Information Hub

Information on children is held on many different computer systems by different agencies. No-one has a full picture of all the agencies that are providing services to each child, or of all of the concerns that each agency may have.

The Information Hub will allow each professional involved with a child to see if any colleagues from other agencies are also providing services to the child. It will not hold all of the information from each agency, just a basic index and contact details for the professionals dealing with the child. A concerned practitioner will then know who to contact to gain the full facts.

The hub can be visualised as linking the agencies in a big wheel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does this mean that information entered on one system, say Social Services, will be transferred to another?
A: No. The hub will only take data from the connected systems, it will not update them, so the integrity of the data within each system will not be affected. This does mean that if, for example, a child changes address, each system will need to be updated separately.

Q: Who can access the hub?
A: Access to the information in the hub will be strictly controlled, with practitioners having to log in to use the system. Different practitioners will be able to see different amounts of information, based on the rights assigned to them. The rights will be determined on a ‘need to know’ basis. The privacy of children and families is important and will be respected.

Any access to information will be logged, and it will be possible to see which practitioners have accessed which data.

Q: Will the hub tell a practitioner when something happens to a child they are concerned with?
A: It is very early to say what else the hub may be used for, but it is quite possible that it will send emails to a concerned practitioner when a child they are working with is engaged by another agency. Also when their details appear to be different on different systems, for example a change of address on one system may alert the administrators of the other systems to check their details.