§ Sir John StanleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he will take to ensure that police forces place details of missing children on the uk.missingkids.com website as soon as possible after being informed of a child's disappearance, and if he will make a statement. [29529]
1186W
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 24 January 2002]: The uk.missingkids.com website aims at reuniting missing children with their families. This site is maintained by Computer Associates plc and is supported by the charity, International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
The website facility is open to be used by all police forces in England and Wales and Scottish forces will have the system made available to them in the very near future. Not all missing children cases are however suitable for the site: children are only featured if it is believed that the child has left their home area, if there is a photograph of reasonably good quality available, and with the agreement of the senior investigating officer and the family. Ultimately any decision as to whether to use the site is the responsibility of the Chief Officer of the relevant force.
However, the Police National Missing Persons Bureau regularly audits the children currently notified as missing and if the child is not on the site, the investigating force is offered the use of the facility.