NO2ID

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is launching a publicity campaign to let families know how much information on them will be held by ContactPoint.

In defiance of Government guidance, it will tell them they can have details kept from the estimated one million officials who would otherwise be allowed to access them.

If parents around the country decide to have their records shielded, it risks undermining the effectiveness of ContactPoint as a way for authorities to share information on England's 11 million children.

"This is a national database, starting with young children, but you can just see this building into something else.

"We think parents should be able to have a view on it and if they think their children should be shielded, we will take that very seriously."

However, the records of children deemed to be at particular risk, such as those who were subject to witness protection plans or who had been abused by relatives, as well as those whose parents were high-profile politicians or celebrities, can be "shielded".

The child's name, date of birth, gender and unique ID number would still be visible on ContactPoint but other details would be hidden.

Government guidance states that there are only "limited circumstances" where shielding should be allowed – where children or adults would otherwise be put at risk of significant harm – but Kensington and Chelsea said it would actively encourage parents of the 33,000 children in the borough to put in requests for shielding.