Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's Information Sharing Guidelines on providing professionals with information about sharing data in the interests of child protection; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is committed to improving information sharing, for the benefit of vulnerable children and adults, and all members of society. The statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguarding Children requires all organisations to have arrangements in place which enable the effective sharing of information. Government Departments have been working to review procedures to identify children and adults at risk of abuse and the outcome of this review was published on 29 July and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/working-together-to-safeguard-children-multi-agency-safeguarding-hubs. The Government is reviewing the guidance for practitioners and managers to dispel mistaken beliefs which prevent information being shared appropriately and effectively.