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Definitions

Agency requirement
An agency requirement is any requirement of an agency authorised to share relevant information that pertains to that agency 's operational procedures. Agency requirements are not necessarily dictated by legislation, but can be determined by organisational policy. For example, completion of a form documenting the information shared and with whom constitutes an agency rather than a statutory requirement.

Prescribed entity
Under Section 159D of the Child Protection Act 1999 (new window) , prescribed entity means each of the following entities:

the chief executive of the department in which the Child Protection Act 1999 (new window) is administered
an authorised officer, meaning a person holding office as an authorised officer under an appointment under the Child Protection Act 1999 (new window) a licensee, meaning a person licensed to provide care for children in the custody or guardianship of the chief executive of the department in which the Child Protection Act 1999 (new window) is administered
the chief executive of a department that is mainly responsible for any of the following matters:
- adult corrective services
- community services
- disability services
- education
- housing services
- public health
the chief executive officer of the Mater Misericordiae Health Services Brisbane Ltd (ACN 096 708 922)
the Police Commissioner
the principal of a school that is accredited, or provisionally accredited, under the Education(Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Act 2001 (new window)
the person in charge of a student hostel
the chief executive of another entity, that provides a service to children or families, prescribed under a regulation.

Relevant information
Under Section 159D of the Child Protection Act 1999 (new window) , relevant information is information that the officer authorised to share it believes will assist the Department of Communities (Child Safety Services) to:

assess
investigate, or
respond to the needs of a child in need of protection.

Information is also considered relevant when it will assist a government or non- government service provider other than the Department of Communities (Child Safety Services) to:

decide whether to give information to the chief executive of Department of Communities (Child Safety Services) about suspected harm or risk of harm to a child
respond to an incident report
assess or respond to health, educational or care needs of a child in need of protection
make plans or decisions relating to, or provide services to, a child in need of protection or his/her family.

SCAN (Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect) team system
The purpose of the SCAN team system is to enable a coordinated, multi-agency response to children where statutory intervention is required to assess and meet their protection needs. This is achieved by:

timely information sharing between SCAN team core members
planning and coordination of actions to assess and respond to the protection needs of children who have experienced harm or risk of harm
holistic and culturally responsive assessment of children's protection needs.

SCAN team
The Department of Communities (Child Safety Services) is recognised within legislation as the lead agency for the SCAN team system. Core member agencies are the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Health, the Department of Education and Training and the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak Limited representing recognised entities when an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child is being discussed.

The SCAN team is the referral point for all matters to be discussed within the SCAN team system. Members of SCAN teams undertake an assessment of available information from all member agencies and formulate recommendations for action.

Service provider
Under Section 159D of the Child Protection Act 1999 (new window) , a service provider is a prescribed entity or another person providing a service to children or
families.

Statutory requirement
In the context of information sharing, a statutory requirement is any requirement of the Child Protection Act 1999 (new window) or other Act that impacts on the act of information sharing.

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