Guidance on confidentiality is "too restrictive" and prevents effective information-sharing among children's professionals, children's minister Beverley Hughes said this week.
The minister told a seminar at the Labour party conference that confidentiality issues, particularly among health professionals, could hinder the use of the government's proposed database on 11 million children.
Hughes said confidentiality guidance gave professionals little leeway and that a culture change was needed.
She said progress in interagency working in children's trusts varied across the country and hoped the children's database would act as a "catalyst" for agencies to work together.
Professor Brian Corby, head of social work at the University of Central Lancashire, said professionals faced problems because of the "speed of change" in services.
He said existing training in child care was insufficient and pointed to a need for inter-disciplinary training. He added that professionals should put information-sharing at the top of their agenda and emphasised the importance of continuing training.
Colin Reid, Northern Ireland policy adviser at the NSPCC, asked Hughes whether the database could be extended to cover Northern Ireland and Scotland.
He said it was folly to create a system that did not take account of children's movements across national boundaries.
Hughes said no formal decision had yet been taken but admitted it would be difficult to extend the database.
