Exclusive: Quarter of ISA projects still to go live

Less than six months before the government is due to take
decisions on setting up a children’s database, three of the
11 Information Sharing and Assessment trailblazers are yet to go
live, writes Amy Taylor.
 
A further three ISA trailblazers have not yet finished piloting
their information sharing IT systems, which will be introduced
under the Children Act 2004.
 
The projects are meant to inform government thinking on how basic
information on children can be shared between professionals to
safeguard a child’s welfare.
 
Ministers will decide whether to start working towards implementing
its plans for indexes containing basic information on all children
in autumn.

The deadline for spending the money – around £1m per
project – was extended until March this year because of the
complexity of setting them up.
 
Trailblazers in Gateshead & Newcastle; Kensington & Chelsea
and Camden are not yet available to any professionals to share
children’s details electronically. Paul Brady, IT manager for
passport to services at Newcastle & Gateshead’s ISA
trailblazer, said that 220 staff would be using the system by the
end of this month.

Kensington & Chelsea has stopped working on the
children’s index part of its trailblazer until further
guidance is issued by the government due to legal concerns about
datasharing.

A Camden Council spokesperson said that the trailblazer it its
borough would be going live over the summer.
 
Parts of the trailblazers in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland;
Bolton and Knowsley have gone live but they have not yet finished
piloting their information sharing IT systems.