Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 22 May (HL Deb col 427), whether the planned user testing to identify key safeguarding practitioner information happened; and, if so, what the main themes were that emerged.

Between May and September 2025, the department consulted nearly 500 practitioners from children’s social care, education, health, police, and probation. Key findings included:

• Regardless of role, practitioners experience the same barriers when trying to share and receive information.
• Practitioners spend a disproportionate amount of time finding and gathering information which can result in less time for decision making.
• Regardless of sector, practitioners view social care and education information as highest priority.
• Practitioners have three core needs: a) ensuring they are talking about the same child/family, b) understanding who holds information about that child/family and c) having a secure way to share relevant information quickly.
• Practitioners also raised a desire to be able to view core data in one place.

We are using these insights to inform future work, ensuring that design and development align with practitioner needs. User research will continue to maintain a user-centred approach throughout.