Guidance

Local Data Accelerator Fund for children and families: prospectus

Published 26 March 2021

Applies to England

A £7.9 million fund to support children and families through better use of local data.

Foreword – Eddie Hughes MP

As the Minister for Supporting Families, I’m focused on how we can support children and families in the best possible way. An important part of this is using data to make sure that children and families get the right help at the right time.

Many local organisations in an area offer support to children and families. However, all too often they have difficulty in joining up their support with other organisations. This is because the facilities may not be in place to share information. Joining up data from different organisations builds a full picture of what is happening in a family’s life and means they can get the right help at the right time. The most important thing for me is that children should not be put at risk by public services failing to share information with each other.

Data sharing projects can make real world improvements to support for children and families. That’s why I am pleased to be making £7.9 million of new funding available for innovative local data projects. We are inviting bids from groups of local authorities and partner organisations for a range of projects.

There are many ways data can improve service. Some examples would be better sharing of data can help identify needs or better sharing to evaluate interventions. During the Covid-19 pandemic data sharing helped identify vulnerable people who needed to shield because of health concerns and ensured that they were supported to access essentials such as food at this time. Better data sharing can help us evaluate what interventions are most effective. The national evaluation of Supporting Families (formerly Troubled Families) used data from 150 local authorities linked to data from government departments to monitor outcomes over time. This enabled us to evaluate the programme while protecting personal information by deidentifying the data. We encourage bids with this type of application of data and others too.

It is of course vital that people’s personal data is handled securely and respectfully. We expect all projects to meet high legal and ethical standards including complying with data protection legislation. However, if done right and with public support, sharing data can deliver significant benefits while protecting people’s privacy. I look forward to seeing the practical benefits of this work and we will ensure we share the learning from the projects so all areas can benefit.

Eddie Hughes
Minister for Supporting Families

Introduction

How data can improve outcomes for children and families

There is good evidence ^{[footnote 1]} to suggest that effective use of data by public services can improve outcomes for children and families. Effective data practices enable services to provide the right help to families at the right time.

Families often interact with many different public services for instance schools, health services, housing services, the police and social care services. Different local services have often operated with entirely separate data systems. Therefore, the information on vulnerable children and families collected over the course of their interactions is held separately, leading to no service having a complete picture of issues. Sharing and matching data essentially means bringing together data from different services to get a combined view of multi-faceted needs of individual families or different communities. This can enable services to make better decisions with better information.

This prospectus will outline specific ways in which data could be used to better support families. In summary, improvements in local data collection can help to identify and target those at risk, provide improved information for practitioners and evaluate interventions to assess what’s most effective.

Data needs to be managed carefully and intelligently by public services. Data sharing must be legal, ethical, proportionate and done with consent and public support. Of course, even shared data sets will have their limitations and not cover the full range of protective and risk factors which influence someone’s life. Practitioners and service managers need to make decisions based on all the information they have and consider other factors in addition to the data. However, if managed intelligently with awareness of its limitations and sharing appropriately, it can support local agencies to support families most effectively.

Improving use of data in the public sector

Many local services have made significant improvements in data sharing in recent years. There are huge opportunities to use data to improve services. It is a significant part of joining up public services. More recently the response to the Covid-19 pandemic has led to important achievements in using data to identify vulnerable people in urgent circumstances.

Each area’s approach to data is different. However, a number of models exist which set out how the core elements of data improvement could look. The LGA data maturity model and self-assessment tool is one model. Supporting Families has a data maturity model as part of the Early Help System Guide. These show that building sophisticated use of data is a journey of improvement over time and that core elements are improving skills and knowledge, integrating data systems, building a strong information governance/data protection processes and building a committed partnership of services in an area.

This fund aims to support areas to work together on their improvement journeys. MHCLG will fund specific projects with specific deliverables but a secondary aim is for these projects to act as a catalyst to increase the data maturity of local areas and encourage areas to support each other and form partnerships.

