Many cross-government projects that come before this Committee are hindered by missing or inadequate data. The government has historically had an issue with poor quality and inconsistent data and with ineffective data sharing arrangements. Whilst there have been some positive improvements, such as establishing data standards across government, difficulty with data sharing was the most commonly identified barrier in a recent HM Treasury survey about cross-government working. In addition, insufficient data capacity and capability across government means the skills needed to interpret data are not always available, which can hinder projects, and make it difficult to evaluate effectively what works. Recommendation 2: HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office should work with the Evaluation Taskforce and the Analysis function to: • identify the key data needed to deliver, monitor and evaluate cross- government projects; and • help departments to collect the data and have the analytical capability to interpret it.