Capgemini has won a £40m six-year contract to build and host a ContactPoint database containing information about UK children.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) handed Capgemini the contract earlier this week.

Outsourcing firm Capgemni, which has its headquarters in Paris, had been laying the groundwork for the deal since 2006 when it began developing the database's technical design.

The ContactPoint database will form part of the government's "Every Child Matters" programme with an agreement for Capgemini to run the database from 2008 to 2014.

It will hold basic biographical details, including address, gender, and school, about all children in England from the day they are born to the age of 18.

Although Capgemini said no social services information would be held on the system, the database will provide details of parents and carers associated with each child.

Data will be collected from a number of sources including the DCSF, the National Health Service, and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Access will be limited to authorised users only who have been trained and security-checked. The firm added that independent audits will be ongoing, during development as well as when the project goes live.

On Thursday, Ed Balls MP, who heads up the newly created DCSF, announced a total of £456m for projects aimed at supporting "the wellbeing of children and families across the country, and a focus on play which enables children to have healthy, safe and happy childhood".

Talking about the new contract, Capgemini's education vice president John Cummings said in a statement: "We are delighted to be entrusted with a project of such evident importance." ®