Contactpoint - Children's Database

Dear S Davis

Thank you for your email.

I acknowledge your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Assuming we hold this information, I will endeavour
to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later than 26th May
2009 (20 working days from date of receipt).

I will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/09/456 - in any
communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Corporate Access to Information Team, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 696265 or 01622 694261 - Fax: 01622 694383
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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Dear S. Davis

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Further to my acknowledgement letter dated 24 April, I am now able to
provide the following response to your questions:

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is responsible
for the national roll-out of ContactPoint and sets the overall time
table for implementation. ContactPoint is currently being implemented
in 17 early adopter authorities before it is rolled out in other areas.
The Kent County Council (KCC) ContactPoint Team will receive full access
to the system in June 2009.

Local authorities, such as Kent County Council, are responsible for
local implementation of ContactPoint and for co-ordinating the
involvement of other services, such as district/borough councils,
health, the Police and independent schools.

The KCC ContactPoint Team is currently working with these services to
make sure that they have the policies and procedures in place to use
ContactPoint properly and securely. We will start connecting local data
sources from July 2009 and will start training for identified users in
late 2009.

Information about the system is available to the public at the moment
via the internet
(http://www.kent.gov.uk/SocialCare/childr...
point). Information about ContactPoint has also been included in Fair
Processing Notices to young people and their parents by maintained
schools. Before users get access to ContactPoint in Kent, information
for the public will be increased (including leaflets and the use of
local media. Nationally, the DCSF is also undertaking communications
activities.

Alongside, how you will be addressing the security issues which will no
doubt rise from so much information and data being collected and placed
on the index with so many service users having access. Please state how
many service users may have access.

Security of the system is of paramount importance. All users of
ContactPoint must go through security clearance before being given
access. This will include holding a satisfactory enhanced Criminal
Records Bureau check to be renewed every three years. Access to
ContactPoint will be regularly audited and monitored by the user's
manager and the local authority ContactPoint Team. Nationally, the
security of the system has been regularly tested and independently
reviewed. ContactPoint is compliant with the international standard for
the management of information security (ISO/IEC 27001).

Currently only two users within the ContactPoint Team have access in
Kent. It is anticipated that up to 10,000 service users may eventually
have access. These may be practitioners such as teachers, social
workers, police officers, health visitors. All users will be subject to
the security checks mentioned above.

Please also confirm whether or not there will be two rings of security
i.e. one for MP's , important officials and 'looked after' children and
a second one for the rest.

In exceptional circumstances, when individuals are at increased risk of
significant harm, some details on a child's records may be hidden
('shielded') on ContactPoint. National guidance sets out the limited
circumstances where shielding is appropriate. In line with the national
guidance, we can only shield records on ContactPoint where there are
strong reasons to believe that not shielding is likely to:
* Place a child at increased risk of significant harm;
* Place an adult at risk of significant harm;
* Prejudice the prevention or detection of a serious crime; or
* In the case of adoption, put a child's placement at risk.
By 'increased risk of significant harm' we mean that:
* One or more individuals are likely to cause significant harm to
the child/young person and/or their parent/carer; and therefore
* The child/young person and/or their parent/carer is being
protected at a location that is not known to the individual(s) in
question.
All requests for shielding will be reviewed against these criteria and
all shielded records will be reviewed every six months.

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied
with legislation, please ask for a review by writing to the Chief
Executive at Sessions House, County Hall, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.
Please quote reference FOI/09/456. I have enclosed an explanatory
leaflet about KCC's complaint process; details can also be found at this
link
http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...
s/complaints-procedure.htm#foi on our website.

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner's website
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom... , or you
can phone the ICO Helpline on 08456 30 60 60

Regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate Kent County Council Room
2.35, Sessions House Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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Dear S Davis

Thank you for your email.

I acknowledge your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Assuming we hold this information, we will
endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later
than 16th June 2009 (20 working days from date of receipt).

We will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this
information or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs
for providing the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/09/556 -
in any communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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Dear S Davis

We treated this question as a new request as it did not form part of the
original request (FOI/09/456).

In your original request you asked : "how this is going to be explained
to the Public and when" and we replied with the following answer :

"Information about the system is available to the public at the moment
via the internet
(http://www.kent.gov.uk/SocialCare/childr...
point). Information about ContactPoint has also been included in Fair
Processing Notices to young people and their parents by maintained
schools. Before users get access to ContactPoint in Kent, information
for the public will be increased (including leaflets and the use of
local media. Nationally, the DCSF is also undertaking communications
activities".

The new request asks : " Can you please supply what information has
already been supplied to the public". I intend to send this information
to you within the next few days.

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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Dear S Davis

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

The following links contain the key information on ContactPoint that is
currently available to the public. Kent website pages:
http://www.kent.gov.uk/SocialCare/childr...
oint.
National Every Child Matters web pages:
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deli...

Maintained schools have also included information about ContactPoint in
their annual Fair Processing Notices which are distributed to pupils,
parents and carers. The templates for use by schools are attached.

ContactPoint is not fully operational in Kent and information for the
public will be increased before the roll out to users in late 2009.
This will include distribution of leaflets and use of the local media.

The Council would like to forewarn you that future requests for
information on this subject will be refused. The Council believes that
the volume, extent, frequency and repeated nature of your requests, and
the inevitable follow-on queries and complaint to the response, has now
become such that your correspondence is taking up a disproportionate
amount of time and public resources to respond to. This is manifestly
unreasonable and could be construed as obsessive and a deliberate
attempt to disrupt the Council's operations. The Council has no
obligation to respond to requests that are perceived to be vexatious
under section 14 of FOIA and it is considered that collectively, your
requests are vexatious. Although your requests are not necessarily
"repeated" in the sense that they are requests for the exactly same
information, when taken together they form a pattern of obsessive
requests of a similar nature such that the Council may reasonably regard
as vexatious. Neither the FOIA, nor scarce public resources, are
intended to be used in this way and, accordingly, no further
correspondence will be entered into in response to your requests for
information on these or related topics.

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied
with legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints
process; details can be found at this link
http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...
s/complaints-procedure.htm#foi on our website. Please quote reference
FOI/09/556.

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner's website
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Best regards

Michelle Hunt
Access to Information Co-ordinator
Communication & Information Governance
Children, Families & Education Directorate
Kent County Council
Room 2.35, Sessions House
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ
External: 01622 696692
Internal: 7000 6692
Email: [email address]

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