Written question asked by Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 11 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 November 2003. It was answered by Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2003 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, whether the Project Board to integrate finance, communication, human resources and case recording systems has been established by CAFCASS.

Answer: Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the Project Board to integrate finance, communication, human resources and case recording systems has been established by CAFCASS. [138759] Margaret Hodge: A project was started in 2001 to develop an integrated case management system, including finance and human resources. This project was stopped as it was judged to be too high a risk. Government best practice is to reduce risk by breaking down large IT projects into smaller, more manageable, parts. Separate finance and payroll systems have now been procured by CAFCASS. A case recording project is now under way, to implement the key information elements for case management. A Project Board, chaired by the Chief Executive is managing this work. The case recording system is being designed to be compatible with the systems in place and those to be developed.

Secondary information