Police are to be given access to the Government’s new children’s database, which is designed to protect every child in England from the risk of harm or abuse, in order to search for evidence of criminal activity.

ContactPoint, due to be launched this autumn, will hold information on all under-18s in England and was set up to allow social workers, schools, GPs and other professionals to share information if they suspect a child is in danger. It will not include case information on children but will record whether they have contact with a Youth Offending Team or services such as drug rehabilitation.

The Government confirmed last night that police would be able to apply for access to the system, an admission which comes as concern grows over the increasing “criminalisation” of young people through the use of ASBOs and surveillance. Civil rights activists have also protested at police powers to retain the DNA profiles of almost 40,000 children.

Police will be able to request archived data for a number of reasons, such as “the prevention or detection of crime” and “the prosecution of offenders”.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “To access ContactPoint for the purposes of prevention or detection of crime or for the prosecution of offenders, police would have to make a special request directly to the Secretary of State or the local authority.”

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