EdLaw
Sharing information for assessment and planning; chronologies
Sections 16–17 of the guidance.
16. Sharing Information for assessment and planning
Local authorities and health boards have specific legal duties to promote the health and welfare of people living in their local area. The GIRFEC approach provides a common framework which puts the child or young person at the heart and helps children, young people and families get the right support from the right people at the right time.
Within this approach, as part of the assessment and planning process, it is important to take an ecological, holistic approach to develop a full understanding of the child or young person’s world. Where there is a multi-agency plan for a child or young person, collaborative working together with the child, young person and their family in the child or young person’s best interests will involve information sharing to understand the strengths and achievements in relation to the child, young person and their family.
More detail on planning will be included in guidance specifically on planning for children.
17. Chronologies
A chronology (see glossary) is a timeline of child, young person and family circumstances. It provides a record of key events in the order that they happened. Chronologies may be put together by one or more agency to help them understand how to support a child, young person or family. Chronologies can help prevent people having to keep repeating what has happened in their lives. Guidance on chronologies will be provided in guidance on planning for children within the GIRFEC approach. In brief, you should give the same consideration to the information shared within chronologies as you give to other information sharing.
When contributing to, developing, sharing or storing a chronology you should consider the following principles:
- Only the minimum amount of information should be shared that is necessary for the identified purpose;
- Information should not be further shared or processed in any manner incompatible with the purpose(s) specified;
- Information should not be kept longer than is necessary for the purpose identified to the individual to whom it relates; and
- If sharing or use of information may negatively interfere with an individual’s private and/or family life then this interference must be legitimate, appropriate and proportionate to the concerns.