Guidance

Ministry of Justice: Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD)

Updated 25 March 2026

Applies to England and Wales

BOLD is a cross-public sector partnership which strives to improve outcomes for society, currently supporting vulnerable individuals, people with complex needs through the power of data.

The BOLD partnership

The public sector gathers a large amount of data to improve services offered to the public, yet a lack of interoperability between organisations limits understanding of whether these services are effective in a holistic and systemic way. The BOLD Partnership improves government interconnectivity to unblock specific system issues. The Partnership utilises domain expertise across departments, applies best practice, provides advice on approaches, and unearths opportunities to collaborate on HMG wide objectives. This enables policymakers and operational staff to have better quality evidence and tools to support vulnerable people with complex needs, whilst aiming to drive efficiency and productivity.

The Partnership is a successor to, and builds upon the work of, the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme which built innovative capability and infrastructure in data sharing, data linking, analytical insights, research, AI, and collaborative working. The Partnership collaboratively operates across Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Welsh Government (WG), Youth Justice Board (YJB), NHS England, His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Services, Local Authorities and third sector organisations across England and Wales.

The BOLD Partnership aims to scale and enhance its capability to support Government. The Partnership will amplify work cross-government, encourage collaboration across departments, and act as an inter-departmental advisory service and provides the environment and conditions for cross organisational design and delivery.

The Partnerships focus for the next three years is to bolster data sharing and data linking and progress key government priorities in Youth Justice, Health and Prevention.

The story so far

The BOLD Programme has demonstrated a strong track record of delivery over the last 5 years, having built transformative technology and developed how government utilises data. The BOLD programme has:

• Completed 36 data linking projects
• Collaborated with 16 organisations
• Created 22 linked data assets
• Delivered a national showcase with over 250 participants
• Published 19 reports under four key themes: Reducing Reoffending, Supporting Victims, Substance Misuse, and Homelessness
• BOLD has reduced long-term costs by closing key evidence gaps in these areas, improving policymaking, developing innovative digital tools, and transforming end-to-end services.

BOLD is recognised across government as a centre for excellence and has received multiple awards, including;

• Highly Commended at the British Data Awards 2024 for “Data for Good Initiative of the Year”
• Civil Service Awards 2025 Winner for “Excellence and Delivery”
• A winning partner in the Civil Service Awards 2025 “Innovator Award”
• Winning the Analysis in Government 2026 “Innovation Award”

Example use-cases through the BOLD Programme

Alcohol Treatment Requirements and Drug Rehabilitation Requirements

Linking data between MoJ and DHSC, gave new insights that around 60% of offenders in the community with a court order to attend alcohol/drug treatment did not appear to do so. BOLD researched requirements to influence system change. Several policy and operational changes have been initiated.

Children with a parent in prison

BOLD linked Justice and Benefits data which identified 193,000 children with a parent in prison. This figure was used to inform the restriction of parental responsibility of child sex abuse offences. Understanding this group better means they are now being targeted by MoJ and DfE through an early support system.

Laurium

BOLD developed an award-winning Python package (Laurium) for extracting structured data from text and generating synthetic data using language models. Organisations collect vast amounts of free text data containing untapped information that could provide decision makers with valuable insights. Laurium addresses this by providing tools for converting unstructured text into structured data using Large Language Models. Through prompt engineering, the package can be adapted to different use cases and data extraction requirements, unlocking the value hidden in text data.

Case Information Dashboard

The Case Information Dashboard is a tool designed to assist probation officers by consolidating critical information from systems across police, prison, and probation services into a single, accessible platform. It has been piloted in one probation delivery unit. The dashboard provides a comprehensive view of case information and decisions, enabling staff to quickly access relevant details, understand the context behind previous actions, and make better-informed decisions. This streamlined approach intends to enhance efficiency by reducing the time spent searching for information, improve service user experience, and ensure consistent information across the system.

Adult-Survivors Journey

The victims team produced a report called: An adult-survivors journey through a sexual violence support service in Essex. This report examines data held by rape support services: looking into the victim-survivor journey, whether it is possible to assess the services victim-survivors need, and the plausibility of using this data to understand why victim-survivors often disengage from the support service.

Repeat Homelessness

BOLD has linked local authority data (c.50) with several cross-government data sets to understand the prevalence and outcomes of homelessness. Around 1 in 3 repeat homelessness cases identified by BOLD were only detected due to data linking. Through prevention and intervention, a 1% reduction in homelessness could save the government up to £30m annually.

