§ Mr. CallaghanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health at what age local authorities remove children from the child protection register; and if he will bring forward measures to ensure that all children can be kept on such registers until the age of 18 years. [5849]
§ Mr. Burns"Working Together Under the Children Act 1989", the Government's guidance on inter-agency co-operation for the protection of children from abuse, copies of which are available in the Library, advises that the purpose of the child protection register is to provide a record of all children in the area for whom there are unresolved child protection issues and who are currently the subject of an inter-agency protection plan and to ensure that the plans are formally reviewed every six months. De-registration should be considered at every child protection review. For de-registration to occur all 371W members of the review conference must be satisfied that the abuse or risk of abuse is no longer present or is no longer of a level to warrant registration. The criteria for de-registration are that the original factors which led to registration no longer apply; that the child and family have moved permanently to another area which has accepted responsibility for the future management of the case; that the child is no longer a child in the eyes of the law i.e. the child reaches 18 years of age or the child marries; or that the child dies. It would not be justified to require the retention of all children on the register until they reached 18.