Local Data Accelerator Fund

The Local Data Accelerator Fund aims to improve the use of data to support children and families. It is a two-year funding stream of £7.9 million split over two years. MHCLG invites bids from partnerships of local authorities and other local agencies that will improve outcomes for families. The core components for the bids which MHCLG are looking for are:

1. Exemplar data projects - Bids should include an exemplar data project which involves using data from different agencies to improve services. Guidance is set out under data functions heading. The projects should provide real world benefits, i.e. better targeted, earlier and more effective interventions to support vulnerable children and families. Projects should be innovative, sustainable and scalable i.e. appropriate for adoption by other local areas.
2. Sharing skills and good practice - Projects that improve the data maturity of the project partners i.e.: getting more advanced areas to share skills and learning with less other areas.
3. Partnerships of local authorities and other agencies, including universities - Bids should be from a partnership of local authorities and other local services including a mix of agencies with different levels of data maturity.

The projects will be evaluated and the findings will offer practical advice and help to other areas seeking to carry out similar work in the future. MHCLG would welcome a range of bids relating to services for children and families. For example, MHCLG would welcome bids from local authorities looking to use data to support their work to understand their local child and family population, or operation of specialist services, in relation to specific disabilities or social issues.

Data Improvement Across Government Programme

This Local Data Accelerator Fund is one strand of a wider £9.6 million Data Improvement Across Government programme. The programme was announced in the 2020 spending review. It aims to improve the use of data at a national level and at the local level to improve the evidence base, inform policy decisions and service delivery for children and young people. It includes a number of different projects with the potential to be replicated and rolled out more widely after the completion of the project where they are shown to be successful. This fund is part of that approach. All projects funded will be evaluated. The Data Improvement Across Government programme is funded by the government’s Shared Outcomes Fund which is a £200m fund made available by HM Treasury for projects that require collaboration across departmental boundaries. Shared Outcomes Fund projects are designed to test innovative ways to bring together the public sector.

Data projects – What we are looking for

Exemplar data projects

MHCLG is looking to fund a range of exemplar data projects that will improve lives for vulnerable children and families. Exemplar projects could include new analysis of existing linked data, new data sharing and data linking or developing processes for collecting and comparing data. It could be to improve operational delivery of services or it could be to inform strategic policy decisions such as commissioning decisions and service planning. Each partnership should propose an exemplar project that will meet some of the data challenges set out below. MHCLG will also be looking for projects which have potential to be sustained and to be scaled up i.e. implemented in other local areas.

Data functions

To guide areas in developing ideas, this prospectus sets out five ways in which data can be used to improve outcomes for children and families. MHCLG is interested in receiving bids covering supporting services in the following ways:

1. Better identification of need
To ensure families receive the right help at the right time, data can be used to help identify needs or risks. Linking data from multiple local and national datasets can help services develop a full picture of need and better target interventions to support children and families in a joined-up way. Sharing data can help services make a more accurate assessment of risk. This could then prompt earlier intervention before a risk escalates. For example, some local authorities have identified that a family suspending payment of their council tax could be a first sign of a problem. Data can also be used to plan resources strategically across an area through better targeting of services to where they are most needed. This will help them to be more effective at a time when resources are constrained.

2. Better information for practitioners
Improvements in data can be used to provide practitioners with the best information possible to inform their decisions. This does not aim to replace professional decision making. Professionals need to make informed decisions considering a full range of risk and protective factors. Ensuring they have good access to information simply supports the decisions of practitioners. This could include data from a range of different agencies working with children and families which should be as timely as possible. If practitioners have all of the relevant information on the family they can address connected problems in a holistic way rather than in isolation from each other.

3. Better evaluation of what works
Better use of data can help local services to evaluate what works to support vulnerable families and children most effectively. This can help them to improve their services and make them as efficient as possible. Projects could track outcomes over time for those who have received help. They could also segment the population and look at what is effective for which groups or why interventions are not working for some.

