Causeway has become integral to the workings of the Criminal Justice System
02 February 2012
THE Causeway system has now become an integral part of the criminal justice system impacting on its effectiveness and efficiency.
This is the conclusion of a Criminal Justice Inspection in a follow up review of the exchange of information by Criminal Justice Organisation through the Causeway IT programme carried out in 2006 and 2007.
The Inspectorate examined the electronic data sharing mechanism (Causeway) used by criminal justice organisations to help deliver more efficient and effective services by reducing the need for overly bureaucratic data transfer and case handling.
Deputy Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice Inspection, Brendan McGuigan, said, “The Causeway mechanism has been operating on a stable platform since November 2009. Participating agencies have had to work together to deliver their business processes to make electronic integration work.”
As a result said Mr McGuigan “collaborative working is beginning to deliver efficiencies and is helping to improve accuracy as cases progress from one organisation to another through the system.”
Inspectors noted that organisations are beginning to report on benefits accruing to them and that progress had been made with previous CJI recommendations and references to Causeway made in other CJI reports had also been resolved.
An Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
Gateway 5 review of Causeway took place in December 2010 and had been published on the Department of Justice website.
“CJI Inspectors were reassured by the findings of the OGC Gateway review which found that successful delivery of the Causeway system was probable but required constant attention to prevent risks from jeopardising the desired outcome,” added Mr McGuigan.
“Inspectors will continue to report on Causeway through CJI’s thematic inspections of the criminal justice system and relevant organisational inspections”, continued Mr McGuigan, “I would encourage organisations to continue their efforts to fully realise the benefits of the Causeway mechanism to help deliver a more efficient and effective criminal justice system for all service users.”
View report.