Information Sharing and Assessment (ISA) is the term given by the government, to a range of activities, which are intended to encourage services that work with children, to share information appropriately in order to better identify children with additional needs and ensure that appropriate services are provided to them at an early stage.
The "every child matters" agenda identified five outcomes which matter most to children and young people:
- being healthy;
- staying safe;
- enjoying and achieving;
- making a positive contribution;
- economic well-being.
The 'every child matters' agenda sets out the long term vision for how we intend to intervene earlier. It focuses on:
- improving information sharing between agencies, ensuring all local authorties have a list of children in their area, a list of the services they have had contact with and the contact details of relavant professionals. To this end, an online directory is being developed that appropriate practitioners will be able to access. The system will be secure and will be known as ContactPoint.
- establishing a common assessment framework. The government will move towards a common assessment framework across services for all children. The aim is for core information to follow the child between services to reduce duplication.
- identifying lead professionals to take the lead on each case where children are known to more than one specialist agency;
- integrating professionals through multi-disiplinary teams responsible for identifying children at risk and working with the child and family to ensure services are tailored to their needs.
In Every Child Matters (December 2004) the government made a commitment to produce clear guidance for all children's services practitioners on information sharing. The guidance to support practitioners in sharing information can be found on the The Department for Children Schools and Families website.
