Technology Solution for Multi-Agency Child Protection Information Sharing in Scotland

This Challenge invites technology innovators to solve a critical child protection priority for the Scottish Government. Scotland's child protection system processes over 17,000 Inter-Agency Referral Discussions (IRDs) annually to make safeguarding decisions for children. While the IRD process itself is effective, it is currently hampered by fragmented IT systems, manual workflows, and siloed local records across agencies and local authorities. This fragmentation causes duplication of effort, processing delays, and barriers to secure information sharing—ultimately reducing time social workers and partners can spend directly supporting vulnerable children and families. The Scottish Government, Police Scotland, and the National Social Work Agency seek an innovative technology solution that streamlines multi-agency information sharing within the existing IRD process, enables real-time data visibility at local and national levels, and improves overall child protection outcomes. Suppliers should propose secure, interoperable systems that integrate across multiple organizations and reduce administrative burden while maintaining strict data governance and compliance standards.