article
Information sharing - the current position
15th July 2009
The DCSF Information sharing guidance has been with us for over 3
years, the most recent version of which was launched in October
2008. The question is has the current guidance lifted the fog for
frontline practitioners?
We all accept that sharing relevant information about children
is a key part of protecting them from harm and ensuring that we are
doing all we can to promote their welfare. It also helps to ensure
that children and young people with additional needs get access to
the services they require as soon as they require them.
The government is also acutely aware of its importance and made
information sharing the cornerstone of its Every Child Matters
strategy. This in turn led to the drafting of the key guidance
Information Sharing: Practitioners' Guide which came out in April
2006. Before releasing this version of the guidance, the government
undertook a public consultation which attracted over 250 responses
from practitioners and managers from all parts of the child
protection arena. The views of children and young people were also
sought and considered before the guidance was finalised.
The results of the consultation were intriguing. The government
found that the key factor in many serious case reviews was a
failure to record and share significant information and a failure
to understand its significance. There was also overwhelming
evidence that when faced with information sharing dilemmas,
practitioners felt constrained and at risk from the uncertainty of
the law. As a result, prior to April 2006 information sharing
practices across agencies and across the country varied enormously,
potentially to the detriment of the child.
The information sharing guidance has been with us for just over
three years now. It sought to cut through the complications of the
Data Protection Act 1998 and its complex Schedule to provide
concise guidance that made it clear to all professionals working
with children exactly what information you could share and the
circumstances in which you could and should share it.
The April 2006 guidance was well received by those working in
child protection, including those in the education sector. It
should be remembered that the law underpinning information sharing
is not the friendliest. The numerous court decision that form the
basis of the law of confidentiality coupled with the complex and
confusing Data Protection Act 1998 are enough to deter most
practitioners. The 2006 guidance succeeded where others failed: it
cut through the legal web to provide simple, straightforward
guidance on the do's and don'ts of information sharing.
Recognising that most decisions to share information required
professional judgment, the guidance aimed to improve practice by
giving practitioners across children’s services clear guidance on
when and how they should share information. It did so by avoiding
reference to the law, opting instead to set out simple steps one
should take and questions one should ask when faced with an
information sharing problem.
For example, the crux of the 2006 guidance was the ‘six key
points’ section, a helpful reminder that found its way onto many a
practitioner’s notice board. This helpful summary broke down
everything one needs to know about sharing information into six
simple steps that could be applied to the vast majority of
information sharing situations.
The 2006 guidance was also the first cross-Government guidance
for practitioners across the whole of the children’s workforce.
Even before April 2006 there was ample guidance specific to sharing
information within particular settings. However, as children’s
services moved ever closer to multi-agency working, practitioners
needed clear guidance in order to support this integrated
approach.
Indeed in March 2007, the DfES published a list of endorsements
from, amongst others, the Local Government Association, the General
Medical Council, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Heath and the Police. This
was considered a significant step forward because at least in
principle, agencies outside of education and social care were
signing up to say that they will follow the same guidance.
However, whilst many positives could be taken from the creation
of the new guidance, the improvement in multi-agency sharing was
not as significant as hoped (a matter that shall be considered in
detail in next month’s edition of Every Child Journal). To tackle
this and to improve still further on the practical guidance offered
the latest incarnation of the Information Sharing Guidance from the
DCSF was launched in October 2008 and entitled Information Sharing:
Guidance for practitioners and managers.
This slim-line, more succinct version opens with the endorsement
of no less than 30 government agencies, associations and charities
across all children’s workforce sectors including health, youth
justice, teaching and social care. So even before the guidance gets
started on telling you how to handle information sharing it hammers
home the fact that no less that 30 organisations have signed up to
follow the new, improved guidance. In recognition of the government
drive for children and vulnerable adults to be afforded the same
level of protection the guidance now applies in both sectors and is
colour-coded – yellow for children and families and purple for
adults.
Gone are the 6 key questions and in their place come the seven
golden rules, the seven key questions and a very helpful flowchart
to aid decision making. Not only that, but helpfully the DCSF also
produced a pocket guide for one to keep handily on their person,
which solely covers the golden rules, the key questions and the
flowchart. To highlight just how keen the DCSF is for practitioners
to think about information sharing as an every day occurrence, to
complete the set, they also offer a credit card-sized reference
card setting out the golden rules and the seven key questions.
This gives us some indication of the current importance placed
on information sharing practices by the government. Not only did
they update the existing, effective guidance, but in making it more
user-friendly for frontline staff and producing the key messages in
new formats, they have shown that they are keen to ensure that no
professional working with children can excuse themselves from
having a sound working knowledge of the guidance.
However, for all the improvements and different formats now
offered there continued to be a real concern that whilst those at
the frontline had a firm grasp of the information sharing guidance
and implemented it consistently, good practice was not embedded
throughout each agency. In an attempt to combat this, in March this
year the DCSF held five information sharing seminars around the
country aimed at the child protection sector to promote the
guidance and clear up popular misconceptions which they felt were
hampering good practice.
The offering continued beyond the seminars – The DSCF has, in
conjunction with Barnardo’s, created a computer-based training
course which provides an introduction to information sharing. This
self-study package is based on the 2008 information sharing
guidance and is aimed at practitioners and trainers alike.
This gives us some indication of the increased significance
attached to information sharing. In the three years since the
original guidance was issued, we have gone from one guidance
document to redrafted, concise guidance, a pocket guide, a credit
card reference guide, DSCF-led seminars and a CD-ROM interactive
training package put together by the DCSF in conjunction with a
leading children’s charity. That is no small change in three years
and should leave you in no doubt as to the perceived importance of
timely, accurate information sharing and the positive impact the
government believes it has on children’s outcomes.
Indeed, the significance and quality of the guidance was
endorsed by Lord Laming as part of his report into the death of
baby P, published in March this year (which will be discussed in
next month’s edition of Every Child Journal). So the message that
has underpinned the information sharing guidance for the last three
years remains and is supported by Lord Laming – if you believe a
child or vulnerable adult is at risk of harm and your belief is
reasonable, the law will support you. What guidance does is walk
you through the questions you need to ask, the decisions you need
to make and provides you with step by step assistance to make sure
you are sharing the right information, with the right people in the
right way.
As well as progress in guidance, there has been progress in
practice. Education Practitioners are feeling empowered and
supported, confident that the Data Protection Act is not a tripping
hazard and that the law of confidentiality is not something with
which to be unduly concerned. Perhaps for the first time, the vast
majority of practitioners working with children are at least in
principle approaching information sharing from the same
viewpoint
There's still some work to be done before the multi-agency
information sharing process is well-oiled, but it is clear that the
current information sharing guidance and the supporting cast of
pocket guides, reference cards and training programmes that the
process is well underway, which can only be a good thing.
This article was first published in Every Child
Journal
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