every child in England.

ContactPoint, which was created in response to Lord Laming's inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie, began its national roll-out last month in 17 local authorities in the north-west.

The launch of the system, which cost £224m to develop, has been delayed twice because of data security fears prompted by the loss of government records and a report into the project by auditors Deloitte Touche, which said it could never be totally secure.

Security has been tightened around the operation of the system, which is a key element of the Every Child Matters programme to transform children's services by supporting more effective prevention and early intervention.

'The main use will be for practitioners to get in touch with one another more easily,' says a spokeswoman for the Department of Children Schools and Families. 'So if an early years practitioner has concerns about a child's learning development and is wondering whether the child might need additional educational support, then ContactPoint can put them in touch with other practitioners working with that child. For example, this could be the child's GP who might be able to say they have a medical condition.

'Through ContactPoint, practitioners can get in touch with one another more easily, rather than having to track each other down and get numbers from parents.'

More joined up

Working as a directory for children's services practitioners, ContactPoint is designed to be a computerised tool to enable practitioners to achieve joined-up working.

However, it will only function in this way if all practitioners across relevant agencies and organisations are engaged with it and fully trained. While the training requirement is sizeable to say the least, it is hoped that the incremental roll-out of the system will enable training to build steadily in local authority areas.

Capita is carrying out much of the initial training, and once the trainers have been taught, knowledge will be cascaded down to other staff. Training around shielding has provided much of the focus, and some staff have also been trained on the Data Protection Act. Practitioners who have had training in the Common Assessment Framework will already be aware of ways of information-sharing and early adopter local authorities are now in a position to share good practice.

Looking ahead, many areas are planning to offer a standard and specific course for everyone, and expect that training will begin to cascade down to users and other organisations by the autumn.

Access

- Access is strictly limited to childcare professionals who need it as part of their work, such as those working in child health, education, youth justice and social care.

- Before being granted access, users will have to complete identity checks, have an enhanced CRB disclosure, and undergo mandatory training covering: the correct use of the system; the monitoring of the system; that misuse will result in disciplinary action or criminal proceedings.

- To access the system, users will have a user name, password, security token and PIN.

- Users cannot download the contents from ContactPoint.

Data

The core data on ContactPoint comes from a number of existing national systems such as the DCSF schools' census and the Department of Work and Pensions' child benefit database.

Children and their parents have rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 to see the information held about them.

Information held on ContactPoint will not be sent to or shared with any other systems.

SHIELDING

More than 51,000 children deemed vulnerable will have key details about them hidden on ContactPoint to prevent their location being identified. This is called shielding and was introduced following concerns that information about children's whereabouts could fall into the wrong hands. It is designed to protect people who are at increased risk of harm, such as victims of domestic abuse.

Experts and organisations involved in child protection, such as Women's Aid, the Association of Chief Police Officers, Greater London Domestic Violence Project, Barnardo's and the Children's Society were involved in drawing up the policy and process for shielding.

Scenarios when it might be appropriate to shield a record include where:

- a child is placed for adoption where there is little or no contact with birth parents or other family members

- a child and/or their parent/carer are fleeing abuse or domestic violence

- a child and/or their family are under police protection.

A shielded record will only show the child's name, date of birth, gender and unique ID number.

In most cases it is local authorities who will ask for a shield to be placed on a child's record, but parents and carers can ask their local council to do this. Practitioners who are ContactPoint users and have access rights to the directory can request a shield directly on the system.

Since January the DCSF, local authorities and local agencies and services working with vulnerable children and their families such as adoption teams and domestic violence units have been identifying the records to be shielded before ContactPoint was opened up for use by practitioners.

In each local authority, two qualified people who have been specially vetted and trained have been placing the shields on these records.

Following concerns that the system could inadvertently confirm a shielded child's location, it has been built so that no records will be returned if a search is made using data from a non-visible field.

ContactPoint users with child protection responsibilities, such as the police or social workers, may be granted an access right enabling them to override a shield but any attempt to do so will trigger an immediate check to ensure they have legitimate grounds for needing the information.

Relevant people in local authority ContactPoint Management Teams will have access rights to view the hidden information on shielded records so they can, where there are child protection concerns broker contact between practitioners working with the same child.

These teams will review the decisions to shield records every six months and also have the final say on when a shield is lifted to ensure that the protection is not removed inappropriately.

WHAT IS CONTACT POINT?

In simple terms, ContactPoint is a computerised telephone directory to be used by childcare professionals in England. It holds:

- Name, address, gender, date of birth and an identifying number of all children in England up to their 18th birthday.

It holds name and contact details for:

- Parents and carers

- Educational setting

- Primary medical practitioner

- Other services, for example health visitor or social workers - these details will be added over time.

- ContactPoint does not and will not hold any case information, such as case notes or assessment details