The Staffordshire Centre for Data Analytics (SCDA) is a partnership initiative with the aim of better using data to improve outcomes for the people of Staffordshire.

Staffordshire County Council, Staffordshire Police and Keele University have funded the initiative to test and develop the benefits and potential of a public sector Centre of Excellence for Data, this went live in October 2021. The Centre is delivering analytic expertise to a number of different, priority partnership initiatives.

The Centre has worked in collaboration with Staffordshire Police, Staffordshire County Council Children’s Services and the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner to deliver invaluable insight to support a multi-agency approach to prevent and reduce the number of children and young adults becoming involved with Serious Violence.

The Centre brought together an ambitious set of data to help identify children and young adults who are at most risk of becoming involved, either as a victim and/or an offender of serious violence.

Using a robust methodology and supported by Keele academics the aim was to identify individuals at greatest risk of serious violence involvement and understand hotspots across the county.

Datasets included:

• Crime Data
• Intelligence Data
• Children’s Social Care Data
• Children’s Education Data
• Indices of Deprivation Data
• Experian Mosaic Data
• Academic research review – Keele university

The analysis of these data sets aimed to:

• Identify children and young people, aged 0-24, that are most at risk of becoming involved with serious violence as an offender and/or a victim.
• Identify the geographies within the county with the most at-risk individuals for targeted interventions.
• Provide insight and further understanding on the various indicators of involvement/future involvement with serious violence and which of these are most influential.

Valuable insights were drawn from the analytics and have informed a set of recommendations that will translate into action and will have an impact on some of our most vulnerable children and young adults.

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime, and Chair of the Violence Reduction Alliance, Ben Adams said:

“This data will allow partners and commissioned services to better support the children and young people who are most at risk of being involved in serious violence to make better life decisions.

Protecting people from harm and reducing offending are both priorities in my Police & Crime Plan, and there is already multi-agency work underway across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent to help prevent violence. There is still more to be done, however. The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Violence Reduction Alliance has recently received funding from the government’s Serious Violence Duty which will help in commissioning new initiatives to support those who are identified as most at risk.”

Staffordshire Police’s head of Safeguarding said:

“The analysis has enabled us to understand Serious Violence within Staffordshire and to plan multi-agency objectives. The information has enabled us to improve the service we provide to victims and provide opportunities to change the behaviours of perpetrators. We will now work with partners to align plans. We look forward to working with the SCDA on future projects as part of our objective to ensure a safe and confident community.”