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Home Office

Answer

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the original deadlines for connecting the prison and probation services' OASys IT systems have been met. [199895] Paul Goggins: Roll out of the probation and prison OASys IT systems has gone well. The prison service completed its roll out by the end of 2004 and all probation areas have been using OASys IT since last summer. However our plans to connect the two systems are behind schedule. We decided that it made sense, first, to pilot a limited version of the software that would provide the connection between the two systems, with full deployment of the final version of the software to follow at a later date. At the beginning of 2004 our aim was to begin the pilot in July and have the final version ready for deployment in September, with a view to completing roll out across the probation service and prison service around the end of 2004. The pilot began in July as planned, linking one probation area to several prisons. However the effort needed to develop and support the pilot was greater than expected, which delayed completion of the final version of the software until the end of November. The final version is now in use across the prison service and in the pilot probation area. Plans for roll out across the rest of the probation service have been put back in order to give priority to work that will enable OASys to support implementation of the sentencing provisions of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act in April. We now expect to achieve full connectivity between the prison and probation OASys IT systems by autumn 2005.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

199895; 430 c838-9W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Software ICT National Offender Management Service National Probation Service for England and Wales HM Prison Service Offender assessment system

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk