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Child database 'will ruin family privacy'
By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:23am GMT 22/11/2006

Parents will be devalued and family privacy shattered by the mass surveillance of all 12 million children in England and Wales, says a report today commissioned by Parliament's Information Commissioner.

In what is likely to be a major embarrassment to Tony Blair, it says proposals for a £224 million database containing details of every child will waste millions of pounds, undermine parental authority and actually put children in more danger.

The report comes amid Government fanfare about "supporting" parents with parenting classes backed by a "super nanny" army of child psychologists. Mr Blair defended the super nanny idea saying it was right to give families a "helping hand". "No one's talking about interfering with normal family life," he added.

But experts in child protection, law and computers, who have written today's report, express astonishment that a Government which emphasises the importance of good parenting also plans to devalue the status of the mother and father with a Big Brother surveillance system which violates the law and is not secure.

Such a system may also hold inaccurate information, tarnishing families or children unfairly. "Families' privacy and autonomy is being shattered as the Government puts them all under surveillance," they say. "Government policy proposes treating all parents as if they cannot be trusted to bring up their children."

Doctors, schools and the police will have to alert the database to a wide range of "concerns". Two warning flags on a child's record could trigger an investigation.

One of the report's authors, Dr Eileen Munro, of the London School of Economics, said: "The Government is extending the surveillance needed for child protection concerns to all concerns about a child's health and development. It reduces parental authority and risks damaging their willingness to seek or accept help."

The database - officially called the Children's Index - follows the horrific death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie in 2000. She was tortured and starved by her aunt and her aunt's partner both of whom were later jailed for life.

It is hoped that the index, which is due to be operational within two years, will sound an early warning in such cases by recording health and other developmental information about all children.

The index - or those computer systems linked to it - will carry details of everything from vaccinations to whether a child is eating enough fruit and vegetables, or is struggling in the classroom.

But today's report says the compulsory collation of such a plethora of information violates British and EU data protection and human rights law.

The IT systems are also not secure, and 400,000 civil and public servants will have access to the information, so ministers cannot not possibly claim the gigantic database will be totally confidential, it adds.

Experts point out that collecting such a vast amount of information will make it harder to spot those in genuine danger. "When you are looking for a needle in a haystack, is it necessary to keep building bigger haystacks?" asked one. "The new IT based strategy will divert resources and attention away from these children, potentially posing more dangers."

The report adds: "The main focus is on spotting the babies and children who may become a 'menace' or a cost to society in later life by, for example, having babies in their teens, under-achieving at school, or being delinquent.

"(But) this raises the issue that labelling can become a self-fulfilling prophecy as all adults treat the child with suspicion. If this 'screening' of children did happen, would there be a place for parental responsibility?"

The Department for Education has defended the index. It said: "Our proposals balance the need to do everything we can to improve children's life chances whilst ensuring strong safeguards to make sure that information stored is minimal, secure and used appropriately."

A spokesman for Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, said the views expressed in the report were not necessarily his own.

The Department for Education has defended the index. It said: "Our proposals balance the need to do everything we can to improve children's life chances whilst ensuring strong safeguards to make sure that information stored is minimal, secure and used appropriately."

The Department for Education has defended the index. It said: "Our proposals balance the need to do everything we can to improve children's life chances whilst ensuring strong safeguards to make sure that information stored is minimal, secure and used appropriately."

Doctors, schools and the police will have to alert the database to a wide range of "concerns".