You will be aware of ContactPoint, the national directory of all children/young people in England. (See section 12 of the Children Act 2004). There is a statutory obligation on schools to disclose data of their pupils to the local authority (the Accountable Body) for inclusion on ContactPoint. In Norfolk, this will happen automatically through the Tribal (EMS) system.

ContactPoint contains basic identifying information for all children/young people in England and contact details for their parents/carers and those providing services/support to them.

Before this national directory can be made available we are all required to identify children/young people for shielding. Failure to complete this process accurately will mean there is a danger that a vulnerable child could be located and potentially put 'at risk'.

Shielding a record means that the location of a child/young person is hidden from normal view.

Schools need to identify any of their pupils who they feel meet the national criteria for shielding (see below).

Please do not send details or provide details over the telephone of the child/young person.

Criteria for Shielding

There are limited circumstances where shielding would be applicable - these are where there are strong reasons to believe that not shielding is likely to:

a.	place a child at increased risk of significant harm;
b.	place an adult with children at risk of significant harm;
c.	prejudice the prevention or detection of a serious crime;
	or, in the case of adoption,
d.	put a child's placement at risk.

Examples of this could be where a child is living within the Witness Protection Scheme, or currently living in a women's refuge.

If you feel you have a child/young person whose record should be shielded, and meets the criteria, please telephone, or email, the ContactPoint Management team (details at the bottom of this letter) for information on how to proceed with this.

It is important that you contact us by 6^th March 2009 to enable the actual shielding process to be completed, in accordance with DCSF directive, by March 13^th. After this date you will need to ensure that any new instances of shielding requirements are notified to the ContactPoint team as a matter of urgency. We would suggest that you make all relevant staff aware of this requirement.

Please note that we will assume you have no children who might meet this criteria, at this time, if we do not hear from you by 6^th March.

Further information about ContactPoint is available on www.everynorfolkchildmatters.org and www.ecm.gov.uk/contactpoint or click here to view a ContactPoint information flyer.

If you feel you would like to talk to someone about this please contact one of the ContactPoint team members:-

Craig Bould	ContactPoint and eCAF Manager	01603 306637
John Green	ContactPoint Data Manager	01603 306632

Or email contactpoint@norfolk.gov.uk and we will get back to you.

The ContactPoint Team
Norfolk County Council