It is important to have the right data in place for mental health service commissioners and providers to manage and improve services, and to understand the cost effectiveness and impact of services, including patient experiences and outcomes.15 We highlighted data gaps for mental health services in our 2016 report Improving access to mental health services and recommended the Department and NHS take action, by 2018–19, to improve data on cost and performance, including data on service outcomes.16 Data on NHS mental health services have improved since 2015, with the NHS now regularly publishing data on service activity, spending and waiting time performance. However, improvements to mental health service data and information are taking longer than planned. For example, many service providers are still not submitting data as required. While the number of providers submitting data increased from 85 in 2016 to 364 in 2022, 5% of NHS providers and up to 33% of non-NHS providers were still not doing so by June 2022.17 NHSE explained that, unlike other parts of the health service, a particular challenge to data collection for mental health services is that more services are provided by third-sector organisations which often have lesser infrastructure in place.18