Webinar 2 — Analytical Innovation, Automation & Insight-Driven Service Delivery
Thursday 8 October 2026, 10:30 – 11:30 BST

Session 1: 10.30am – 11.00am
From Analytical Priorities to Organisational Value: Reflections on HDRC Newcastle’s  Collaborative Data Projects
This session will provide an honest and practical overview of how HDRC Newcastle works with council directorates to identify, prioritise and develop analytical projects. Drawing on two collaborations with Housing and Communities, the session will explore the project journey from early scoping and engagement at strategic, managerial and operational levels through to analysis, prototype development and the translation of learning into service and organisational improvement.

The session will share our practical approaches to collaborative workshops, project prioritisation and the development of realistic data projects with a focus on health inequalities. It will highlight both successes and challenges, as well as the importance of recognising and building upon the value generated throughout the project lifecycle.

The case studies will illustrate how data from different systems can be brought together to develop a clearer understanding of local need. We will summarise the analytical methods and tools used, alongside the ethical, data quality and operational considerations encountered.

We will also reflect openly on the challenges that can prevent analytical projects from progressing as originally planned. A central theme will be the importance of recognising and capturing value throughout the project lifecycle. The session will consider how individual projects can contribute to longer-term culture change, build analytical capability and create the conditions for future work. We will also share practical ways in which project teams can “help their future selves” by improving documentation, data definitions, governance and reusable analytical processes as part of every collaboration.

We will also reflect openly on the factors that can prevent analytical projects from progressing as originally planned. The session will consider how projects can nevertheless generate wider organisational value, including improved data quality and standards, stronger relationships between analytical and service teams, increased analytical capability and more confident use of evidence in decision-making. We will also share practical ways in which analysts and researchers can “help their future selves” by improving documentation, data definitions, governance and reusable analytical processes through each collaboration.

Throughout the session, delegates will be invited to reflect on how they scope and prioritise analytical projects, maintain engagement across different organisational levels, overcome bottlenecks and demonstrate value beyond the delivery of a final product. The session will conclude with practical lessons for developing sustainable, insight-driven working across local government.
Ruth Boldon & Lee Burns, Newcastle City Council

Session 2: 11.00am – 11.30am
Improving school attendance in Newcastle: understanding the local challenge through mixed-methods research
This session will present findings and reflections from a mixed-methods research project undertaken by Newcastle City Councils Health Determinants Research Collaboration in collaboration with Children and Families directorate.

The research combined statistical analysis of attendance of pupils in Newcastle upon-Tyne to identify factors associated with attendance and inform the sampling design for qualitative analysis. Qualitative research captured perspectives from children and young people, parents, school staff, council attendance officers and wider partners from health, social care and voluntary and community organisations.

The session will focus on the research findings, how we are disseminating the research findings with various stakeholders including children and young people and reflections on conducting research projects within a local authority setting.

What the webinar will cover
During the proposed 30-minute session, the presenters will:
• introduce the scale and significance of school absence in Newcastle;
• explain how quantitative and qualitative evidence were brought together;
• share the principal statistical findings and lived-experience themes;
• highlight practical recommendations for schools, families, local authorities and wider partners.

The session will conclude by inviting delegates to consider how local authorities can combine administrative data with the voices of children, families and practitioners to develop more informed, proportionate and collaborative responses to persistent absence. Key areas for discussion will include early identification, data linkage, multi-agency working, the role of schools as community hubs and how local evidence can be translated into service improvement.
Dr Grace Gardner & Dr Ruth Boldon, Newcastle HDRC 

Webinar 3 — Cross-Sector Collaboration, Health Equity & System-Wide Approaches 
Wednesday 14 October 2026, 10:30 – 12:15 BST

Session 1: 10.30am – 11.00am
Using Data to build cross sector relationships and shared vision
Since 2022, Centre for Thriving Place (CTP) has worked with three district councils in the Mid-Essex region on a long-term approach to cross-sector collaboration around public health, housing and economy. Initiated by the desire to bring a data-led, evidence-based approach to collaboration during the establishment of the Integrated Care System, this work shows how drawing together and understanding datasets can be a starting point to build practical collaborations, and innovative programmes that tackle silos.

