The release of more data on the risk factors for children will provide "valuable insights" into the issues they face, Finance Minister Bill English says.

English has released another tranche of data about at-risk children and youth, as part of a massive government data project.

Since 2013, Statistics New Zealand has collected data from government agencies including the Ministries of Social Development, Health and Education, as well as Child Youth and Family, Corrections, Police and Housing to create the world-leading Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI).

The Treasury last year published two reports analysing the data to identify the risk factors faced by those aged between zero and 5, and between 15 and 24.

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English said the publication of the new data on Thursday extended the analysis to include those aged between zero and 14 years of age, giving a broader picture.

Analysis of the data revealed four "indicators" that could lead to poor outcomes for the children: a Child, Youth and Family finding of abuse or neglect; being supported by benefits for most of their lifetime; having a parent who has been punished by the courts; and having a mother with no formal qualifications.

Children with two or more of those indicators were three times more likely to leave school with no qualifications, three times more likely to receive a prison or community sentence between 25 and 34, and four times more likely to be on a sole parent benefit by 21.

"Those are grim outcomes by any standards," English said.

'REDUCING MISERY'

The information was being made widely available, and would help the social sector to understand how it could best help vulnerable members of society, he said.

"This is priceless information for service providers who need to understand the people they are trying to help.

"We want to reduce misery, rather than service it and that requires a deep understanding of the drivers of social dysfunction."

English said the Government had also launched an online mapping tool, called Social Investment Insights, which would allow users to "drill down into the data" by location.

The data release comes after a Salvation Army report released this week claimed that government agencies were "inventing" new numbers and changing the definitions of targets to make their performance seem better.

The report said organisations felt under pressure from the Government to come up with favourable results, creating an attitude where they "find any reason to celebrate success or progress", regardless of their original goals.

English said he welcomed scrutiny of government data, but the accusations were misplaces as the Government used "high-quality" tier one data from Statistics New Zealand for many targets.