4. Better understanding how problems develop
To better plan services and inform intervention, data analysis can inform public services about how families become vulnerable and how problems escalate. Collection of data on early indicators of need for vulnerable children and families can enable local services to understand better how problems escalate and therefore how they can be most effectively addressed. Projects could develop our understanding of the risks and protective factors for families and how problems develop.

5. Better understanding in how services operate
Data analysis can help us understand how services are working. This can help us improve the performance of local services. We would welcome projects looking at service configurations in different areas. This could benchmark costs and performance, make reporting easier, calculate unit costs or conduct cost benefit analysis.

Examples

The MHCLG local digital team have funded a number of innovative data projects. Although many of these are not specific to children and families, they may offer some inspiration of innovative data projects. You can see a full list of funded projects on the local digital website.

In addition, there are other examples of data projects which were not funded by MHCLG local digital team but are also a helpful illustration of the type of work that could be funded. Some examples of the types of work completed previously are as follows:

• Liverpool - The data team at Liverpool City Council combined 35 feeds of data from children’s social services, schools, the criminal justice system, health and benefits data to create a map of city-wide vulnerability in order to identify vulnerable people who could benefit from early intervention and to identify individuals and areas at increased risk as a result of COVID-19.
  
• Bristol - The Insight Bristol Data team in Bristol City Council have set up a multiagency data warehouse focused on vulnerability. The data is informing decision making on support for families, targeted risk analysis and informing commissioning decisions. The analytical hub has helped the city to predict children at risk of criminal exploitation, sexual exploitation, becoming NEET and the risk of being a victim or offender in serious violence.
  
• Greater Manchester - Greater Manchester have developed a unit cost database which has enabled local authorities across the UK and in MHCLG to develop robust Cost- Benefit-Analysis estimates based on the cost of outcomes across multiple government systems.

Sharing skills and good practice

We expect each partnership to propose work to share skills and good practice alongside their exemplar project. This would include areas supporting other areas improve their use of data. This could be either within their partnership or more widely. Local authorities bidding for funding should assess the current maturity of their data systems according to a Data Maturity Model framework or another relevant measure. The bid should set out what level of change in capability that is hoped to be achieved in the less advanced local authorities and how they would go about achieving this goal. This could include some of the following activities:

• Producing / sharing products, guidance and templates - To support local services with data sharing and data linking such as by developing how to guides, templates (for example data sharing agreements), ethical frameworks, script of specific software that can be shared with others.
  
• Skills and training - Increasing analytical capacity in less data mature areas through skills training and coaching in specific skills such as SQL writing or use of data visualisation products.
  
• Advising other areas – Offering tailored advice from advanced areas to less advanced areas on integrating different systems and using them to best effect.
  
• Create networks – Establish a network to connect local data analysts with each other, those in national government or the research and statistical community. This could be via groups of local services working on joint projects and sharing skills.

In addition to this, partnerships are asked to work openly which could include (regular blogs/sprint notes etc) and that the outputs are published, this will provide other councils the opportunity to learn and reuse the findings.

Data partnerships

Local authority data capability

There is evidence to suggest a large disparity in the level of data maturity for different areas. The spread of local authority capability was analysed as part of a Data Maturity Survey of local authorities for Supporting Families. The survey used the Supporting Families model of data maturity for early help services. Analysis of the survey results split local authorities into six models based on the sophistication of their data systems where 1 is the least mature and 6 is the most mature. The results showed a wide variation in capability. There are a small minority of local authorities with highly advanced systems, but most local authorities are significantly behind these leaders. The different models of data maturity are explained below and the results are summarised in figure 1.

