Capgemini UK has selected Initiate Systems Inc to provide the foundational linking and matching technology for the UK national children’s services database ContactPoint.
Ultimately the records representing 11m children across England from birth to the age of 18 will be linked together within ContactPoint.
ContactPoint is a key element of the government’s ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children Programme to support more effective delivery of children’s services in England through better sharing of information among authorised users in care professionals working with users.
The ContactPoint system is intended to provide a more secure and efficient way to find out who else is working with the same child or young person, making it easier to deliver co-ordinated support.
Initiate, which specialises in enabling organisations to index and share data from different sources, will supply its Identity Hub solution which will link data from the four national organisations: the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF); the NHS; the Office of National Statistics; and the Department of Work and Pensions – which holds the records of all births and deaths.
The system will for each child or young person index information including: name, address, gender, date of birth and a unique identifying number, together with basic identification information about a child’s parent or carer.
Further information will also be contained on contact details for care services involved with the child such as their school, GP practice and other services. These will include the name of the lead practitioner and whether an assessment has been undertaken under the common assessment framework.
Access to the system will be restricted to authorised workers who need it as part of their job and who have been security-checked, trained and have the necessary authentication.
John Cummings vice president for education sector at Capgemini, said: "ContactPoint is crucial for the successful delivery of the government’s Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme and we are delighted to be entrusted with a project of such evident importance. The expertise from Initiate Systems is integral to this project and we look forward to developing our relationship further."
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