This report begins by reviewing what data is available about children’s centres and youth services. It also explores the benefits of, barriers to, and technical challenges associated with improved data access and utilisation across these domains.

The core problem we have identified is that much of the data that is key to making more effective decisions in children’s services is held in a siloed and fragmented nature across central government, local authorities (LAs) and their delivery partners. This lack of connectivity, combined with other issues, inhibits the public sector from taking a holistic and comprehensive approach to data usage for policymaking, service delivery and evaluation.

Main recommendations:

• Identify data demand
• Identify data supply
• Conduct a gap analysis
• Initiate high-impact data transformation projects

While this report focuses on preventive services for children and young people, many of the lessons and recommendations will be more generally applicable to other public services.