Government 'to miss eCAF target'

The government looks likely to miss its deadline for implementing a national IT system for the Common Assessment Framework.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) had planned a national adoption of eCAF - the IT system that will allow children's services professionals to create, store and share assessment frameworks - for autumn 2009.

A spokeswoman for the DCSF said it expects to sign a contract with a supplier for the national eCAF system "within the next few weeks", after which the development and testing of the national system would last for a year.

But speaking at the Capita Children's Services annual conference last week, Roger Green, head of the service responsible for information sharing at Cambridgeshire Council, said the government's target for national eCAF is unrealistic.

Cambridgeshire is one of the 20 early adopter authorities helping the DCSF prepare for a national roll-out.

Green claimed the system would not be ready until 2010. He also raised concerns about how DCSF officials work together, claiming the officials responsible for eCAF think little about how the system will function alongside ContactPoint.

He said: "I went to the first kick-off meeting for eCAF early adopter local authorities at the DCSF and I came out thinking this lot don't understand about integrated working."

Alice Redfearn, CAF training and development manager at Suffolk County Council, another early adopter authority for national eCAF, said the government's timetable for the roll-out had been "messed up" because of problems with appointing a supplier to deliver it.

Part of the reason for this is the current economic climate, which has an impact on private sector service providers, she said. But she claimed joined up working at central government level is "not a concern".

Mike Wood, information sharing and assessment project manager for Staffordshire Council, also an early adopter, said it was too early to say whether the national roll-out of eCAF would be significantly delayed.

A spokeswoman for the DCSF denied that officials need to be more joined up because staff working in the DCSF's Improving Information Sharing and Management Programme were heavily involved in both ContactPoint and eCAF.