Privacy is at the heart of BOLD’s design and ethos

BOLD is about using data and evidence to design better services for people. Given the volume, sensitivity and complexity of the data collected by government, we take our responsibilities to proportionately and ethically handle data seriously, and commits itself to robust ethical standards. Find more information on how BOLD uses and keeps data safe, and how we are engaging the public to build trust please see the document at the top of this page.

Engaging the public

Public trust and engagement are critical, and we committed to undertake extensive public engagement with those individuals whose data are being shared, and with the wider public.

BOLD has previously partnered with the Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation (CDEI), and the research company Britain Thinks, to undertake extensive engagement with affected groups, trusted intermediaries, and the general public. This included focus groups with the four cohorts of people BOLD is focused on (Victims, Offenders, Substance Misusers, and those experiencing Homelessness). The results of this exercise, and what we have learnt from listening to the public, informed the design of the BOLD programme and has been published by the CDEI. This approach and ethos is being continued through the BOLD Partnership.

Get in touch

If you would like to hear more about our work or are interested in joining the partnership, please contact us at bold@justice.gov.uk

Publications produced by BOLD

Links to the Publications produced by BOLD can be found below.

11/12/2025: Better Outcomes through Linked Data: Links between homelessness and offending - GOV.UK - This report was produced by MHCLG in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with the aim of linking together people in the statutory homelessness system with people in the prison and probation systems.

11/12/2025: Better Outcomes through Linked Data: Rough sleeping and substance use treatment - GOV.UK - This report has been produced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Homelessness Pilot Team, in collaboration with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), as part of the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme.

11/12/2025: Better Outcomes through Linked Data: Local authority homelessness and rough sleeping data linking - GOV.UK - The research was conducted by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Cheshire West and Chester as a pilot study as part of the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme led by Ministry of Justice.

25/02/2025: Better Outcomes through Linked Data: Repeat homelessness report - GOV.UK  produced by BOLD Homelessness Pilot (MHCLG).

14/08/2023: Barriers to data sharing between DLUHC and local councils produced by BOLD Homelessness Pilot (MHCLG), Softwire Ltd.

Reducing reoffending

11/09/2025: Prison education in England: Educational background, characteristics, and criminogenic needs produced by BOLD Reducing Reoffending Pilot (MOJ).

08/05/2025: Criminogenic needs of prolific offenders - GOV.UK produced by BOLD Reducing Reoffending Pilot (MOJ).

18/07/2024: Estimates of Children with a parent in prison produced by BOLD Reducing Reoffending Pilot (MOJ).

Substance misuse

11/12/2025: Health service use and mortality after prison release and community supervision: A linked data study produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank.

17/04/2025: The interplay between children looked after and substance misuse: Scoping the use of administrative data, produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank. Welsh Version.

17/04/2025: Scoping and evaluation of synthetic data to enhance access to data produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank. Welsh Version. 

31/03/25: The interplay between children looked after and substance misuse in Wales: scoping the use of administrative data, produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank. Welsh Version. 

26/03/2025: Maternal substance misuse-related foetal anomalies: A data linkage study in Wales produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank 

26/03/2025: Data explained: Welsh National Database for Substance Misuse (WNDSM) data quality audit and considerations produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank. Welsh version 

26/03/2025: Potential opportunities to reduce the escalation of substance misuse: A retrospective observational data linkage study in Wales produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank. Welsh version 

25/02/2025: Homelessness and substance misuse: impact on secondary healthcare in Wales produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank. 

25/02/2025: BOLD data insight publication aimed at the general public: homelessness and substance misuse: impact on secondary healthcare in Wales produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank. 

25/02/2025: Study explores substance misuse, homelessness and health inequalities - ADR Wales produced by BOLD Substance Misuse Wales Pilot, Public Health Wales, Administrative Data Research Wales, SAIL Databank.

30/03/2024: Pathways between probation and addiction treatment in England produced by BOLD Substance Misuse England Pilot (DHSC), Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).

28/03/2024: Drug and alcohol treatment for victims and suspects of homicide: report produced by BOLD Substance Misuse England Pilot (DHSC), Home Office (HO), Office for Health Improvement (OHID).

01/02/2024: Suicide by people in contact with drug and alcohol services: a national study 2021 to 2022 produced by BOLD Substance Misuse England Pilot (DHSC), University of Manchester, National Confidential Enquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH).

Victims

19/09/2024: An adult victim-survivor’s journey through a sexual violence support service in Essex, produced by BOLD Victims Pathway Pilot (MOJ).

Complex needs

23/03/2023: Improving lives through linked data: Views from groups with complex needs produced by Central BOLD team (MOJ), Responsible Technology Adoption Unit (RTA), Thinks Insight & Strategy.

Further information, including analytical publications will be published on this page as they become available.