What actions can we take to overcome the information and data sharing barriers relating to care experienced children in Scotland?
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The deadline for submissions is 23 February 2024
Background & Detail:
For public services to be able to deliver their services, it is necessary and important for data and information about individuals to be collected, stored, and managed by multiple agencies and organisations.
It is key that data and information about children and their families are handled in ways that respect the Rights of the Child, are compliant with legislation, are mindful of the potential re-traumatisation of repeat telling, and seek to inform decisions made on behalf of and for that child and their family for their best outcomes. This is in consideration of the creation of the data and information, the control and sharing of the data and information, and access to this data and information about care experienced people.
The Scottish Independent Care Review heard that Children and young people do not have enough ownership and control of how their personal stories are recorded and shared, meaning that all too often, official narratives are wholly negative, distressing, disempowering, and not reflective of the experiences and identities of the person they are about.
Furthermore, Learning Reviews repeatedly identify a lack of appropriate information sharing as a hugely important contributing factor to the failure to keep children safe. Information is not always shared timeously, does not always reach the right people, and in some cases, information that is shared is not listened to or taken seriously.
Recent work by The Promise Scotland has highlighted that there is some work underway to empower children to have more control over how their experiences are recorded and with whom that information is shared. It also found that there is work in progress with those who work with children to ensure they write about children in caring, strengths-based ways and focus on the voice of the child.
Scotland already has a plethora of tools and toolkits designed to ‘fix’ the problem and overcome the barriers, a useful framework of data and information sharing guidance and a clear idea of the barriers and challenges. However, organisational culture within key agencies and bodies does not currently align with this guidance, and tangible progress is yet to be made in a way that is felt by children and their families. Elements such as leadership, risk appetite, incentives, and clear guidance based on legislation are all factors that are affecting how organisations handle data and information, getting in the way of change in this area.
As such, this Challenge Question seeks to build on the existing knowledge base to create a tangible action plan that drives at the heart of current practices across different organisations to facilitate change.
Anticipated outputs:
Clear definitions of data and information sharing;
Further development in understanding enablers and barriers to data and information sharing in relation to knowledge gaps, such as:
the impact of previous initiatives, including the development of data and information-sharing toolkits,
how culture shapes an organisation/division/team on decisions,
risk assessment practices,
leadership practices,
decisions tracking in terms of their impact on the needs of children, young people, and their families;
A suite of concrete and tangible actions that can be taken forward by one or more organisations that would bring positive change to the public sector's data and information sharing.
Desired Outcome:
The creation of a time-bound action plan to drive organisational change to keep the promise in relation to information sharing. The aim is to seek ownership and commitment by the appropriate organisations to act upon the concrete and tangible actions, leading to a culture shift in data and information sharing across public sector agencies and organisations in Scotland to the benefit of care experienced children and families.
Skill Sets:
Below are the broad skill sets needed to meet this challenge. It is likely that there may be additional skills required. We encourage applicants to propose capabilities that may lie out with the work packages below, as these will also be considered when forming a collaboration.
1. Organisational Culture Development
The collaborative team will need to understand the cultural challenges that provoke data sharing issues, the methods that can address the issues at an institutional level, as well as the types of interventions that can successfully address such challenges.
2. Data Governance & Management & the Legislative Environment
The collaborative team will need expertise in data governance, data management and the legislative environment, using knowledge of best practices to thoroughly understand stakeholders' existing structures and stakeholders' challenges and needs. Knowledge and understanding of child-centred and inclusive recording practices would be advantageous.
3. System/Enterprise Architecture
The collaborative team will need expertise in system architecture to enable the mapping of existing systems, overlaps, and opportunities to enable better sharing practices.
4. Data Sharing Policy
The collaborative team will need broad understanding of existing public sector data sharing policies to help navigate challenges, gaps, and recommendations moving forward.
Funding Availability
For this challenge question, the Data for Children Collaborative can fund project partners a portion of up to £147,000. The funding available to individual organisations will be dependent on the agreed contribution to the project once the collaboration has been formed and the delivery plan approved.
We welcome applications from all sectors (private/public/third / academia) and encourage submissions from any team looking to do any in-kind Data for Good work to develop their expertise.
If possible, we encourage private sector partners to provide time pro-bono.
Funding is available at 70% of the total contribution, with a 30% match funded through in-kind contributions.
This is an experimental development project, and VAT will not apply to any agreed funding.
Academic partners will receive 80% of Full Economic Cost.
Timescales & Deliverability:
We would aim for the collaboration to begin work on a project by April 2024. We envisage that a project addressing this challenge question should take approximately 12 months.
The deadline for submissions is 23 Feb 2024, with the first collaboration workshop taking place in the week commencing 4 Mar 2024.
Challenge Sponsor:
The Promise Scotland
Stakeholders:
The Promise Scotland
The Prevention Hub at Edinburgh Futures Institute
Improvement Services
Local Authorities
Public Health Scotland
Police Scotland
Scottish Government Keeping the Promise Team