§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has for new information referral and tracking systems; and how these will work sub-regionally to allow for effective information sharing on children and families who move across different local authorities. [155073]
§ Margaret HodgeThe Queen's Speech said that a Bill will be introduced to improve services designed to protect children. This will implement proposals contained in the Children's Green Paper "Every Child Matters", and, subject to consideration of responses to the Green Paper consultation, will include proposals for information sharing systems to enable practitioners to900W share early information about children and young people where this will enable better services to be provided to them and their families.
Information sharing systems must have the capacity to link together to ensure that children moving between local authority areas do not slip through the net. The Government have provided £1 million each to ten trailblazers, involving 15 local authorities, to test new ways of information sharing. The trailblazers are examining the important issue of linking databases and their experiences will inform subsequent developments.