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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the relationship will be between the proposed Integrated Children's System and the databases proposed in the Children Bill. [195290] Margaret Hodge: The Integrated Children's System (ICS) will be quite different from the information database(s). The ICS is a national framework for Councils with Social Services Responsibilities' (CSSRs') to support their work with children in need and their families. It provides a single approach for assessment, planning, intervention and reviewing based on an understanding of children's developmental needs in the context of their families and communities. It is designed to improve outcomes for children in need. The information gathered in the course of working with children and their families is recorded by social services. These records have traditionally been paper-based although a growing number of councils have electronic record keeping systems in place. As part of implementing the Integrated Children's System, social service records will all be kept electronically, replacing paper-based systems. This will provide a more effective way of keeping and accessing records relating to social services work with children and families than exists at present. The information database(s) provided for by the Children Bill will not contain detailed case information such as this. The information sharing databases will be broader in their coverage than the ICS (they will cover all children in England, whereas the Integrated Children's System will record information about the 4 per cent. of children in need known to social services at any one time), but narrower in terms of the information they will hold about the child. They will contain basic information about all children and the contact details of practitioners working with them across the board. This will be a valuable tool in aiding a wide range of practitioners in working together to meet children's needs. There is no explicit relationship between the IT system which supports the use of the Integrated Children's System and the information databases. The IT system for the Integrated Children's System is designed to hold information about children in need and their families, who are in receipt of services from social services. It is, therefore, a specialist system for holding case based data.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

195290; 426 c1528-9W;426 c1532-3W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Children Data protection Databases Social services

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk