Section 47 (9) Children Act 1989 places a duty on the Local Authority to assist other Local Authorities by providing relevant information and advice, if requested, to the Local Authority conducting enquiries under Section 47 Children Act 1989.
Information held on Social Services files is subject to a duty of confidentiality and the following procedure should therefore be followed when requests are made for advice and information under Section 47 (9) Children Act 1989:
- Has the requesting Local Authority obtained consent from the child's parents for the disclosure of information?
- If consent has been obtained then the information can be provided.
- If consent has been sought and refused or if the seeking of consent would in itself place the child at risk of significant harm, information may still be disclosed to the requesting Authority.
- In determining the extent of the information to be disclosed in these circumstances, it is necessary to be clear about the purpose for which the information is requested.
- The information disclosed to the requesting Authority must be sufficient to enable the Authority to conduct it's enquiries but information which is not necessary for that purpose should not be disclosed.
- The decision to disclose without consent of the child's parents and the decision concerning the extent of that disclosure should be recorded on the file.