Offender risk assessment IT system two years late

A Home Office IT system that is supposed to help the probation and prison services assess the risk offenders pose to the public and the likelihood of them re-offending is running two years late.

The Prison Service and National Probation Service run two separately developed offender assessment IT systems. The new national electronic Offender Assessment System (e-OASys) is supposed to provide a link between the two so that probation and prison staff can exchange risk assessment information.

But the project has been beset by delays and silicon.com reported last February that the project was running behind schedule because of the work needed to enable the IT systems to support the sentencing provisions of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act.

At the time the Home Office said all probation and prison services offender risk assessment systems would be joined up by e-OASys by the end of 2005.

But the Home Office has now revealed that just 13 of the UK's 42 probation service regions are currently able to share and transfer offender risk assessment information with the Prison Service through e-OASys.

A Home Office spokesman told silicon.com: "Our intention is that all 42 probation areas will be connected to the Prison Service [e-]OASys IT system by the end of this financial year."

The Home Office said the latest delay was due to "minor" software problems in the pilot roll out in the North West region, which had to be fixed before extending the system to other regions. The Home Office spokesman said upgrades have now resolved the problem and the rollout schedule to the rest of the country has resumed successfully.