Act Early: Holme Wood Introduction n 10 January 2020, 124 people came together to talk about Holme OWood — a single locality in the Bradford District. The attendees comprised front-line practitioners from community organisations, public service providers, local elected members and policy makers, alongside some of the world’s leading data scientists via invitation from The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national centre for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. The purpose of the meeting was to address two simple questions: “Can data science improve our collective understanding of a place like Holme Wood?” “Can we use data to help the community strengthen and grow by ‘acting together’?” In short, there was a positive answer (‘yes!’) to both questions. Our attendees’ observations and questions generated five action research projects, which we will be taking forward together. Crucially, the lines of enquiry for each project cut across traditional public service boundaries, reflecting the lived experience of people living and working in Holme Wood. Annex A provides more detail on the process followed on the day. 2 The five projects are: Exclusions, children not in school, and crime Healthy choices: healthy lives1 The impact of poor mental health on individuals, the community and services2 Pride, aspirations, role models and careers Adverse Childhood Experiences All projects will include an economic line of enquiry, considering the costs of current services and of issues playing out unaddressed — the costs to individuals, the community and services, plus the ‘opportunity cost’ — the potential positive financial effect of improving the situation and the cost of inaction. Annex B provides more detail on each project and the initial lines of enquiry proposed by our groups. Annex C outlines the initial ideas and questions discussed on the day by data scientists, on analytics, AI techniques and the visualisation of information. How we will work? Our principles for delivery Holme Wood has been a focus for concern, action and investment for many years. Numerous projects, including large scale investments, appear to have failed to achieve 1 Includes dental care – impact, access, choices and food (including food impact, access and choices) 2 Includes questions raised on the impact of mental health on other public services, and the topic of mental health and isolation 3 0 4 their goals. A common complaint is of ‘top • For Bradford, and beyond, this project will test, down’ interventions, where residents and local model and share a process that brings cutting organisations are the recipients of support, advice edge data science into the conversation about of investment, against goals and targets set by public services and public policy, to improve others, and often proved to be unattainable. outcomes for all. Our vision is of a process (a We are committed to making Act Early: Holme “place-based approach” to working) that can Wo o d different. be replicated across Bradford, adopted by other communities, and help those involved in policy First, our projects will be open to, and shaped by, the making at national level, design programmes people who live and work in Holme Wood. As this that can adapt to local circumstances. We further report confirms, our first phase of activity will see us anticipate that Act Early: Holme Wood will allow reach out to the community, testing the issues identified the scientific community to sharpen its techniques by practitioners and others against residents’ perceptions and data science tools. and experiences of what matters, what works, and what needs to change. This will take place alongside a similar testing of the issues by our data scientists. Why Bradford? We will be ready to adapt our action research projects to take account of what both of these important groups tell us. As the projects progress, our data scientists The desire to apply data science to public service with expertise in visualisation will produce accessible design is not unique to Bradford or Act Early. But, models that can be manipulated and challenged as Bradford is uniquely placed to host these project easily by residents as by practitioners, policy makers because it has the following resources: and the scientists themselves. Projects will encourage participation by residents, taking part and supported • The Born in Bradford project, one of the world’s to act as citizen scientists. Projects will be governed by largest longitudinal birth cohort studies tracking the groups including members of the community. lives of 13,818 children (trailblazing data linkage via Connected Bradford3) Second, we will be realistic about what these • Regional expertise in the Digital Triangle projects can achieve for Holme Wood. Act Early (comprising AI, Data Analytics and Immersive is about applying science to improve public health Visualisation Technologies) outcomes (including education, health and economic wellbeing). Act Early funding is available to drive the • Diverse demographics (ensuring ethnic and science. It cannot be used to pay for additional front socioeconomic diversity) line services. • A national spotlight on Bradford (Bradford is benefiting from additional support through its But, this does not mean we lack ambition. Opportunity Area (Department for Education) has two important goals: Act Early: Holme Wood and Integration Area (Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)) • For Holme Wood, it will propose to Bradford’s decision makers and service planners, ways to more • Support from all key decision makers and the effectively align and target services, with a focus on community early intervention. It will suggest ways to empower communities to make informed choices, take more Bradford also has a proud history of using science to ownership of issues, and improve access to services. improve public health and education. In 1907, Green Local decision makers are already represented on Lane Primary School began offering free school meals to our Act Early: Holme Wood ‘leadership group’, its pupils. This was more than an innovation in health, and have committed to participate fully in the social and economic policy. It also represented an action research projects, and to take seriously innovation in and commitment to applying data science recommendations for change. to improve children’s outcomes, because the school also 3 Connected Bradford builds on the data linkage undertaken by Born in Bradford and connects all of the routinely held data on children’s health and education across the Bradford district (going back 10 years in time) 5 recorded changes in their pupils the action research projects, community data (e.g. through weight, from the introduction of establishing online networking surveying the community the free meals. The data showed sites for each project, allowing we can explore whether children gaining weight when the for exchange of ideas and community responses indicate school was open and losing weight information. underreporting). when it was closed; education and • We will provide the relevant • We will use this phase of health interacting. Ultimately, the anonymised local and national enquiry to produce models that Green Lane study helped to inform data sets4 to the scientists, allow scientists, practitioners national policy on school meals. asking them identify patterns and residents to visualise and and relationships relevant to manipulate the models and test the identified issues, including different predictions. Our plan for delivery. predictive indicators. This will • We will widen our include testing the validity conversation with front line Each of the projects will follow a of perceived predictive, staff, service planners and similar path: causal and remedial factors national policy makers; at the suggested by front line same time engaging directly practitioners, alongside Phase 1: with Holme Wood residents interactive data visualisation and community organisations. tools to communicate these relationships. • This process will help each • We will ask data scientists from project to develop a richer the Turing Institute, the Leeds • Publically held datasets will understanding of the issues Institute of Data Analytics (e.g. be tested against datasets and the lived experiences of the University of Bradford), generated by the community residents (and those supporting and the Regional Universities to identify if disparities exist them), as well as develop to link to one or more of between the official and 4 We have been working with local partners to secure the relevant data sets, since autumn 2019, including ensuring robust data protection measures 6 Promoting the action research People living Data Practitioners Service projects; inviting and working planners and people to join one scientists and working in researchers in Holme policy makers or more groups Wood Holme Wood Action Research Project Group Community and Data Science Activity Wider Consultation Within each action research Linking and analysing Training in ‘citizen group, data datasets that follow science’ available to scientists take and refine the initial residents, including forward analysis lines of enquiry under work with schools and development each identified Action of models; in Research Project parallel, Testing and refining community and lines of enquiry, with other partners ‘residents’, discuss lines of practitioners and enquiry; data service planners/policy scientists makers — including, additionally where possible, improve the