3.6 The quality of information provided in the returns varied considerably. Not all questions were addressed and there was considerable disparity in how information was provided. In part this may be attributed to the structure and design of the templates which were intended to be sufficiently open in nature to enable Departments to reflect the broad range of partnership work in which they are engaged. While useful in this regard, the approach has lead to difficulties in quantifying and comparing the information provided in the responses. In light of this it is necessary to qualify any conclusions reached and acknowledge that the information obtained from the returns is unlikely to reflect the full scale and nature of partnership work in Northern Ireland. However, the returns do provide sufficient information to draw out a number of key issues and provide an indicative overview of cross-sectoral working here.