Personal details of eight million children are on secret database without their parents’ knowledge
Daily Mail -
- The database contains information such as the child’s age, sex and academic and behavioural records
- Capita’s One system can potentially share the information to external agencies such as social services and youth offending teams
- The majority of parents are unaware that the information is being gathered or how it is used
A huge ‘Big Brother’ style database containing details of around eight million schoolchildren is being compiled without the knowledge of their parents.
IT systems specialists are creating the database – including such information as a child’s age, sex, and academic records – which can be shared among officials from other agencies such as the police, NHS and charities.
Teachers are uploading information on pupils as often as six times a day to the database, created by Capita, one of the UK’s largest contractors to both central and local government.
The database is said to be already being used by as many as 100 local authorities, according to The Sunday Times, with 22,000 schools nationwide uploading to the service to provide a ‘thread’ of data that is accessible to all those working with children.
It is thought that youth offending teams, which include police officers, will also be offered access to the information.
As well as basic details such as the child’s address and attendance records, information about special needs and behavioural records are also included.
Capita hires photographers to take pictures of schoolchildren, which are offered for sale to parents before being uploaded onto the database – known as the One system – to accompany the information compiled.
The majority of parents are not informed that the data is being gathered and can be held on file indefinitely.
Director of civil liberties and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, Nick Pickles, said: ‘Parents will be shocked that they are being kept in the dark about how their child’s information is being gathered and exactly what it is used for.’
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2012-11-15 11:21:08
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