Insight Bristol Win Certificate of Excellence

We have awarded five Certificates of Excellence since the inception of the scheme, with the first five given at our Local Government Transformation conference last November. We will recap two winners in each issue of Transform, starting this issue with Insight Bristol and Surrey County Council.

Insight Bristol

Insight Bristol has been recognised for its groundbreaking work in developing state-of-the-art analytical tools for use by public sector staff working with vulnerable families.

The data analytics team at Insight Bristol, which comprises of Avon and Somerset Constabulary and Bristol City Council staff, has created tools for use by public sector workers with its main work centred around the Think Family Database (TFD). This pulls together data from around 30 different public sector sources to create a diverse dataset covering 54,000 families across the City of Bristol. The database is updated regularly to ensure new and existing information is matched and merged. It is used to assist staff - from those case triaging to frontline workers - to identify ‘at risk’ families and better coordinate support.

In addition, Insight Bristol has developed five predictive risk models. These include: a model to help identify Children at risk of sexual exploitation (CSE), potential domestic violence offenders, potential domestic violence victims, people at risk of going missing and a predictive model measuring conduct disorder. The CSE model is actively used by police and has contributed towards the team being nominated for a number of national awards. When first deployed, the CSE model identified 320 young people with a heightened risk of being sexually exploited, many who were not previously flagged as at risk.

The Insight team also utilises a piece software called Qlik Sense - primarily a data exploration tool - to allow staff to interpret and understand data retained within the TFD. One app, for example, gives managers and commissioners access to aggregated data, allowing them to see geographical trends in demand and allowing for a better understanding of how different indicators correlate with each other. This has allowed for identification of trends that could not have previously been identified, more effective allocation of resources and significant efficiency savings.

The impact of the Early Help offer from the council, of which the TFD has played a significant role, has had life-changing benefits for families across the city and institutional change in how services approach joint working and supporting vulnerable families. A 2016 analysis of 200 families who accessed Early Help support found a 50 per cent reduction in unauthorised absence from school, a 71 per cent decrease in number of family members being identified as Prolific and Priority Offenders, a 41 per cent reduction in police call-outs to households of supported families, a 73 per cent reduction in the number of adults subject to an anti-social behaviour intervention and a 70 per cent increase in the number of adults in work.

Tom Fowler, Data Scientist and Manager of the Insight Bristol Analytics Hub, said: “Receiving the iESE Certificate of Excellence brought a lot of positive attention from our external partners and senior leaders from both Bristol City Council and Avon and Somerset Constabulary. This gave a great validation of the work we have been doing and a positive recognition for the team of their dedication and efforts.”

To apply for a Certificate of Excellence, visit our website: https://www.iese.org.uk/ certificate-of-excellence