Across England, administrative data is routinely collected by the NHS, education and social care services. Multiple national reviews have advocated for better sharing of data by local agencies to improve outcomes for children and their families. The aim of the research was to investigate the extent of data linkage of children and young people’s data in Local Authorities (LAs) across England. The research questions were explored using a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted to LAs, including, Metropolitan Districts (36), London boroughs (32), City of London (1), Unitary authorities (55), and County Councils (24). The response rate was 91/148 requests. The results show that there is limited linking of health, educational and social care data on children by LAs in England.
This policy briefing presents interim findings, which will be updated when results from a similar request to integrated care systems (ICS) and outstanding responses from LAs are received. Local research is also underway to explore barriers to data linkage and enabling factors. The research team are also exploring policy solutions with local and national officials; initial recommendations, informed by this research, are shown at the end of this briefing.