Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219289, whether the decision to delay the introduction of the Adoption Register received specific Ministerial approval.

As I made clear in my previous answer in PQ 219289, 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 is a new service and it is crucial that the Department is satisfied that the system is completely secure before launching the pilot. I was fully informed of and subsequently approved this decision.