VIPs assured privacy

The Mail writes that there will be about 50,000 families whose information on the ContactPoint database will be shielded. These will include: victims of domestic violence, those on witness protection schemes, celebrities, politicians, and other high-profile members of the public.

Shielded families will have only the names, sex, date of birth and an identification number for their children listed, rather than the exhaustive amount of information held on the rest of us.

Nearly 400,000 council and health workers, police officers and charity staff will be able to look at the records.