What Works in Community Profiling? Initial reflections from the WWS Project in West Dunbartonshire

Bynner, C. and Whyte, B. (2016) What Works in Community Profiling? Initial reflections from the WWS Project in West Dunbartonshire. Project Report. What Works Scotland, Glasgow.

Abstract

This paper discusses the experience of WWS, Glasgow Centre for Population Health and the West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Team in developing community profiles for the purposes of place-based working. The key learning points from this paper are: With new legislation in Scotland driving a renewed emphasis on place-based working, both Community Planning Partnerships and Health & Social Care Partnerships will need to be able to work more flexibly with data at a range of small area geographies, and in response to different thematic areas of public service reform. A lack of capacity to work in this way could be a barrier to collaboration between services and partnerships and to the potential for turning evidence into action. For some CPPs, community profiling - a process that involves bringing local data together in a concise, accessible, presentation style- will require investment in a new technological infrastructure; in-house training for staff with some level of analytical ability and/or recruitment of staff with specialist analytic skills; and specialist support to develop the capacity of staff to interpret and make sense of local data so that it is more accessible and meaningful to local partners and communities. In the context of the Community Empowerment Act 2015, community profiling could be used to promote greater openness and transparency between service providers and communities, to highlight differences – and often inequalities - and to provoke discussion and responses.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Project Report)
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Whyte, Mr Bruce and Bynner, Dr Claire
• Authors: Bynner, C., and Whyte, B.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Public Health; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
• Publisher: What Works Scotland
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the authors

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