Example: Supporting Families Programme – Data maturity models

1. Manual: Receiving data from other partners which is stored in separate files and which is unmatched to case management systems. The local authority Supporting Families Outcome Plan is not quantified and there is no reporting from the case management system to keyworkers.
2. Basic: Some data sources are brought together in basic data software which is used to match and store data, identify families who may need support and to monitor progress. The Supporting Families Outcomes Plan is embedded in the case management system and receives manually inputted reports on outcomes and key indicators.
3. Building blocks: Bringing most data sources together including early help case management data. The data is visible to keyworkers in a spreadsheet or form which is only provided once or twice during a case.
4. Early maturity: Using a data warehouse or lake where data is accessible to workers automatically in the case management system and which is updated when new feeds are received. More advanced data system software is used with automated matching and calculation of whether Payment by Results outcomes are met is built in. There are likely to be some open feeds.
5. Mature: Data warehouse or lake model as in the early maturity model but where primarily open feeds are used and data is used to conduct needs analysis.
6. Advanced: Sophisticated data model with open feeds as in the mature model, but where the system has been expanded beyond Supporting Families services and includes whole children’s services or whole of council solutions.

The percentages of local authorities in each of the different models is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Percentage of local authorities on a six-point scale of data maturity – 1 being least mature and 6 being most mature.

Data Partnerships Model

MHCLG would like local agencies to bid in partnerships rather than in isolation. A partnership should be made up of at least two local authorities and other partner agencies. This is to encourage a strong partnership between those sharing data and peer learning between members of the partnership. We are looking for solutions that can be scaled and replicated across the country. Therefore, working in partnerships will also help ensure solutions are not tailored to one local authority, but are transferable to other local authority areas. The key characteristics of a data partnership are set out below:

• Organisations who can apply - The fund is aimed at local authorities and other local services providing support to children and families in England. This includes health services, police services and schools. Research institutions such as universities may also wish to be included. A data partnership should be led by an agency with expertise in use of data. It should contain at least two local authority and at least one other agency. Private sector organisations cannot be part of partnerships but could be commissioned to do work by the partnership. any outsourced requirements which utilise MHCLG funding will need to be compliant with procurement legislation and consider value for money and social value outcomes as a minimum.
  

• Partners with a range of data maturity –. Organisations in the partnership should have a range of data maturity. Areas are asked to provide some evidence of the relative maturity of areas using a self-assessment data maturity matrix or other relevant evidence. We are not requesting that all those applying should be the most mature areas overall but lead authorities should have some type of advancements or skills that can benefit other areas.
  

• Geographic or thematic groupings - Bidding partnerships could cover a particular region or sub-region. However, they are not required to cover a region and some authorities may wish to link up based on similar data systems or similar project goals.
  

• Accountable body – The partnership should include at least one local authority who can act as the accountable body for the project. Funds from the Data Accelerator Fund will be transferred to this local authority who will be responsible for distributing the funding to other local authorities and services to implement the project plan set out in the bid.
  

• Partners sign up – All organisations in the partnership are asked to sign the application form. This commits those organisations in principle to share data to support the project subject to legal agreement. Applicants should consider appropriate governance for the project.
  

• Finding data partners - Local authorities or local services who would like to lead or be included in a bid should reach out to other organisations to form partnerships. This process will mainly be self-organising but MHCLG will seek to support area. MHCLG will hold a webinar where areas can ask questions about the fund. It will also be an opportunity for organisation with similar data ambitions to connect. Local authorities with the most advanced data systems are likely to be best placed to lead partnerships.

Information governance

All proposed projects must meet the highest lawful and ethical standards on the use, sharing and linking of data especially where this is sensitive data. Applicants should consult the Supporting Families’ data sharing guidance for advice on establishing a legal basis for your project. Aside from a basis in law, you may need to have as part of your proposal, a clearly established ‘legal gateway’ permission (see below) to allow sharing or linking of personal data essential to deliver your objectives. If your proposal is research- based you may also need to obtain relevant research ethics approval. Local authorities and services applying for this fund should carefully consider how they will meet ethical and legal guidelines on using and sharing data.