Beginning with a series of workshops with the Mid Essex Integrated Care Alliance, CTP used the Thriving Places dataset as a starting point for discussions about not just a more holistic picture of wellbeing in the region, but also about drivers of wellbeing intersect with each other. These discussions were augmented by qualitative interviews with people working across the system to understand where there was good join-up and where there were problematic gaps in relationships and communication between teams, departments and organisations.

This generated a bespoke indicator framework for the Alliance, containing data on policy areas that intersect in people’s lives (for example health and housing) but about which most organisations in the public health, NHS, local authority and VCS, do not tend to review data all together in one place – much less collaborate with different parts of the system.

This initial 6 month work, resulted in a follow-on 2 year learning partnership over two years through which the Thriving Places Dataset became integrated across the three district councils’ work including VCSE sector mental health funding, transport inequalities, and joining up retrofit, respiratory health and housing. further ongoing project to better integrate the work of the Public Health and Economic Growth teams at Essex County Council, and to feed into the development of new foundational strategies for the emerging Greater Essex Mayoral Combined Authority.
Adekemi Okmisakin & Rosie Maguire, Centre for Thriving Places and Adrian Coggins & Alexandra Card, Essex County Council

Session 2: 11.00am – 11.30am
Embedding health equity: Tools from the MATCH process
A key initiative of the Population Health Hub is the eMbedding heAlth equiTy in City & Hackney (MATCH) programme. The vision behind the Hub and MATCH is inherently bold: to transition from addressing health inequalities solely through targeted services to embedding health equity as a core function within all partner organisations across the system (applicable in different local contexts).

The MATCH approach is built on a robust evidence-informed process, ensuring solutions are targeted, relevant, and effective. The MATCH approach includes five main steps: bringing the right people together, collating data and insights, establishing conditions for change, prioritising key changes, and implementing, testing, and learning. It is adaptable, flexible and can be applied in tackling a wide range of health inequalities, and importantly can be applied with or without designated funding.

Using a participatory format, the session will share practical tips, insights and uses of the MATCH process to inspire and enable others to adopt it in their work to reduce health inequalities.

Participants will be taken through the five steps and supported to use the MATCH process to successfully tackle deep-rooted challenges, providing real-world examples of impact from the first two years of MATCH – from taking action on food poverty, poor cardiovascular outcomes, inequalities in maternity outcomes, mental health of people seeking asylum, and inequalities in healthy weight outcomes through partnership work.

Attendees will leave equipped with the inspiration and practical tools needed to adapt and implement this flexible framework, ensuring health equity is no longer an optional project but a core, built-in function of their day-to-day operations and service design.
Jessica Veltman and Missy Matz, Population Health Hub, City & Hackney Public Health Team

Session 3: 11.30am – 12.15pm 
Partnering for better outcomes with the London Borough of Barnet, CACI and Snowflake
CACI’s webinar session will consist of three speakers; CACI, Snowflake and the London Borough of Barnet. CACI will focus on our perspective and experience of working with local authorities from a data and solutions perspective; Snowflake will talk through their technology solutions and partnerships with public sector organisations; while Barnet will provide a live case study demonstrating practical application and impact where they’ll discuss their approach to developing a vulnerability index.
CACI: Stewart Eldridge
Snowflake: Irfan Rasul
London Borough of Barnet: James Rapkin

In this session CACI’s AI and Data Science experts Sue MacLure, Director of Data and AI Ethics, and Edward Sewell, Data Strategy Partner will share the journey we’ve been on at CACI as we adopted advanced AI techniques to enhance our data insights products, as well as the use of generative AI in the interpretation and application of those data insight products – bringing to life the what, why and where of AI at CACI.

They will also dive into the ethical and legislative challenges of adopting AI techniques to undertake data insight practices, and how we’ve addressed them – sharing our key learnings with you, so your data scientists can act with integrity, always considering the ethical side of AI in their day-to-day work.

Finally, we’ll bring this all to life with some real-life use cases of how organisations are adopting these AI driven tools to improve consumer and resident experiences.

We’re confident you’ll walk away with:

• Insights on how you can embrace the AI & Data Science opportunity for your organisation.
• A deeper understanding of the key ethical and legislative considerations that all organisations seeking to adopt AI should be aware of and considering.
• A clearer view of the variety and potential of ways in which data science and AI can drive tangible benefits to organisations across the Public and Commercial sectors both now and in the future.
Ed Sewell, Partner – Data Strategy & Sue MacLure, Director of Data, CACI