ider LA consumers) and therefore might be a candidate for cutting 3. There might be potential for data, that is not directly helpful to social workers in their role, to be collected some other way 4. There is data not being recorded nationally that could add value if it was 5. Local perceptions of what national bodies expect to be recorded (over and above the clear 903 and Annex A requirements) could be driving excessive data collection To address these assumptions the DfE developed the following four questions which have been addressed through the research project: 20 DfE Project 2A: User research into social worker inputted data to CMS 1. Whether social workers do or do not consider the item helpful to record in their work with children and families? 2. If the item is considered not helpful to a social worker – why is this? 3. If the item is considered not helpful to a social worker, does it nonetheless contain information that is helpful to others in the local authority, such as service managers or audit teams? Why is this? 4. Whether the item is ‘local’ data, statutory data, or Ofsted Annex A data (with any additional categories of data specified); and for each local data item, why it is being recorded? 2. Research design and methodology How the research was conducted This research project was conducted across four LAs in England and was divided into three phases, with different groups of researchers, organisations and participants contributing to different phases. These included: 1. Development of a data matrix by D2I 2. User research to understand CSC workers’ experiences of working with their CMS data entry points, including: - Focus groups and individual interviews with practitioners - Individual interviews with data consumers 3. Interviews with care experienced