Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership

Joint Assessment System for Prevention and Early Referral (JASPER)

Introduction

The Joint Assessment System for Prevention and Early Referral (JASPER) is a project to enable organisations in Tameside to provide a better service to children and young people. JASPER is a multi agency project led by Tameside Council and reports to the CYPSP on a regular basis. It plays a crucial role in meeting the requirements of the Green Paper Every Child Matters (September 2003) and The Children Act (November 2004).

One of the key points of the Victoria Climbié inquiry was the failure to collect basic information and share it between agencies and across local authority boundaries. As a result, the government refocused its efforts towards children with a greater emphasis on partnership working. The Green Paper, Every Child Matters, places a requirement on local authorities to work more closely with other organisations.

What is JASPER?

Different people hold information about children and young people. Our health services hold information on those who have been born in Tameside, or who are registered with a local GP. Tameside Council also holds information about children and young people, such as the school they attend and whether they receive additional support.

Currently, this information is held in different places - so one organisation could be providing support to a child or young person without knowing another service or agency is involved. This can cause problems, making it more difficult to provide the best service for the child or young person. The JASPER system improves communication between agencies so they can provide the best possible service.

What information will be shared

The JASPER system will hold the following information for every child and young person in Tameside, from birth to 18 years:

• Name
• Address
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Name and contact details of their school or college 

Where a child or young person is receiving additional help, the system will hold the contact details for those involved with them. This will allow other practitioners already involved with the child (or who may become involved) to be able to work together in meeting the needs of the child. Once contact has been made between these practitioners, discussions will take place on the child's individual circumstances - normally with the consent of the parent or carer, or the young person where appropriate.

Access will be restricted to authorised users who need it as part of their work. This will include those working in Education, Health, Social Care, Youth Offending and Connexions. All users will have to go through appropriate security checks including enhanced Criminal Record Bureau checks.

JASPER news

In 2008, the government plan to implement a national system for all children in England called ‘ContactPoint’, which will operate in a similar way to JASPER. It is planned that JASPER will be replaced by ContactPoint at this time.

For further information on ContactPoint  please click on the link.

For more information on JASPER, please contact:

Contact Information
Send us a Message	Information Sharing and Assessment Project Manager Tameside MBC Council Offices Wellington Road Ashton under Lyne Lancs OL6 6DL View local map
0161 342 2730