Annual report - Data analysis network for children's services

A number of new developments have led to increased interest in the need to gather uniform data and develop systems that can analyse information in a meaningful way and produce comparable reports. These include the implementation of the Looking After Children system in England and Wales, the development of a Performance Assessment Framework in England and the introduction of Quality Protects in England and Children First in Wales. The data analysis network (DAN) is a forum established to co-ordinate work on data extraction and analysis so as to ensure that information in this area is both accurate, meaningfully employed at both an individual and strategic level and genuinely comparable over time and between authorities.