Information Sharing Pilot Project

The project issues
ISA (Information Sharing and Assessment) is one of 6 linked strands of work that make up 'The Co-ordinating Children's Services Programme'. The ISA strand includes what was IRT (Identification, Referral and Tracking) and the now largely completed work of 10 IRT Trailblazers (15 local authorities in total) who were tasked with developing and testing new approaches to information sharing and multi-agency working.

Calderdale MBC, a non-trailblazer local authority, commissioned Socitm Consulting to prepare the business case for the ISA programme within Calderdale that would recognises the evolutionary development of the Children Bill and outstanding guidance on ISA indexes. We were asked to investigate an ISA pilot and subsequent roll-out across the authority, together with organisational / business needs plus technical solutions to address the ISA programme.

The Socitm Consulting solution
With competing perspectives and needs from involved partners, a variety of potential models for professional collaboration and multi-agency working were explored with key representatives from both statutory and voluntary children's agencies. Secondment, co-location, virtual working, responsibilities, benefits management among other issues were debated and explored, using national and local evidence where available. The proposal, to pilot first in deprived wards, and then to roll out, adjusting the programme based on the pilot, was accepted by the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership. The pilot is now in progress, with management and organisational changes well defined and delivery needs confirmed.

Socitm Consulting's contribution was to act as independent mediator and resolution finder assuring the development of an optimal local solution to a national problem.

The benefits to the client
Within a situation of local funding restrictions, Socitm Consulting developed and presented an acceptable proposal to the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership, enabling all aspects of this multi-agency programme to be delivered. Benefits to the client include a full and detailed proposal based on local and national evidence and consultation, upon which decision-making was based and which sets the foundation for the programme's development.

Project identification
Client organisation: Calderdale Metropolitan District Council
Client contact: Viv Murray, Principal Officer, Children's Services Unit, 01422 357257, viv.murray@calderdale.gov.uk
Lead consultant: liz.varga@socitmconsulting.co.uk
Project no: 4775