Hampshire County Council has signed a £24m deal with supplier Capita to provide an ICT solution to allow the easier sharing of data between schools and children’s services teams.
Capita’s One management information system and its SIMS Learning Gateway technology will integrate with several third party components to enable staff to get faster access to information.
John Coughlan, director of children’s services at Hampshire County Council, said: “We wanted a management information system that would support the objectives set out in our Children and Young People’s Plan, ensuring Hampshire can continue delivering first-class children’s services in the future, while providing our practitioners with the information they need to make a difference to the lives of children and young people.”
Staff with authorisation will be able to log on and quickly see caseload detail and relevant information on children and young people from other systems.
As an example, the council said that social workers will be able to access pupil attendance or attainment data alongside referral and assessment records.
It even claimed that the new technology could even help practitioners to identify children at risk of offending so that effective early help and prevention measures can be put in place.
Phil Neal, managing director of Capita One, said: “Hampshire County Council is a trailblazer and we are delighted that Capita’s One solution has been selected as part of the authority’s on-going commitment to delivering outstanding children’s services.
“The systems will play a pivotal role in ensuring the authority can continue to raise the bar in meeting the changing needs of children and families.”
The SIMS system will be used in classrooms across the council’s 536 schools to record pupil data such as attendance and achievement records.
