Information Sharing Procedure - Introduction

Information Sharing: Practitioners' Guide

Introduction

The aim of this cross-Government guidance is to improve practice by giving practitioners across children's services clearer guidance on when and how they can share information legally and professionally. This document:

• summarises, in one page, six key points for practitioners to remember on information sharing in respect of children and young people;
• sets out core guidance for practitioners on information sharing;
• sets out further information to inform practitioners' decisions on information sharing;

Sharing information is vital for early intervention to ensure that children and young people with additional needs get the services they require. It is also essential to protect children and young people from suffering harm from abuse or neglect and to prevent them from offending.

Improving information sharing practice is therefore a cornerstone of the Government Every Child Matters strategy to improve outcomes for children. This guidance complements and supports wider policies to improve information sharing across children's services. These include:

• the statutory guidance under the Children Act 2004 for agencies covered by the duty to co-operate to improve well-being and by the duty to safeguard children and promote their welfare;
• the revised Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfES, 2006). The statutory guidance sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children;
• the Common Assessment Framework for children and young people (CAF), a shared assessment tool used across services to avoid children and families having to tell and retell their story and to help practitioners develop a greater shared understanding of a child's needs;
• the lead professional to coordinate action if more than one service is involved;
• the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children's Workforce (DfES, 2005) for everyone working with children, young people and families;
• the Sure Start Children's Centres Practice Guidance (DfES, 2005), which focuses on identifying and intervening in the most disadvantaged and hard-to-reach families;
• the information sharing index, to be rolled out across local authorities by end 2008, which will help practitioners contact one another more easily and more quickly to support earlier intervention and stop children falling through the net;
• the statutory guidance to support the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), which form the basis of public protection, including protection to children, and which operate on a multi-agency partnership basis throughout England and Wales.

It is important that practitioners understand when, why and how they should share information so that they can do so confidently and appropriately as part of their day-to-day practice. This document seeks to give practitioners clear practical guidance, drawing on experience and on the consultation we have carried out.

For further information, please contact The ISA Team on (01472) 323439 or by email

• Family Information Service
• Every Child Matters
• Local Safeguarding Children Board