Published 11 June 2014
TR – Computer Chaos and Reduction in Service Delivery
Despite the announcement from the MOJ that the IT update for the National Probation Service and the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies went well last week, Napo is being inundated with emails from concerned members that there have been a significant number of issues with the IT. NDelius, the IT system that allows staff to record all contact with offenders and produce reports, was updated last week in readiness for the new organisations to come into place. The system was down for up to four days in some areas while this took place, leading to a backlog of records to be imported. Now the overall system is up and running there are still a number of residual issues:
- Court results were not able to be entered into the system for three days; however this is still an ongoing issue in most areas a week later.
- A number of individuals and their records disappeared completely during the update. It is not yet known if this issue has been resolved.
- This week we have heard that 30,000 emails nationally have not been sent or received, causing delays in information sharing, recall requests, case allocation and the sharing of risk escalation concerns.
- CRC staff have reported that they are unable to access the records of NPS staff but are still expected to cover supervision appointments due to staff shortages. They are unable to check an individual’s risk of harm status, other risk registers such as child protection and sexual offences or any ongoing issues that the offender may have linked to their risk management.
- Excessive staff time has been taken up filling out transfer forms for cases moving from one organisation to the other. However, it has been reported to Napo that when staff have completed them other staff have not been able to access them due to IT problems. They then have to be completed again by hand.
- Reception and administration staff are unable to access NDelius to see who an offender’s appointment is with, produce appointment letters or access the case records. This will cause delays in supervision appointments, dealing with breaches of community orders and recalls to prison.
- There have been significant delays to transferring cases to the new organisations, yet staff are still being expected to operate across the divide in order to make the new system work. NPS staff are still supervising CRC cases and vice-versa but are not able to record any contact information on the system.
A threat to safety
These issues raise significant concerns in relation to staff safety, effective information sharing, child protection, victims and public safety, and should be resolved as a matter of urgency. Napo is deeply worried that preventing access to offender records and inadequate IT systems could lead to risk not being managed effectively.
Questions you may wish to ask the Secretary of State for Justice
- When will the IT systems be fully functioning in order to get through the backlogs of data inputting, emails, and Court results?
- The lack of access to systems for staff raises serious safety concerns for staff themselves, offenders and the public. What will the Minister be doing to resolve this and who would be accountable if something went wrong in the meantime?
- When does the Minister envisage that staff will only undertake work for the organisation they are employed by? Will this be before share sale, and if not how can he assure the House that the CRC contracts are safe to sell?