A key pledge of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition in Wales - to give all Welsh schoolchildren their own email addresses - has been shelved by ministers because of safety fears, it emerged today.

The Welsh assembly cabinet has put the plan on hold because of fears the addresses could get into the hands of paedophiles on the internet.

There was particular concern over the possibility of identifying children by name or in pictures on school websites.

The pledge was a key policy in the programme drawn up by Labour and the Libl Dems when they formed their coalition at the assembly.

It was due to be implemented by last month. But the Welsh education minister, Jane Davidson, called on cabinet colleagues to review the pledge.

The decision only came to light with the recent publication of cabinet meeting minutes on the assembly's website.

An assembly spokesman said: "There was concern about security and safety for pupils. We were concerned that if children went into internet chatrooms their email addresses would be available.

"It was discussed at cabinet and the minister said rather than recommending delaying the implementation she wanted to recommend the implementation should be reconsidered. The cabinet agreed.

"They thought internet access for pupils rather than individual email addresses was the priority."

The department for education at Westminster issued new guidelines to schools earlier this year on the safe use of emails.

Assembly officials will now include questions on email security in an audit of information technology in schools.

Minutes of the cabinet meeting state: "The overriding need for pupil safety and security meant that the commitment needed to be amended. Cabinet agreed that the implementation of the commitments should be reconsidered."

The discussion took place just days before the policy was due to be introduced. Officials insisted it was a genuine fear and was not being used to give them more time to meet the promise.

There is growing concern about children's access to the internet. Fears have been raised about the risk of misusing chatrooms, an issue raised in a recent storyline on the ITV soap Coronation Street.

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