Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) Practice Guidance 4 - Information sharing

1. Background

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) (see glossary) is the Scottish Government’s commitment to provide all children, young people and their families (for definition of child or young person and family see glossary) with the right support at the right time - so that every child and young person in Scotland can reach their full potential.

This information sharing guidance is intended for practitioners (see glossary for definitions of information and practitioners) and service leads in services that work with children, young people and families. The guidance promotes lawful, fair and proportionate information sharing, which complies with all relevant legal requirements. This guidance refers at times to guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), accessed in June 2022, licensed under the Open Government Licence. The ICO provide specific guidance on Data Sharing and children (Data sharing and children).

This guidance aims to clarify the circumstances in which information can be shared with another agency (see glossary), the considerations that need to be taken into account to ensure sharing information with another agency is appropriate, and the importance of involving children, young people and families in the decision to share information (see glossary) with another agency.

It seeks to reassure leaders, managers and practitioners about how GIRFEC should be delivered within the current legislative and policy framework of rights, information sharing, and delivery of supports and services to children, young people and their families.