Looking after children: transforming data into management information - report from the first year of data collection WardHarriet SkuseTricia 2007 The 'Looking After Children: Using Data as Management Information Study' is designed to help local authorities explore how data gathered in the course of social work interactions with individual children can be aggregated and used at a more strategic level. The stated aim of the study is to discover what information local authorities need to monitor the effectiveness of services for looked after children, identify where improvements can be made and decide how scarce resources can be better deployed. Because the Looking After Children materials have been designed for this specific purpose, a secondary aim is to discover how data gathered through their implementation can be used to address this issue.