A pioneering data intelligence system that will work across a number of local agencies has been developed by a team of people from six local authority organisations led by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. The results have been shared with the Council so that the next phase of implementation can be considered. The proof of concept project will enable them and other public sector partners to better and more swiftly identify the most vulnerable citizens in their community to ensure they receive the right support at the right time from local services.
“We are a huge step closer to delivering early intervention and better targeted local services to our most vulnerable citizens. Improved intelligence can help us to be more proactive in the way we deliver services to individuals,” says Dean Thomas, Service Manager, Strategic Transformation Team and Resilience at Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. “By intervening sooner we can potentially decrease the likelihood of someone becoming vulnerable. So working to get better intelligence is extremely valuable for quality of life but also for managing resources effectively.”
The project involved managing the data across five organisations: Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, Torfaen County Borough Council, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and Gwent Police. Each type of service holds data on people separately, which when joined can provide a much clearer and more detailed picture of an individual and their needs. This clearer and more holistic view of the individual means that they can receive better support much faster.
The project was delivered by a dedicated team from the local authority organisations as well as technology organisations, Atos and Info share, who provided data matching services and the software to process multiple data sources as well as a dedicated analytics and information management team.
Recently a workshop was held by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council which involved a number of senior management stakeholders across the Gwent Region (including Gwent, Police, a number of local Authorities and Housing Associations, and the Health Board) to further look into options as to how this system about data sharing could be implemented with partners. The workshop identified a number of immediate actions to be taken forward, that would add value to the current data systems and further enhance the business case for this pioneering project in the long term.
Gavin Thomson, Senior Vice President of Atos in Wales, said “This demonstrates just how important data and analytics can be to improving services and ultimately people’s lives. We have been able to establish that when all these separate agencies share their data they can identify the most vulnerable citizens faster and more accurately than ever before. This will enable the organisations to maximise their resources in the best interest of local citizens.
The framework developed for Blaenau Gwent could support early intervention projects across the public sector. It has delivered a workable framework for multi-agency data sharing and is now being considered for implementation.