Confidence that partnerships have properly considered legal and ethical guidelines is also one of the eligibility criteria for considering bids. If your proposal requires a ‘legal gateway’ permission for data use, this should ideally be obtained upfront before you seek funding from the accelerator fund, to avoid situations where a funded proposal cannot ultimately proceed due to legal permissions proving unobtainable later.

Local areas will be legally responsible for the data sharing and management in their project. MHCLG will not process or be accountable for any personal data used in funded projects, and therefore cannot be legally responsible. MHCLG cannot advise on legalities of data sharing beyond signposting to existing published guidance, and advising on our information governance criteria for this scheme.

Legal gateway for sharing data

When identifying a legal gateway for sharing data for the proposed project, areas should consider using section 35 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA). The multiple disadvantage objective in the DEA may be applicable for services supporting vulnerable children and families. Under the multiple disadvantage objective, information can be shared for “identifying individuals or households who face multiple disadvantages and enabling the improvement or targeting of public services to such individuals or households and providing for the monitoring and evaluation of programmes and initiatives”. Use of the Digital Economy Act must be registered on the public register managed by the Cabinet Office. The contact email address is dea-data-sharing@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk.

There are other legal gateways to share data for operational or research purposes. For example, ONS and patient data each can have their own legal gateways regarding use. You will need to determine what permissions you require and are most suitable for you.

Data protection legislation and data sharing agreements

Before sharing information, all relevant agencies should complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment and sign Data Sharing Agreements in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) code of practice. Areas should process data in compliance with the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 and any other required legislation.

Ethics

Proposals should also carefully consider the ethics of their project and may want to consult the government’s data ethics framework. Applications may also want to consult the recent Centre of Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) report on data ethics Addressing trust in public sector data sharing. CDEI lays out an initial framework designed to help those seeking to use data in a way that is trustworthy. The CDEI is working with other organisations to apply, test, and revise the framework in different contexts.

Common standards

Areas should consider adopting national data standards. Areas may want to consult guidance set out by the Data Standards Authority. The authority was established to improve the public sector’s management of data. The Data Standards Authority is setting and driving the adoption of data standards, leading to greater consistency, integrity and interoperability which enables data to be used and shared effectively.

Funding

The fund is for a total of £7.9m and is available over financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23. It is split equally over each year. Please see key specifications for bids below:

• Amount of funding - Each bid can be for a maximum of £1m and a minimum of £100,000. Funding is intended to be spent primarily on staffing and training.
  
• IT systems spending limit - A proportion of the funding may be spent on IT solutions/systems. However, no more than 40% of funding should be spent on IT solutions.
  
• Balanced budget profile - MHCLG expect most funding profiles to include equal tranches in the first and second years. Funding will be given in two tranches in the lifetime of the project (at the start of the project and at the start of financial year 2022- 23).
  
• Payment subject to sufficient progress - The year two payment will be on condition of sufficient progress made on the project in year one. MHCLG reserves the right to stop funding if sufficient progress is not made against the agreed plan. MHCLG will review the projects after the end of the first year against their project milestones before deciding whether to release the second tranche of funding.
  
• Negotiation - MHCLG may ask to interview applicants or negotiate changes when judging bids.
  
• Section 151 officer sign off - Bids should be signed by the section 151 officer of the lead local authority who will act as the accountable body for the funding.
  
• Data protection officer sign off – Bids should be signed off by the Data Protection Officer of the lead local authority.
  
• Memorandums of Understanding - Areas will be asked to agree and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MHCLG. Milestones will be agreed, and funding will be given at the start of each financial year on successful completion of the agreed milestones.
  
• Declaring other funding sources - Bids should disclose other sources of government funding used for the project. We are aware that there are other funding streams available across government for data projects such as the MHCLG Digital Fund or the Department for Education’s Growing Up Well project. The scope of these projects could potentially overlap with the scope of this fund. Where local areas have accessed or aim to access other funding streams, this should be outlined in the bid and bids should be clear about the activity funded by each funding stream. This will be reviewed at the bidding stage to avoid double funding of project activity. MHCLG may consult with other government departments in this process.
  

