a suspected or potential risk (e.g. where it is reasonable for a practitioner to believe that information sharing is necessary to protect a child from harm that may happen without intervention). It may be that the risk of harm to a child can only be identified and understood through the early sharing of concerns between practitioners and agencies or organisations who may hold relevant information about the child and can support action to safeguard the child. Understanding “information sharing” Information sharing in a safeguarding context means the appropriate and secure exchange of personal information, between practitioners and other individuals with a responsibility for children, in order to keep them safe from harm. This advice relates to sharing case-level information about individual children and, where necessary, information about family members and other people who might – through their actions or neglect – put a child at risk of harm. This includes informal sharing of information between practitioners to develop an accurate understanding of a child or family, and more formal processes of sharing information such as referrals into local authority children’s services. The principles of this advice may also be helpful to agencies or organisations managing larger scale sharing of child and family data, such as collation of data for development of local Joint Strategic Needs Assessments; however, this type of sharing is not the focus of this advice. The importance of sharing information Information sharing is essential for identifying patterns of behaviour, or circumstances in a child’s life that may be evidence that they are at risk of harm or are being harmed and need some form of support or protection. This includes but is not limited to: • child abuse, neglect o