ABOUT SHIELDING (Sept08)

The DCSF is working with local authorities on shielding. We have received some guidance to support the shielding work we need to do, and to ensure we have robust processes in place, before ContactPoint is made available to any practitioners anywhere in England. We are expecting further guidance from the DCSF shortly.

If an individual has concerns for a child’s safety, the priority is to ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are put in place. We, as a Local Authority, and our local agencies have existing procedures to deal with this. This will include shielding records on ContactPoint, when ContactPoint is available.

But, because ContactPoint does not exist yet, it is not of course possible to shield any record on ContactPoint at the moment.

What are the guidelines for shielding children?

ContactPoint Guidance includes the following guidelines on shielding;

In law, ContactPoint will hold records on all children (ordinarily resident) in England. Records would only be shielded exceptionally and in particular circumstances, when not doing so would:
- place a child at increased risk of significant harm;
- put a child’s placement at risk (in the case of adoption);
- place an adult at risk of significant harm; and/or
- prejudice the prevention or detection of a serious crime.

Such cases could arise for example where the:
- child/young person is adopted where there is little or no contact with birth parent(s) or wider family members;
- child/young person and/or their parent/carer, are fleeing abuse or domestic violence; and/or
- child/young person and/or their parent/carer or family member are subject to police protection.

Shielding decisions will be taken on a case by case basis. All shielding decisions are reviewed every six months. Child records cannot be shielded simply because the child or young person, or the parent/carer acting on their behalf objects to ContactPoint.

How do I apply?

ContactPoint will be a secure system, with access granted only to trained and vetted people who need it to do their job. Their use will be audited and acted upon when appropriate. But we do recognise that, in an exceptional number of cases, some information for some children will need to be shielded.

Local authorities are under a duty to apply strict and specific criteria when deciding which records to shield. We are working closely with them and issuing guidance to support the shielding work they need to do before ContactPoint is made available to practitioners. In this way, we will best ensure that all appropriate records are shielded. We will also need to ensure robust processes are in place to deal with shielding in the longer term.

Individuals concerned for their child’s safety will be able to approach their Local Authority to discuss this, and where a child is thought to be at increased risk of harm, safeguarding measures put in place, including shielding records on ContactPoint.

When will parents be receiving Fair Processing Notices?

We, the Local Authority, are aware of our requirement to ensure ‘fair processing’ under the Data Protection Act. The DCSF is also managing national communications. We and the DCSF will increase communication activity over the coming months.

There are a range of methods and approaches open to us to ensure information is made available to the public. We are expecting guidance from DCSF shortly to support us in what we need to do locally and to ensure we co-ordinate our efforts with what is happening nationally from DCSF.

What actions will you be taking to discharge your responsibilities for shielding?

We are taking a staged approach, following guidance from DCSF.

The first thing we are doing is identifying relevant local organisations – for example, domestic violence refuges, child protection teams within the LA, police authorities adoption agencies – who are the most likely sources of information about children whose records need to be shielded.

Trained and vetted people working in our local authority will be responsible for shielding records on ContactPoint and we will need to identify who these people will be. We expect to have 2 people in the Isle of Wight Council doing this work.

We will need to agree with our partner organisations the mechanism for identifying relevant children and for making that information available, in a secure way, to those who will do the shielding on ContactPoint.

Then, once those in the LA who will do the shielding have the information about relevant children, then they will be able to do the shielding.

We will need to inform DCSF once we have completed our initial shielding work. ContactPoint will not be available to any practitioner users until all LAs have done this.

We are waiting on further guidance from DCSF about the later stages of the process, but have already started working with relevant local agencies.

Are you planning on telling parents about ContactPoint and the possibility of shielding?

We will be undertaking a range of proactive communications locally to ensure people locally have information about ContactPoint. We will also make information about shielding records available and we understand the DCSF will also make information about shielding available.

How will you identify individuals who are, say, on Witness Protection schemes and children of pop stars, who may need shielding?

[See process outlined above]. We will talk to relevant agencies. It is important to recognise that our local shielding decisions will be based on criteria set out in regulations and guidance, which we are legally bound to do. Those conditions would apply irrespective of whether someone is a pop star.

Will you be sending a list of shielded individuals to the DCSF before the database goes live?

[See process above]

How ready are you?

In the Isle of Wight Council we are preparing for the introduction of ContactPoint in a number of ways, using guidance and support available to us from DCSF - including making sure that relevant staff are briefed and able to deal with enquiries. It is still some months before ContactPoint will be available to us.

Isle of Wight Council Logo
County Hall, High Street
Newport, Isle Of Wight.
PO30 1UD
Tel. 01983 821000

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