Monitoring, evaluation and support

Successful areas who are awarded funding will be offered some support and networking opportunities by MHCLG. The areas will also be expected to engage constructively with both monitoring and evaluation for the fund. Monitoring, evaluation and support requirements are as follows:

• Networking events – There may be events or webinars where areas can come together to share reporting and learning about how their projects are progressing. Areas would be expected to engage with these events.
  
• Monitoring forms and visits – Lead organisations and the body acting as the accountable body will be required to complete monitoring forms reporting progress at six-month intervals. There may be follow up calls and/or monitoring visits to local authorities.
  
• Cooperation with external evaluation – An evaluation of the fund will be commissioned. Successful bids that receive funding will be expected to engage with the external researchers. The evaluation aims to: understand the process of improving capability in data systems and data linkage; assess the usage and usefulness of data capability and linked datasets; and assess the impact of improved use of data and linked datasets on policies.

Application and assessment process

Application

To apply for the fund, please complete the application form and return to MHCLG at families.policy@communities.gov.uk copying thomas.griffiths@communities.gov.uk. You should receive a confirmation of safe receipt. If you do not receive a confirmation, please do follow up with the team. A webinar will be held for local authorities and local partners working with children and families in England who are interested. At the webinar MHCLG will set out the fund criteria and what is expected in the application process and provide an opportunity to ask questions.

The closing data for applications is Friday 30 April 2021 at 11pm

Assessment

The bids must meet the eligibility criteria and will first be sifted by MHCLG officials on that basis. Scoring will be done on basis of written bids MHCLG officials may want to speak to applicants to clarify bids. Then the shortlisted bids will be assessed by a panel of specialists. This will contain relevant specialists in children and families policy, data policy, data governance and legislation, evidence and evaluation. Bids will be judged according to the criteria and weighting set out in this prospectus. The panel will recommend successful bids to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The final decision on whether to grant funding will be made by the Secretary of State. If you have any questions please contact thomas.griffiths@communities.gov.uk.

Timeline

Stage	Date
Fund formally launched	March 2021
MHCLG hosted webinar to discuss the objectives of the Data Accelerator Fund and how the fund will work	April 2021
Applications Close	30 April 2021
Data Accelerator Fund Panel Review Bids	June 2021
Award decisions	June 2021
Outputs due	March 2023

Criteria

All bids that meet the eligibility criteria will be sifted according to the sifting criteria below. The scoring framework will be used to score how well bids have met the sifting criteria.

Where the bidding panel is not able to reach consensus on a score an average will be calculated based on the different scores given by the panel members. The criteria for applications are outlined below.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for funding, projects must meet all these essential criteria.

	Checklist	Yes/No
1	Bid includes a proposal to share and or link data from several agencies to support vulnerable children and or families.
2	Bid includes proposals to share data skills and good practice across the partnership or beyond.
3	Bid includes a partnership of two or more local agencies with a lead agency and a local authority acting as an accountable body.
4	Bid is for between £100,000 and £1m.
5	Bid does not spend more than 40% of funding on data systems.
6	Bid meets high ethical and legal standards and has a viable lawful basis for processing personal data.
7	Bid declares other sources of government funding and does not propose double funding of activity funded elsewhere.
8	Partners agree to engage with monitoring, evaluation and support.

