Sector-led improvement in children’s services: a lever for evidence-informed practice?

The drive for sector-led improvement within children’s services has a more prominent place in improving outcomes for children and young people than ever before. Concurrently, the imperative to access and utilise evidence to inform practice has become increasingly important, enabling scarce resources to be allocated according to ‘what works’. This paper examines features of the current model of sector-led improvement and evidence-informed practice, demonstrating that there is an undeniable congruence between the two. The role of intermediary organisations is considered. The paper concludes that sector-led improvement cannot be effectively achieved without an underpinning understanding of, and access to, robust evidence.