Assessing local authority social services data maturity in readiness for the National Data Resource (NDR)

We expect suppliers have their plan approved by Social Care Wales and ADSS Cymru before commencing the assessment process. It is expected that eight local authorities would be completed in phase one (to 31 March 2023), with the remaining 14 completed in 2023/24. Further budget may be available in 2022/3 if more local authorities can be part of assessments before 31st March 2023.

Social Care Wales and ADSS Cymru will provide the names and contact details for the first local authorities at the beginning of the contract. Assessments can be conducted concurrently if desired.

It is important that local authorities understand the following before commencement of the assessment:

a) The time requirements that are placed upon them.

b) The personnel that will be required to take part

c) Any prior documentation, information, systems architecture, business processes, roles and responsibilities etc.

We feel it is important that local authorities are also able to use the findings from the assessment of their data capabilities to understand the areas they are performing well in and those that require further work. It is important that the supplier takes a supportive approach that enhances the data journey authorities are each on, this is not an audit, but an assessment to support our improvement in use of social care data in Wales.

Social Care Wales will expect suppliers to present their individual findings back to each of the local authorities using the main report as a template, or by providing a bespoke report for each authority. Each of these reports should be accompanied by areas of progress a list of recommendations and actions applicable to each local authority in order to improve their data maturity.

Aims and objectives

At the end of the contract, it is expected that the supplier will have:

• communicated frequently with the contract manager.
• regularly met stakeholders through virtual (Teams) and/or face to face meetings.
• undertaken a data maturity assessment of each of the 22 local authorities’ social care data.
• provided a report in Welsh and English to each local authority outlining their individual data maturity assessment and presented their findings and recommendations.
• established common challenges amongst local authorities when considering the use of social care data.
• identified vulnerabilities in data maturity that may prevent stakeholders from successfully providing data into the NDR
• collaborated with local authorities to determine a set of basic requirements for data needs and expectations about sharing across organisational boundaries.
• provided a report in Welsh and English outlining their overall assessment of social care data maturity in Wales and presented their findings and recommendations.
• provided a list of national recommendations actions required to ensure readiness for social care data inclusion into the NDR.
• provided a list of actions and recommendations to each local authority following their data maturity assessment.
• provided options for developing a standardised approach to social care data in Wales.
• provided a list of core data items for sharing to/from partners.
• provided formal feedback to stakeholders on their findings and recommendations.
• provided the tools and knowledge so that local authorities are able to undertake their own data maturity assessments in the future. Additional information: Phase 1 – Up to 31 March 2023

Phase 1 will consist of a planning phase. If suppliers were able to commence data maturity assessments, then this can be accommodated in phase one contract.

Phase 2 – Up to 31 March 2024

Phase 2 will consist of maturity assessments on the outstanding local authorities and the delivery of a national report (or those remaining from Phase 1).