Big Brother is Watching You!

Now add to this The Civil Contingencies Bill,
moving quietly through Parliament whilst the
corporate media remains silent. More to follow on
this very serious situation.

All children to go on 'big brother' computer
Robert Winnett and David Leppard
http://www.
timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2761-1190990,00.html

A NATIONAL database containing confidential
details about every child in Britain is to be set
up by the government. An identifying number will
be assigned to each child so that the authorities
can access their records. Details of the
proposals - affecting all 13.5 m children in
Britain under the age of 18 - are contained in
cabinet papers leaked to The Sunday Times.

All parents will receive letters from the
government informing them of the plan, which will
be added to the Children's Bill in the autumn.
The central electronic register will hold
information on a child's school achievements, GP
and hospital visits, police and social services
records and home address.

It will also include information on their
families, such as whether parents are divorced or
separated. The database will be designed to
identify problem relatives, including aunts and
uncles who have a history of alcoholism or drug
misuse. It will be filed under each child's
"unique identifying number". The decision to
create a "universal children's database" was
approved by the ministerial committee on
children, young people and families, chaired by
Charles Clarke, the education secretary, last
month.

The government believes that the move will help
social services and police to identify and
protect children who are at risk of abuse or
neglect. However, it is likely to prove
controversial. Critics claimed yesterday that it
amounted to intrusive, Big Brother-style
authoritarianism and would be an invasion of
civil liberties.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, expressed
concern that private medical and family data
could be misused and might contain inaccuracies.
"This is a national ID card scheme by the back
door, and as such should be open to proper
scrutiny and proper checks to protect civil
liberties," he said. "As the Soham murder case
showed, computer databases are not infallible. To
err is human, but to screw up you need a
computer."

NATIONAL DATABASE ON KIDS

Barry Hugill, a spokesman for Liberty, the civil
liberties group, said: "They are creating a
national database through the back door. You
start with information about all children but in
20 years' time you've got almost half the
population. "The government may justify it in
terms of child protection but it's way beyond
what even the children's charities wanted or
thought necessary."

The plan follows the publication last year of a
report by Lord Laming into the death of Victoria
Climbie, the eight-year-old who died from neglect
and abuse. Laming recommended the establishment
of a national database, although the government
had previously played down its interest in the
idea. However, "restricted" minutes of a meeting
reveal that ministers have privately agreed to
the national children's database, rejecting
proposals for the system to cover only those
children thought to be at risk.

The minutes record: "Turning to the question of
who the database should cover, the minister for
children, young people and families (Margaret
Hodge) said that all children should be included.
This fitted with the prevention agenda and
reduced the risk of stigmatisation. Information
collected could also be used to support service
planning and delivery." Parents would not have
access to the database but will be able to apply
to see details held on their children under the
Data Protection Act.

Ministers at the meeting, including Hodge, Paul
Boateng, Lord Filkin, Estelle Morris and Alun
Michael, raised concerns about the technical
challenge of setting up the database. The
government has been hit by the failure of several
new computer systems, including the Child Support
Agency, Inland Revenue and the Criminal Records
Bureau.

It has commissioned a feasibility study into the
plans and held negotiations with several firms
including Experian, which runs national
credit-checking services. According to the leaked
minutes: "To overcome the technical problems
associated with a national database it might be
better to start small and build up."

The aim of the system is to identify children
potentially at risk before it is too late to help
them. It would allow agencies to contact each
other to discuss suspicions outside the
constraints of data protection laws.