Capgemini wins ContactPoint child database contract

Capgemini has been awarded a £40m contract by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to build and host ContactPoint – an online directory being developed to support communications between those working with children and young people.

The new system, due to begin operation in 2008, will hold records of all children in England from birth until 18, will extract data from national and local sources – including NHS Connecting for Health.

E-Health Insider understands that CfH will initially just provide details of who each child’s GP is.  Sources within thge organisation point out that the ContactPoint system will use eGif security level 2 whereas CfH uses the much more stringent eGif level 3 security standard.  

ContactPoint is intended to make it easier for agencies involved in children’s services and child protection to deliver more coordinated services. Capgemini will build the system and host it from its early 2008 go-live date until early 2014.

The system is intended to hold only basic identifying information about children in England, and contact details for their parents or carers and for services working with the child or young person.

According to Capgemini the system will not contain is case information or subjective opinions about childen or parents. Access to the system will be restricted to authorised users who require the information as part of their job and who have been security-checked, trained and have the necessary authentication.

In addition to data extracted from NHS systems run by Connecting for Health, the child health database will take data from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Further sources will be added later.

John Cummings, vice president for Education Sector at Capgemini, said: ‘ContactPoint is crucial to the successful delivery of the government’s Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme and we are delighted to be entrusted with a project of such evident importance.’

Capgemini says it will work with the DCSF to ensure the highest level of security for the system and for access to its contents.

The contract to build and host the ContactPoint system follows the successful completion by Capgemini of the technical design under an earlier contract announced in 2006. Both contracts were awarded under the long-term partnering agreement that commenced with the DCSF (then DfES) in 2002.