Hodge: Children's database will 'not be an IT disaster'

Wednesday, 9 February 2005 12:00 AM

The Government's new database of every child in Britain will not be "an IT disaster" and will cost far less than has been suggested, Children's Minister Margaret Hodge said today.

Ms Hodge also rejected suggestions that the Children's Commissioner for England would be "too weak" to be effective, saying she expected an "uncomfortable" ride once the post was filled.

Giving evidence to the Education and Skills Select Committee, she told MPs that the Government was setting up the children's database in a "steady, focused, staged" way.

She insisted: "We will go slowly and steadily ... we will not move until I am certain this will not be an IT disaster."

The database was conceived in the aftermath of Lord Lamings' report into the tragic death of Victoria Climbie. It envisages a record system for all children in England and Wales onto which professionals could flag up concerns and find out who in other agencies has contact with the child.

One of the shocking findings of the Laming inquiry was that Victoria was known to a multiplicity of agencies, none of whom shared information about their concerns.

But, the establishment of the database has been dogged by concerns about security, confidentiality, data protection and fears of another Government IT disaster.

Ms Hodge admitted she worried about what could go wrong, and accepted that the Government's record on IT projects was not good. However, she maintained that the failures of previous IT programmes - such as the NHS's failure to involve GPs in developing its new appointments booking system - would not be repeated.

Fears that the database would be a waste of time and money were false, she added. The total cost of the database would not be anything like the £1 billion figure that had been suggested, but would be in the low hundreds of millions.

The £1 billion figure was "absurd", Ms Hodge told the MPs: "It [the true figure] is much, much less than you have been led to believe."

The Information Commissioner had previously told the committee he did not feel the database would be secure, but Ms Hodge disagreed, saying the commissioner was an information expert but not an IT expert. However, she would welcome the commissioner's help on ensuring the database was completely secure.

On the new Children's Commissioner - shortly to be appointed - Ms Hodge said she expected the commissioner would be "quite challenging to me on a number of issues" and would make life difficult for the Government, but in general she hoped for a collaborative relationship.

She added: "I think this is going to be a tough, strong, independent commissioner who will make my life uncomfortable from time to time."

The Government would ask the commissioner to investigate individual cases only where there was a pressing national need for an inquiry, she said. However, he or she would ultimately decide which cases to investigate, and could not be forced to ignore or abandon cases.

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