PERSONAL details of schoolchildren in Swindon are reportedly being added to a database shared by agencies in the town without the consent of parents.

A system called One is being used by Capita, one of the country’s biggest contractors, to gather vast amounts of information, according to the Sunday Times.

Information on 48,000 pupils is being shared by Swindon Council with health officials at NHS Swindon and with youth offending teams, the newspaper said.

The council said some of the information might be held indefinitely but it would be provided only to those who needed to see it within data protection laws.

A national database called ContactPoint, which contained the details of millions of children, was scrapped two years ago over security concerns.

Nick Pickles, director of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “This is creating by stealth a cradle-to-grave digital record of every single person. It is ContactPoint by another name.

“Parents will be shocked that they are being kept in the dark about how their child’s information is being gathered and exactly what it is being used for.”

School management systems called Sims have already been provided by Capita for years. Local authorities can now upload details from Sims onto the One database for other agencies to access. This includes names, addresses and school records. Another piece of software allows other agencies to look at the information. Capita Children’s Services, which designed Capita One, said the sharing of such information provides a “single view” of a child to identify those who are vulnerable and may need support.

The One database is used by about 100 local authorities to create “a golden thread of data” for use by people working with children. The Information Commissioner’s Office announced at the weekend that it would examine the One database breached data protection laws. The contractor said: “Each local authority holds and manages permission and access to its own information held in its Capita One database. Capita One is not a centralised database for the whole country.”

Capita has a partnership with Swindon Council which includes providing IT services.