Sifting criteria

1. Criteria: Exemplar data project. Weighting: 25%

Exemplar data projects - innovative projects to link data to improve services for children and families. families and children. This should help families in at least one of the following ways:

• Better identification of need – Projects to get a combined picture of family need across different services and identify when support is required.
• Better information for practitioners – Projects to get a combined picture of need to frontline workers to inform their decision making about the best form of support.
• Better local evaluation of what works – Projects to track outcomes over time after help is given to assess the effectiveness of interventions.
• Better understanding of how problems develop – Projects to understand how problems develop (risk and protective factors) and relate to other problems and how people interact with services.
• Better understanding of how services function – Projects to understand how services are operating for example: benchmarking unit costs in different areas, investigating distribution of cost and savings between services or duplication of local services.

The exemplar data project will be assessed by:

• How well it meets one or more of the functions set out.
• Scale of impact for children and families.
• Likelihood of scalability in roll out to other areas or expansion to other services.
• Confidence that there is a reasonable legal basis for data sharing and arrangements in place for legal and ethical data processing.
• Amount of learning for policy makers.
• Scale of operational efficiencies.
• Value for money (cost compared to benefits).
• Feasibility of methodology for analysis.

2. Criteria: Sharing skills and good practice. Weighting: 25%

We want to improve the data maturity of less advanced areas to the level of the more advanced organisations. We would like to see bids that can demonstrate meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Advising others on improving the maturity of their data systems.
• Producing products and guidance that could be shared with others.
• Skills - Increasing analytical capacity in less data mature areas through skills training and coaching.
• Creating networks for sharing good practice on data.

The value of sharing skills and good practice work will be assessed by:

• Number of areas/geographical scale.
• Number of staff this work could benefit.
• Degree of improvement it could bring in distance travelled.
• Longevity of skills and capability in the sector.

3. Criteria: Strength of the partnership. Weighting: 25%

We encourage bids which include local authorities and other local services.

The strength if the partnership will be assessed by:

• Range of services represented / extent of the whole system covered
• Strength of buy in - proposed governance and history of joint working
• Number of partners represented – not too small but also a feasible number
• Potential to support long term integration or partnership working
• Compatibility of areas/agencies: logical reasons for joint working proposed either across a region or between services with similar systems or local authorities and services similar profiles of need

4. Criteria: Delivery plan. Weighting: 25%

The proposed plan for the project will be assessed by how well it includes:

• Clear objectives and deliverables.
• Clear plan and timelines or milestones.
• Resources – staff numbers and necessary skills / expertise.
• Budget. – reasonable budget for the proposed work.
• Identification of risks and mitigation suggested.
• Assurance that any contracting will be done in accordance with procurement law considering value for money and social value outcomes as a minimum.
• Assurance that equality impacts are considered.

Scoring framework

The following table sets out what scores will be awarded for each demonstration of the weighted criteria.

0 - Absence of evidence / criterion not met
1 - Meets some of the requirements of the criterion
2 - Meets most of the requirements of the criterion
3 - Meets all the requirements of the criterion
4 - Strongly meets all the requirements of the criterion

The Assessment Panel will make recommendations to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government as to which proposals to fund. The final decision as to which proposals receive funding will rest with the Secretary of State.

The panel may use evidence from government data and records to verify information in application forms as part of the scoring process.

Score: 0
Rating: absence of evidence / criterion not met
Description:
A proposal at this rating:

• Builds very little or no confidence that the bidder can deliver the requirements due to insufficient evidence of relevant ability, understanding, skills, resources and quality measures
• Builds very little or no confidence that the bidder’s approach/solution will deliver the requirements due to insufficient evidence or an inappropriate approach/solution.

Score: 1
Rating: meets some of the requirements of the criterion
Description:
A proposal at this rating:

• Raises reservations that the bidder can deliver the requirements due to insufficient evidence of relevant ability, understanding, skills, resources and quality measures
• Raises reservations that the bidder’s approach/solution will deliver the requirements due to insufficient evidence or an inappropriate approach/solution.

