A new report shows how proven approaches already working in Northern England can be scaled nationally to address the urgent need for better data sharing across children’s services
Published by Child of the North and partners, the new ‘Connecting data: Intelligent and informed delivery to support every child to succeed’ report provides a clear case for a national devolved approach to connected data.
The report reflects consensus across researchers, policymakers, public service leaders and practitioners and warns that children are being left unsupported, unseen and exposed to avoidable harm because services do not safely and lawfully share and link the information they already hold. It argues that effective data sharing, enabled by connected data infrastructure, is “literally a matter of life and death”. The report identifies a major national opportunity to strengthen public services, accelerate research and drive economic growth whilst retaining data sovereignty.
The report builds on a Manchester workshop held earlier this year, which brought researchers from across the North of England together with policy teams and scientists from across Whitehall to discuss connected data practices and opportunities, with a particular focus on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Challenges in children’s lives span health, education, social care and wider family circumstances, but services and systems continue to operate in silos. The report highlights how the disconnect makes it harder to identify vulnerability early, coordinate support, and prevent escalation.
The report highlights the urgent need for a new approach to connecting data, drawing on previous analyses conducted by Child of the North and the Children’s Commissioner:
More than 2 million children in England live in families facing complex needs and 760,000 vulnerable children were seen by children’s services but received no formal support, while another 830,000 were not even on the radar of services.
In 81% of serious incidents where a child died or suffered serious harm, lack of coordination between services was driven by poor information sharing, delayed responses and fragmentation.
The report highlights that poor connection between public services remains a persistent challenge.
It argues that the challenge is not a lack of data, but a lack of a firm political commitment until now to use the infrastructure, mandates, governance, and delivery models that would allow data to be used safely and meaningfully across organisational boundaries.
The report sets out a clear solution and calls on the government to adopt a national “Connected ICB (Integrated Care Board)” model, using NHS infrastructure to link data across health, education, social care and other services. Crucially, this is not a single central database, but a devolved model where local systems (and communities) retain control of their data while contributing to a connected national ecosystem that enables shared learning, improved services, and stronger evidence for improving the health of children.
The report concludes that:
“The goal is not a single central database, but an interconnected ecosystem in which trusted local systems generate insight, improve services, and support research and innovation at national scale.”
Haroon Chowdry, Chief Executive of the Centre for Young Lives, said:
“Children’s lives don’t fit neatly into the silos that services are built around. Whether it’s education, healthcare or child protection, if services can’t see the full picture then children fall through the gaps, and opportunities to help them are missed. This means worse outcomes, wasted potential and sometimes devastating harm.
This report shows that the solutions already exist. Connected data can transform how we identify the needs of children and families, enabling better and earlier support – not just keeping children safe, but also delivering a better deal for children, public services and the economy.
If the next Prime Minister wants to ensure all young people can do well, they must seize this moment to break up the silos holding back public services. Now is the time to be much more ambitious about using connected data to boost life chances for all children, wherever they are growing up.”
