§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how the set up costs for CAFCASS were spent. [119783]
§ Margaret HodgeI have been asked to reply.
In the year preceding CAFCASS's launch, a total of £10.2 million was spent on set up costs of the new organisation; this included capital expenditure of £7.7 million. Over £5 million of this total was spent on an IT service. The other major areas of expenditure were £1.4 million on contract, consultancy and recruitment fees, £452,000 on contract and agency staff and £358,000 on payroll costs.
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) what he expects to be the cost of establishing a case record index for CAFCASS; and what consultation he plans to undertake with users before implementation; [119784]
(2) how many electric systems are required for the holding of a single item of data in the absence of an integrated IT system for CAFCASS; [119785]
130W(3) if she will list by budget heading the savings from an integrated IT system for CAFCASS as anticipated in the document Key Decisions and Working Assumptions for the Children and Family Court Advisory Service; [119786]
(4) when she expects CAFCASS to introduce to service an integrated IT system; and what estimate she has made of its cost. [119787]
§ Margaret HodgeI have been asked to reply.
CAFCASS has over 100 stand-alone legacy case recording systems, inherited from the three different services unified under CAFCASS. On the legacy systems, each case data item is only entered into one of these systems; no interface exists from these to other systems such as management information or financial systems.
The original project for a case management system was suspended as it was deemed to be too high risk. CAFCASS is now planning a simpler and more cost effective case recording system and this has been independently verified as a more effective approach.
CAFCASS are currently tendering for a supplier to provide the new integrated case recording system. Until that process is completed CAFCASS will not be able to assess the full costs. However, it is expected that the costs will, over a three-year period, be less than the costs of maintaining the existing legacy systems. A user group as been set up to review requirements and supplier proposals prior to selection of the successful tender. CAFCASS hopes to pilot the system later this year and introduce it from 2004.