The Children’s Information Project (CIP) is a five-year initiative – running from 2021 to 2026 – funded by the Nuffield Foundation to understand and test how local authorities use information about children, young people and their families (generically referred to as ‘children’s information’) to improve lives. The project has focused on improving the uses of children’s information in the fields of Children’s Social Care and Early Years policy and practice.
The project is a collaboration comprising researchers from the universities of Oxford and Sussex, the London School of Economics, Research in Practice, and four local authorities: Hampshire, North Yorkshire, Oldham and Rochdale. We also have specialist advisors from University College London and Manchester Metropolitan University.
This project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social well-being. It funds and undertakes rigorous research, encourages innovation and supports the use of sound evidence to inform social and economic policy, and improve people’s lives. The Nuffield Foundation is the founder and co-funder of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. This project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation. Find out more at: nuffieldfoundation.org
This project aims to understand how information is used, and how it could be used more effectively, in order to improve the lives of children and families
Information use shapes thinking. Our purpose throughout the project has been to explore how improved approaches and methods for gathering and using both qualitative and quantitative information about children and their families can build a more comprehensive understanding of their lives, as the basis for improved services that can achieve higher-quality outcomes.
If we want to think better and enhance policy and practice, our approaches and methods need to be based on an understanding of the range and reality of children’s and families’ experiences. Core to this is ensuring that diverse voices – including those of children, young people, families and practitioners – are heard more clearly within children’s information, and that these voices influence how the information is gathered, shared, processed and used.
Information has become central to our lives. Consequently, the CIP has implications for children and families, those involved in national and local policy and practice, and anyone concerned with the quality of our democracy and the capacity of society to meet the needs of children and families and to realise their rights.
The project launched in October 2021 and will run for 5 years.
Email us: childrens.information@education.ox.ac.uk
Call us: 01865 274050
Write to us:
Rees Centre
Department of Education
University of Oxford
15 Norham Gardens
Oxford
OX2 6PY
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This library contains papers and summaries detailing Children’s Information Project progress and findings alongside guides and learning materials for practitioners and policymakers.
A definition and Framework of ethical and effective information use in the context of children’s information.
The four Local Authority partner sites are using information to address key issues through jointly developed Information Use Projects (IUPs).
This toolkit brings together guidance, resources and real-world examples for practitioners and data leads to strengthen information use in local authorities.
