Upcoming Events

LARIA’s One Day Conference and Awards: Registration now open

Wednesday 25 March 2026
Local Government Association
18 Smith Square
Westminster
London
SW1P 3HZ

Local Evidence Matters:
Understanding Need Through Research and Data

WITH THANKS TO OUR EXHIBITORS  

CACI
W: www.caci.co.uk

CACI is a trusted data, data science and technology partner to local government and public sector organisations. Our vast array of data products that intricately describe people and place provide organisations with unparalleled data-driven insights. Combined with our expertise in data science and the latest AI techniques, we’re supporting organisations like yours to provide accurate and efficient support to their local community through evidence-based decision making.

About ONS / ONS Local, Statistics, Analysis

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and its recognised national statistical institute. We are responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population, and society at national, regional, and local levels. We also conduct the census in England and Wales every 10 years.

ONS Local is an analytical advisory service for local leaders to support evidence-based decision making across local government, with dedicated analysts based in every region and nation across the UK.  ONS Local aims to build close relationships with local analytical users, improve access to and understanding of ONS’s data, and build capability in the process. We aim to be a front door into the ONS, supporting users to make the most of the wider investment in subnational data, statistics, and analysis.

There are five pillars to the ONS Local service: analysis; data; networking; strategic and building capability. A large focus is ensuring the local data gaps are identified and brought back into ONS to ensure they are prioritised and met from across the division or in collaboration with other business areas across ONS. The team hold a huge amount of local intelligence and work particularly closely with Mayoral Combined Authorities.

Our local statistics and analysis functions provide the supporting infrastructure to deliver local data and insights and develop statistics and analysis at levels of geography that are meaningful to people, innovating with new data sources to improve the granularity, timeliness, and dissemination of local statistics, in response to the needs of our local stakeholders.

The ONS Local Statistics and Analysis (OLSA) Division brings together the ONS Local Service, Explore Local Statistics service and all our dedicated work on producing new subnational statistics and analysis in response to user needs.

NIHR
W: www.nihr.ac.uk

Our national centre provides support for public health research outside the NHS. Supporting the creation of high quality research evidence. Informing policy and practice to improve public health and reduce inequalities.

We offer advice and support around:

• public health research in settings outside the NHS including local authorities, the education sector, and the voluntary sector
• pre award research study design – our team of research methodologists have expertise in a range of research methods, including mixed methods, health economics, qualitative methods, epidemiology, quasi-experimental design, and involving the public in your research
• explaining the funding available for public health research including the NIHR Fellowship Programme and other public health career development awards
• training and development for public health researchers including access to online resources and signposting to training opportunities
• research governance and ethics scoping with a central repository to share guidance, templates and examples of best practice for local authorities
• direct resource for local authorities across England to increase their research capacity and capability through funded:
  • Public Health Engagement Leads
  • Local Authority Research Practitioners
  • Public Health Grassroots Awards – short placements to allow those working in public health to gain exposure to research opportunities
    • Public and community partnerships funding award – opportunity for local authorities in England to explore ways of involving diverse people and communities in public health research
• research delivery support across England for public health research outside the NHS as part of a 2-year pilot
• scoping work for the development of a public health research register
• support from our 3 satellites in the Midlands, the South West and Yorkshire and Humber, who offer expert research design advice and funding support and allow us to have a presence across England

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

LARIA Webinars

Recordings and presentations are now available in the members area, sign in to view.

Session 2: Mind the gap: how patients experience hospital discharge
Mind the Gap was a research project commissioned by Southwark council and its NHS partners to improve the hospital discharge process, particularly for patients transferring from hospital to home with at-home support. The research used ethnographic methods, including interviews and observations in hospital before discharge and later at home, to capture the experiences of patients and families. Key findings revealed gaps in patient understanding and anxiety about the discharge process, and a lack of family-carer involvement. We co-opted community researchers to bring local context, ease communication, and build community research skills. The findings led to the establishment of the Returning Home from Hospital Project which is implementing improvements like accessible patient information, new roles to provide discharge advice, and better coordination with family-carers. Two of the community researchers who were involved in Mind the Gap continue to work with Partnership Southwark, and one is using the experience to support her ambitions to become a social researcher.
Ben Lee, Director, Shared Intelligence

Session 3: Tackling the cost of living together in Stockport
A look at how in Stockport, a highly polarised borough in Greater Manchester, the council has worked together with partners to use data as the key to unlocking inequalities and to close the gap between our most deprived and our most affluent areas. Our approach has allowed us greater insight into emerging trends and helped target financial support to the most vulnerable households in the borough.
Imogen Fox, Delivery Manager – Financial Inclusion & Tom Plant, Anti-Poverty Lead, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Webinar 2
Wednesday 14 May 2025, 10:30 – 12:00 BST

Session 1: Using qualitative research and partnership working to tackle fuel poverty
Qualitative researchers in Wirral Council’s Public Health team have been using ethnography and interviewing to see and hear how residents are affected by fuel poverty, including those that may be hidden from the national statistics on fuel poverty. Hear how the insights have been used to shape a partnership approach to tackling fuel poverty in the borough.
Abi Yeates, Qualitative Insights Researcher – Public Health, Wirral Council

