Lancaster researchers have contributed to a report showing how proven approaches 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 identifies a major national opportunity to strengthen public services, accelerate research and drive economic growth whilst retaining data sovereignty.

A team from Lancaster Medical School wrote the section on “Modelling which children are likely to receive an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP),” using administrative data to model which children are likely to receive an EHCP identifying early risk signals before formal assessment.

The Lancaster team, including Dr Sam Moore, Gowri Subramanian and Dr Judith Lunn, applies data science and child public health research to show how better-connected data, combined with better connected people working across sectors, is key to reducing inequalities and improving health outcomes for children and young people.

Dr Lunn works in partnership with local authorities in the Northwest analysing routinely collected data, conducting qualitative systems mapping and employing community-based approaches to identify early risk in vulnerable children and young people, with the aim of translating cross-sector evidence into actionable insight for commissioners and policymakers.

Dr Lunn said: “There is rich data available about requests for support for children with additional needs in our region. The local authority tasked us with finding out about patterns in the data, as well as hearing from professionals and parents about their experiences of services. This ongoing work aims to provide timely insights to support better decision-making for our partners.”

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 which revealed that 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 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.

Its ten recommendations include a national mandate for lawful data linkage, a Connected ICB programme, long-term investment, trusted governance, practical frontline information sharing, education as a full partner, and stronger accountability for shared outcomes.

Professor Steve Turner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said: “By connecting data safely across health, education and other children's services, we can identify need earlier, intervene sooner and help ensure every child, regardless of where they grow up, has the opportunity to thrive.”

Child of the North is a joint collaboration between the N8 Research Partnership (N8) and Health Equity North, which forms part of the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA).