Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards have been put in place following the decision to allow people who have been approved to adopt to search the Adoption Register.
The pilot to allow approved adopters to search the Adoption Register has been delayed for technical reasons. Both the Department for Education and the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) are committed to the security of children’s and families’ data. This continues to be our overriding priority. This is a new service and it is crucial that we are satisfied that the system is completely secure before launching the pilot. BAAF have contacted all the agencies involved in the pilot to inform them of the current situation.