Session 2: Tackling the Digital Divide: The Digital Exclusion Risk Mapping Tool
Digital inclusion is essential for modern living and ensuring health and wellbeing equality.
To address concerns about digital exclusion in Essex, ECC’s Data and Analytics team explored data and research on infrastructure, affordability, and digital literacy and created an engaging visual to illustrate the county’s digital divide. In this session ECC will share how they created the Digital Inclusion Mapping Tool, an interactive dashboard available through Essex Open Data, which pinpoints at-risk populations at the LSOA level, and how the tool is enabling ECC to work with partner organisations to inform the design and delivery of inclusive local services.
Melody Cremer, Analyst & Amos Turn, Data Science Fellow, Essex County Council

Session 3: Unlocking the power of address data: A data-driven infographic report for benchmarking and transformation
We developed an innovative method to create a bespoke, data-driven infographics report for each of the 318 planning authorities in England and Wales. The target audience was senior local government leaders (Chief Execs, Directors, Heads of Digital Services and Transformation).
The aim of the report was to highlight in a non-technical, visual way how effectively their authority was utilising address data and its Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) across multiple departments.
This was achieved through a range of techniques:

– Benchmarking to quantify the level of UPRN integration
– A summary page highlighting current progress and trend against the national average.
– A service-level view indicating where attention is needed most.
– Creation of an “integration infographic” depicting the current state.
– Assignment of a “UPRN Integration maturity level” and ways to improve
– Key action points to improve

The reports have been hugely successful in supporting local authority officers responsible for creating and maintain their address data (Address Custodians) and engaging senior leadership, building their awareness of address data and critically gaining their buy-in and support of it. The project had no budget and was achieved by using existing tools and staff time alone.
Join Luke Studden, Data Integration Lead at GeoPlace where he will explain in depth the methodology of how we created the reports and why.
Luke Studden, Data Integration Manager, GeoPlace

Webinar 3
Thursday 15 May 2025, 11:00 – 12:30 BST

Session 1: Adopting a blended data approach to weather the storm of change
At a time where we’re seeing increases in our daily cost of living which affects multiple community group as well as decreases in available budget to provide local services, it is critical for the public sector to assess the impact of change faced by its residents. Whether you’re focusing on challenges such as child poverty, fuel poverty or housing affordability, it is essential to be able to access and use detailed up-to-date data to evidence decision-making. This session will examine ways in which public sector organisations can adopt a blended data approach to predict likely future change and assess the impact on communities in order to weather the storm of change.
Stewart Eldridge, Associate Partner – Communities & Government
Ed Sewell, Partner – Customer Insight
Val Kirillovs, Principal Consultant – Solutions Design
Patrick Tate, Director – Location Intelligence (live demo)
CACI

Session 2: Harnessing Council Data to Understand Unmet Need in West Lothian Council
There’s a lot of data out there that tells us about the places and people who are getting the support they need, but how do we identify and find those who are missing out? In this session we will cover a project undertaken by the Improvement Service and West Lothian Council to understand and identify this unmet need. The session will describe the background to the project, how data has been used to identify the areas of interest, how West Lothian have used the findings to inform interventions, and next steps for building on and improving this approach. The approach is easily replicable and should give participants some ideas about how they could use their own data in a similar way.
Nick Cassidy, Research Manager, Improvement Service

Upcoming Events

LARIA Webinars: Recordings

Sign in to the members area to view the recordings.

AI: What is it? Why is it? Where is it?
The world is awash with references to AI, despite it not being a new practice. The recent advancements and easy accessibility of AI tools mean it’s the buzzword of the moment. But, for many of us there are still many foundational questions when it comes to AI – what is it? why is it? And where is it?

Developing skills for AI: how and why
This session will provide delegates with inspiration for how their councils can take practical steps to develop data science skills to take advantage of the opportunities that AI presents. Attendees will also hear from two councils who will give examples of AI projects that showcase the benefits of investing in these skills.

In this session, hear from Anna Gibson, Senior Data Analyst at Hackney Council, about her experience participating in a level 7 AI apprenticeship. Anna will explain how she has put the skills she developed to practical use in an exciting project that aimed to predict which council-managed properties and associated households were most at risk of damp and mould, to help prioritise proactive interventions for the most vulnerable of residents.

Simone Thomas, Senior Manager for Strategic Data Systems at Cheshire West and Chester Council will describe the Data Hive skills development programme the council has implemented to build data culture and skills across the organisation. Simone will also tell us how her Data Science and Engineering team is developing a predictive modelling project that focuses on SEND pupils to help support sufficiency planning and budget forecasting.

Finally, Kate Cooper will outline the support available from the LGA to help councils develop data skills and build capacity around AI, as well as the opportunities available to participate in networks to share learning and build relationships with other councils also working in this area.
Anna Gibson, Senior Data Analyst, Hackney Council, Simone Thomas, Senior Manager for Strategic Data Systems, Cheshire West and Chester Council
Chaired by Kate Cooper, Programme Manager – Data and Transparency programme, Local Government Association

Upcoming Events

Financial pressures will make it tempting to cut research and analysis teams but covid revealed the importance of having people with these skills, writes the president of the Local Government Association.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events