Consultations
Government Guidance Sharing Information on Children and Young People
The Department for Education and Skills launched the consultation "Cross Government Guidance - Sharing Information on Children and Young People" on 23 August 2005. The consultation is scheduled to run until 15 November 2005. It seeks views on a draft of the first cross-Government guidance on information sharing in respect of children and young people.
Title: Cross Government Guidance - Sharing Information on Children and
Young People
Author: Department for Education & Skills
Number of pages: 69
Date published: August 2005
Availability:
View consultation document and guidance
The draft of this guidance, which will be non-statutory, has been discussed and agreed as a basis for public consultation, with officials from Department of Education and Skills, Department of Health, Home Office, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the Youth Justice Board. A Reference Group including representatives from the professional and regulatory bodies and a range of agencies, both statutory and voluntary contributed to the drafting process. Children's services practitioners and Trailblazer local authorities were also consulted.
The guidance aims to cover all services including:
health
education
early years and childcare
social care
youth offending
police
advisory and support services
leisure
It is for all practitioners who work with children and young people in the services mentioned above, whether they are employed or volunteers, and working in the public, private or voluntary sectors. The guidance recognises that most decisions to share information require professional judgment, and aims to provide the knowledge and understanding practitioners need to inform their judgement of when and how to share information about a child or young person with whom they are in contact. It also covers the main reasons why practitioners may want or need to share information.
One of the purposes of this consultation exercise is to seek views on the weight that should be given to the public interest in protecting children from abuse or neglect. Public interests are not fixed in stone. They change as society changes. It is extremely difficult to decide when these shifts in public perceptions take place and legal judgements on the issues are rare. There has been considerable public debate concerning child protection issues stimulated, in particular, by the Laming Enquiry and the Children Act 2004. This document consults on a proposed change of practice for health professionals and advises on the procedures to follow when health professionals believe that a disclosure of substantive information is justified.
To read the draft guidance and questionnaire, go to: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/
If you have any questions about the consultation itself, please contact:
Consultation Unit Department for Education and Skills Area 1A Castle View House East Lane Runcorn Cheshire WA7 2GJ informationsharing.consultation@dfes.gsi.gov.ukIf you have any questions or comments concerning the policy relating to this consultation, please email Chris Hirst.
Last update: 02 September 2005