Download the ContactPoint leaflet here...
What is ContactPoint?
ContactPoint was previously known by the working title of the 'information sharing index'. It is a key element of the Every Child Matters programme to transform children's services by supporting more effective prevention and early intervention.
At present each partner agency working with children and young people in Bournemouth holds its own records. This means that information is kept in many different places and makes it difficult for practitioners / professionals who work with children to find out which other agencies are involved in working with individual children.
ContactPoint will allow agencies to share basic information and see what other services are being provided to a child or young person. This will help children and young people receive support earlier, and make sure that their needs are better met.
Why do we need ContactPoint?
The Government believes that ContactPoint is needed to:
Help practitioners quickly identify a child they have contact with and whether a child is getting the universal services (education, primary health care) to which he or she is entitled
Enable earlier identification of needs and more effective action by providing a tool for practitioners to identify who else is involved with or has a concern about a child. Indexes will also be an important tool to encourage communication and closer working between different practitioners.
What information will be held?
ContactPoint will bring together basic information about all children and young people aged 17 and under. The information held for each child or young person will be their name, address, date of birth and the contact information for the services that they receive. This includes the name of their GP and the nursery, school or college they attend, their parent/carer, the contact details for any professionals working with them and whether an assessment has been carried out using the Common Assessment Framework.
What is the Common Assessment Framework?
The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is an “easy to use” assessment that will be
used by all agencies to provide children and young people with a more consistent service.
It offers a tool for early assessment which may lead to a single service or to a plan for several agencies to work together to meet the child’s needs. Previously children and parents were asked to provide the same information to different services which can be frustrating; this will be prevented with the use of the CAF.
There will be a co-ordinating mechanism through the index so that a practitioner can find out whether a common assessment exists. With the consent of the child, young person or family, a practitioner can contact the relevant practitioner(s) to access the assessment.
What is Bournemouth’s Approach?
Bournemouth Children Services plan to offer a “Managed Service” to all involved partners across the ContactPoint project to aid with the implementation.
The Managed Service, will help each partner with communication, the training of staff, change management and Case Management System development to fully utilise the ContactPoint service.
A central data collection point for all partners will also be implemented, to enable “local” matching of data, prior to being exported to the National database. This way, we can carry out data cleaning and feedback on a local basis before National involvement. Only data with existing consent will be held in this central storage, and only the data required for the National database will be requested from each partner agency, if not being collected nationally.
To ensure that data is only collected once, the CAF “flag” will be taken from the local CAF application and used to feed to ContactPoint.
When will this happen?
ContactPoint will be operational by the end of 2008, with lead partners being brought on-line from early 2009.
Keeping information confidential
Only authorised and fully trained professionals / practitioners working with children and young people will have access to the ContactPoint.
All users need to have been Enhanced CRB checked within the last 3 years or for the Police Force the user must have completed the relevant checks before access to the system will be granted.
All access to ContactPoint will be audited by the Managed Service’s data controller, with security in place to prevent “data trawling”.
Can I see the information held in ContactPoint?
Yes. Children, and parents when acting on a child's behalf, have rights under the Data Protection Act to see the data that is held about them and to request that incorrect data is corrected or removed.
More information on this process can be found on the http://www.Bournemouth.gov.uk web site, under the “quick links” option.
Where Can I Find More Information?
Name:- Robert Young
Team:- ICT Team
Children & Families Services
Dorset House
20-22 Christchurch Road
Bournemouth
Dorset
BH1 3NL
Tel:01202 456213
E-Mail: robert.young@Bournemouth.gov.uk
Download the ContactPoint leflet here...
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