Editing ContactPoint (section)

{{Short description|Former government database in England}}
{{Redirect|Contact point|the headland in Antarctica|Contact Point (disambiguation){{!}}Hope Bay#Contact Point|the electrical switch|contact breaker|the mathematical meaning|adherent point}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

'''ContactPoint''' was a [[government database]] in [[England]] that provided a way for those working with children and young people to find out who else is working with the same child or young person, making it easier to deliver more coordinated support. It was created in response to the [[child abuse|abuse]] and death of eight-year-old [[murder of Victoria Climbié|Victoria Climbié]] in 2000 in England. Various agencies involved in her care had failed to prevent her death, in particular by individually never realising other agencies had been in contact with Victoria.

ContactPoint aimed to improve [[child welfare|child protection]] by improving the way information about children was shared between services. It was designed by [[Capgemini]] and previously had the working titles of '''Information Sharing Index''' (or '''IS Index''' or '''ISI''') and the '''Children's Index'''. The database, created under the [[Children Act 2004]], cost £224m to set up and £41m a year to run. It operated in 150 [[local government in England|local authorities]], and was accessible to at least 330,000 users.

The database was heavily criticised by a wide range of groups, mainly for [[data privacy|privacy]], [[information security|security]] and child protection reasons. On 12 May 2010 the new UK Coalition Government announced plans to scrap ContactPoint<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8677933.stm|title=BBC News - Full Text: Conservative-Lib Dem deal|date=12 May 2010 }}</ref> and on 6 August 2010 the database was shut down. From that date the ''Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) Regulations 2007'', as amended in 2010, no longer applies.<ref>[http://www.education.gov.uk/news/news/~/media/Files/lacuna/news/lettertoDCSandCEDecommissioningContactPoint22July2010.ashx Decommissioning ContactPoint], Department for Education, (22 July 2010). Retrieved 2 August 2010</ref>