Score: 2
Rating: meets most of the requirements of the criterion
Description:
A proposal at this rating:

• Suggests that the bidder can deliver the requirements through evidence of relevant ability, understanding, skills, resources and quality measures
• Provides an acceptable approach/solution to delivering the requirements

Score: 3
Rating: meets all of the requirements of the criterion
Description:
A proposal at this rating:

• Builds confidence that the bidder can deliver the requirements through evidence of relevant ability, understanding, skills, resources and quality measures
• Provides a good approach/solution to delivering the requirements

Score: 4
Rating: meets all of the requirements of the criterion
Description:
A proposal at this rating:

• Builds a high level of confidence that the bidder can deliver the requirements through evidence of relevant ability, understanding, skills, resources and quality measures
• Provides an exceptional approach/solution to delivering the requirements.

Annex A: Application form

This application form is available separately as a word document.

Name of bid:

Lead organisation (in whose name the application is being made)
Contact name and main role (a) name (b) main role
Accountable body (the local authority who will act as the accountable body)
1.2 Contact name and main role (a) name (b) main role
1.3 Address(s)
1.4 Telephone number (a) organisation (b) contact
1.5 Email address of lead contact(s)

Sign off

	Organisation	Name and signature
Accountable body - local authority - Section 151 officer (required)
Data protection officer of lead authority
Other partners
Other partners
Other partners
Other partners

Please ensure answers do not exceed the stated word limit. Additional attachments will not be accepted.

Exemplar data project

Please outline the main elements of your proposed exemplar data project. This should include the following: - Activities to be carried out (including sharing and or linking of data) and expected outcomes or insights generated. - How it meets one or more of the mechanisms for improving outcomes for children and families set out in the prospectus. - Methodology for analysis if that will be done. - Information governance assurance – assurance that there is a reasonable legal basis for data sharing for your project and arrangements will be in place for legal and ethical processing of data. - Expected scale of impact for children and families. - Likelihood of scalability in roll out to other areas or expansion to other services. - Amount of learning for policy makers from the project. - Scale of operational efficiencies. - Value for money (cost compared to fiscal and economic benefits). Maximum 800 words

Please add your response here

Sharing skills and good practice

Please outline the main elements of your proposal for sharing skills and good practice. This should include the following: - Evidence of the relative data maturity of different areas – numerous data maturity matrixes available such as Supporting Families or LGA. Skills and experience of different areas could be listed. - Activities carried out and timescale. - Number of areas/geographical scale. - Number of staff this work could benefit. - Degree of improvement these activities could bring in terms of distance travelled. - Longevity of skills in the sector(s). Maximum 500 words

Please add your response here

Data Partnership

Please outline the partnership arrangements in place for your proposed project. This should include the following: - Range of services represented / extent of the whole system covered and skills brought. - Strength of buy in - proposed governance and history of joint working, political support or links to corporate or place-based goals. - Number of partners represented and feasibility of joint working. - Potential to support long term integration / joint working. - Compatibility of areas/agencies: logical reasons for joint working proposed either across a region or between services with similar systems or local authorities and services similar profiles of needs. Maximum 500 words

Please add your response here

Delivery plan

- Clear objectives and deliverables. - Clear plan for delivery including a timeline or milestones. - Resources – staff numbers and necessary skills / expertise. - Identification of risks and mitigation suggested. - Assurance that any contracting will be done in accordance with procurement law. - Assurance that impacts on protected characteristic groups will be considered in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. Maximum 500 words

Please add your response here

Other sources of funding

Please detail what other funding streams your organisations have applied for from government. Bids with access to other funding streams are still eligible for this fund as long as distinct activity is being funded by this additional money.

Please add your response here

Budget breakdown

The bid maximum is £1m. Please be clear how much money would go on data systems / technology. Note this should not be more than 40% of the funding.

	Financial year 2021-22	Financial year 2022-23
Cost type 1 (e.g. staffing)
Cost type 2 (e.g. software)
Cost type 3 (e.g. training)
Total funding	£	£

Add additional rows as required

1. Troubled Families Programme Evaluation: Case Study Research Part 4 ↩