Capgemini captures $400M UK database deal

Capgemini UK plc has won a three-year, $400 million contract from the United Kingdom's Education and Skills Department to design a national database covering all 11 million children in England.

The Information Sharing Index is to be implemented by the end of 2008. Among the information it will contain are names, addresses and telephone numbers of children and their parents, as well as a child's gender, date of birth, school, medical doctor and details of other practitioners who provide services for the child.

The index is intended to help practitioners share information to deliver better services to children.

Consultation on the regulations closes Dec. 14, and the department said it plans to create initial index records from national data suppliers in early 2007.

Capgemini UK plc is a unit of Capgemini of Paris. The parent company has about 61,000 employees and had an annual revenue of $8.2 billion in 2005.

Separately, British authorities are moving forward on creating a National Identity Registry for all residents by 2008 as part of a national identification card system. The database will contain identifying information and biometrics.