The 'go to' organisation for Local Government improvement in Scotland

East Lothian Council has been selected to lead Scotland's first full SAVVI implementation as part of our national demonstrator programme.
The project will explore how information already held across services can be used to identify young people who may be at risk of not sustaining a positive destination after leaving school. The aim is not simply to understand patterns in data, but to use that understanding to enable earlier support and put young people on a more positive trajectory. The project has a particular focus on children in the latter years of primary school and their transition into secondary school.

The pilot aligns closely with national priorities around prevention and early intervention, child poverty, whole family wellbeing.  By bringing together expertise from across education, wider service delivery, information governance and data teams, the project will work through the full SAVVI process to develop an approach that is lawful, ethical, transparent and practical.

Like many local authorities, East Lothian is navigating different information systems, uncertainty about data sharing and the practicalities of turning data into actionable insight. The demonstrator provides an opportunity to test solutions to these challenges and generate learning that can benefit councils across Scotland.

As Scotland's SAVVI demonstrator site, East Lothian will help refine an approach that can be replicated elsewhere. Learning from the project will be shared nationally through guidance, practical tools, case studies and resources for local authorities and partners interested in developing preventative approaches of their own.

Making better use of data starts with getting the basics right.

A recent blog by SAVVI Scotland Technical Data Lead Fi Caryl explores why consistent ways of identifying people, residences and households are essential foundations for effective data sharing and interoperability.

Across public services, vast amounts of information are collected every day. However, the same individual, family or address may be recorded differently across different systems and organisations. These inconsistencies make it difficult to link information together, limiting organisations' ability to build a joined-up understanding of need and deliver coordinated support.

The blog explores how common definitions, standardised entity structures and unique identifiers can improve data quality and make information easier to use across organisational boundaries. While this work often happens behind the scenes, it is fundamental to enabling preventative approaches because it helps ensure that services are working from a consistent understanding of individuals and households.

As councils continue to explore opportunities for prevention and early intervention, strengthening these foundations will help create better conditions for data sharing, reduce duplication and support more effective decision-making across public services.

The impact of SAVVI UK is increasingly being recognised beyond Scotland.

The UK Government recently published its Vulnerabilities Data Standards, drawing on conceptual and logical models developed through the SAVVI UK programme. The standards aim to support lawful, ethical and transparent data sharing for the purpose of identifying and supporting vulnerable people and households.

The publication represents an important step towards greater consistency in how organisations describe, share and use information relating to vulnerability. By creating common approaches and definitions, the standards seek to support collaboration across organisational boundaries while maintaining public trust and confidence in the use of data.

For SAVVI Scotland, this recognition reflects the growing influence of the programme and reinforces the importance of developing practical, scalable approaches that can be applied across multiple public service settings. While much of SAVVI's work focuses on local implementation, it is encouraging to see core elements of the approach informing wider discussions about public sector data sharing and prevention.

How to get involved

The Alpha phase is an opportunity to test, learn and refine the data standards before any wider adoption. The UK Digital Government team are keen to hear your views on the Alpha release and whether the standards are practical, usable in real-world settings, and whether they fit with existing systems. Please send your feedback by 21 August 2026 to data-standards-authority@dsit.gov.uk

The SAVVI Scotland team has published its first SAVVI Learning Example, showcasing West Lothian Council's 'Unmet Need' Project and the lessons learned from using data to support child poverty prevention.

Developed in partnership with the Improvement Service, the project explored how local and national data could be used to identify neighbourhoods where families may not be accessing educational benefits and other financial support available to them. Rather than focusing on individual households, the work used neighbourhood-level analysis to highlight areas where uptake appeared lower than expected and where targeted outreach could make the greatest difference.

The Learning Example provides a practical overview of the project, including the development of an interactive dashboard, the challenges of accessing and reusing data, and the importance of linking insight to action. It also highlights how West Lothian used the findings to support community-based outreach and connect families with benefit checks, advice services and wider financial support.
Importantly, the publication shares both successes and challenges, offering valuable learning for other councils interested in tackling poverty through better use of data. Topics covered include information governance, data sharing, stakeholder engagement and the practical realities of turning analysis into meaningful support for residents.

This is the first in a series of SAVVI Learning Examples that will showcase innovative practice from across Scotland and support councils to learn from one another as they develop preventative approaches to poverty and vulnerability.

Over the coming months, the SAVVI team will publish a series of practical resources exploring how Scottish councils are using data to identify need earlier and connect residents with support. Our first examples will focus on Glasgow City Council and Aberdeen City Council. They will showcase different approaches to tackling poverty through data, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges involved in implementing preventative approaches at a local level. As well as sharing examples of what's working in practice, the case studies will identify transferable lessons, governance considerations and practical steps that may be useful to other local authorities looking to develop similar approaches. We hope they will become part of a growing library of Scottish examples that demonstrate the value of using data to improve outcomes and reduce financial hardship.

The programme will build on learning from ongoing engagement with local authorities as well as the SAVVI Rural Child Poverty Pilot and the emerging SAVVI Financial Hardship Blueprint. The Blueprint brings together practical learning on how data can be used lawfully, ethically and transparently to identify households experiencing, or at risk of, financial hardship and connect them with support before problems escalate. It provides a structured approach that local authorities can adapt to address a range of poverty-related challenges, including benefit uptake.

Ensuring that children and young people receive the support they are entitled to is an important part of tackling child poverty. Across Scotland, many local authorities have already used data to increase uptake of educational benefits such as Free School Meals, School Clothing Grants and Education Maintenance Allowance, helping families access financial support and reducing barriers to participation in education. We're particularly keen to work with any areas who'd like support to maximise uptake of educational benefits using data.
We'll be hosting a learning event this autumn to showcase these resources and offer support to councils to ensure they can make better use of information they already hold to identify eligible families, improve take-up and ensure support reaches those who need it most.

Over the coming year we will continue to share learning from the East Lothian demonstrator project, publish practical Scottish case studies and use cases, develop resources through the SAVVI Financial Hardship Blueprint, and support councils to make better use of data for prevention and poverty reduction.
By working together and learning from one another, we can build the confidence, capability and partnerships needed to identify need earlier, intervene sooner and improve outcomes for people and communities across Scotland.

The SAVVI Team