ContactPoint: engaging practitioners, children, young people and families

The large scale programme of stakeholder involvement and consultation has been vital and will continue throughout the development of ContactPoint. Regular advice and input continues to be gathered from the following groups:

• Children and young people
  
  
• Parents and carers
  
  
• Local authorities (including the original Trailblazers), and national partners
  
  
• Practitioners and managers
  
  
• Professional bodies and unions representing practitioners across sectors, and organisations representing children, young people and families

The project is also in regular contact with other Government departments, the Office of the Information Commissioner and 11 Million.

The feedback from this engagement is at the forefront in the development of ContactPoint, in terms of the design and build, and in the development of guidance, best practice processes, training and other materials.

Children, young people, parents and carers

From the outset, the ContactPoint project has sought to understand the views and needs of children and young people, and parents and carers, using a variety of methods, including:

• Directly seeking the views of children and young people from a wide range of backgrounds, facilitated by independent specialists in this field
  
  
• Reviewing a wide body of independent research about the views of children and young people
  
  
• Understanding the experiences of local authority trailblazers who developed local 'pilot' systems and who consulted with children, young people, parents and carers

This work has shown that, in general, children and young people understand the benefits of information sharing and of ContactPoint. Understandably, they want reassurance that the system will be secure and accurate; that practitioners will use their information appropriately and respect their privacy, and that access to ContactPoint will be limited to those who need it to do their job.

The views of children and young people have played, and continue to play, an important role in the development of ContactPoint.

For more information, read the ContactPoint factsheet and Q&A - young people's versions. 

Practitioners and managers

The ContactPoint project has talked extensively to those providing support and services to children, young people and families, and organisations and bodies which represent them. This includes:

1. Regular meetings of the Information Sharing Advisory Group (ISAG), made up of senior representatives from more than 50 organisations including children's charities, teacher unions, social care and youth justice organisations and health bodies
   
   
2. Practitioner workshops - involving potential users in developing the design, build and operation of ContactPoint
   
   
3. Workshops with local authorities and national partners, organised at both national and local level.
   
   
4. Focus groups, surveys and research
   
   
5. Formal consultation - regulations and guidance