SINePost newsletter - February 2013

In this issue ...

1. 2011 Census: Statistics for Wards, LSOAs and Parishes
2. 2011 Census: Ethnicity and Religion briefing papers
3. Mental Health Profiles 2013
4. Transport Accessibility Statistics
5. Secondary School Performance Tables 2012
6. Latest Somerset Economic Bulletin
7. ‘Cultures of Worklessness’ Report
8. Annual Energy Price Statistics
9. ‘Generations’ Survey
10. Forthcoming Statistical Releases

1.  2011 Census: Statistics for Wards, LSOAs and Parishes

Last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the first detailed small area statistics from the national Census carried out in 2011. The data (‘Key Statistics’ and ‘Quick Statistics’) includes information on ethnicity, language, religion, health, carers, travel to work, economic activity, housing tenure, living arrangements and dependent children.

The Partnership Intelligence Unit (PIU) has compiled an interactive spreadsheet which provides profiles for every Electoral Ward, LSOA (Lower Super Output Area) and Parish in the county, with comparisons to Somerset and national averages. A second (‘summary’) spreadsheet compares 30 key indicators through a series of bar charts.

The profile spreadsheets are available at the following link (once downloaded, select the required ‘geography’ and ‘area’ from the drop-down menus at the top): www.sine.org.uk/census2011/

2.  2011 Census: Ethnicity and Religion Briefing Papers

Meanwhile, the PIU has produced two new briefing papers looking at the ethnicity and religious affiliations of Somerset residents. The briefings are based on 2011 Census Key Statistics at local authority level, published by the ONS in December.

Ethnicity in Somerset briefing: www.sine.org.uk/easysiteweb/getresource.axd?assetid=54733&type=0&servicetype=1

Religion in Somerset briefing: www.sine.org.uk/easysiteweb/getresource.axd?assetid=54777&type=0&servicetype=1

The briefings will be expanded to incorporate local area data in the near future.

3.  Mental Health Profiles 2013

The North East Public Health Observatory has updated its local authority mental health profiles, which now include 7 new indicators. The profiles provide an overview of local mental health risks, prevalence and services: www.nepho.org.uk/cmhp/

Somerset performs better or is broadly in line with the national average in respect of most indicators. However, Somerset scores significantly worse than the national average in terms of the percentage of adults with depression and the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm.

4.  Latest Transport Accessibility Statistics

Latest accessibility statistics (for 2011) have been published by the Department for Transport (DfT), which assess the extent to which households can access day-to-day services, such as employment, education, healthcare and food stores. The indicator relates the car ownership rate to the average public transport time to seven key services:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/households-with-good-transport-access-to-key-services-or-work--2

The indicator is indexed (as a score of 100) to the England average for 2010. Somerset scored 70 in 2011, down from 71 in 2010. Most South West local authorities saw bigger falls between 2010 and 2011; and only two - BANES and Bristol - saw increases (indicating improved levels of accessibility).

5.  Secondary School Performance Tables 2012

Secondary School Performance Tables for 2012 have now been published by the Department for Education (DfE), available at: www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/

In Somerset, the percentage of students achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* - C including English and Mathematics was 56.5% in 2012, down from 57.0% in 2011. Nationally, the 2012 achievement figure was 58.8%.

6.  Somerset Economic Bulletin

The latest Somerset Economic Bulletin, compiled by the Economy Group at Somerset County Council, is now available. It provides an assessment of the county’s recent economic and labour market performance, and its prospects for the future: www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/go/km/docs/CouncilDocuments/SCC/Documents/Community/Economy%20and%20Europe/economic_bulletin_December_2012.pdf

The Bulletin reports that Somerset’s employment and unemployment rates are moving in the ‘right direction’ since the previous Bulletin was published (February 2012), although pockets of persistently high levels of unemployment are evident in some urban areas, particularly Bridgwater. The Bulletin also reports that the number of vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus in the county has recovered from its 2008 recession low.

7.  ‘Culture of Worklessness’ Report

A new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) critically investigates the idea of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’ and families where three generations have never worked: www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/worklessness-families-employment-full.pdf

The report suggests that the notion of three generations of families where no-one has ever worked is ill-founded as an explanation for contemporary worklessness, with such families accounting for a ‘vanishingly small’ fraction of the workless. For the families in the study the distance from the labour market was generally the result of a preponderance of hardships and problems in their lives, as opposed to a culture of worklessness.

At the time of the 2011 Census, there were 6,071 households in Somerset which had no adults in employment and included dependent children.

8.  Annual Energy Price Statistics

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published latest statistics (for 2012) on average annual domestic electricity and gas bills: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics

The average annual gas bill in England and Wales was £837 in 2012, an increase of £88 on the previous year, and an increase of £300 in the last five years. The average annual electricity bill was £496 in 2012, an increase of £27 on 2011.

Last year, the DECC released annual fuel poverty statistics indicating that 16.0% of Somerset households in 2010 were ‘fuel poor’ (i.e., needing to spend more than 10% of income on fuel). A DECC consultation at the end of last year sought to revisit the current fuel poverty definition and strategy, and is due to report in 2013.

9.  ‘Generations’ Survey

Ipsos MORI have launched a programme of work investigating generational differences and the resulting implications for public policy and politics. The work looks at differing intergenerational attitudes to: welfare, the NHS, party politics, integration, religion, gender roles and homosexuality: www.ipsos-mori-generations.com

 The survey suggests that while discussions on demographic profiles tend to focus on how the population is aging, the ‘current old’ are dying out, and they have very different values and attitudes to the ‘future old’. It concludes that changes in how different generational groups make up the population are driving significant shifts in the national balance of opinion.

10.  Forthcoming Statistical Releases

• The following are due for release at sub-regional geographies during February:
• Public Health Outcomes Framework - Data update, February 2013 (NHS)
• Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework - 2011-12 - Final Release (NHS)
• 2011 Census Analysis - Method of Travel to Work in England and Wales (ONS)
• Rough Sleeping Statistics England - Autumn 2012 (DCLG)
• Crime Statistics - Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2011/12 (ONS)
• Area Based Analysis – Teenage Conceptions and Deprivation Analysis, England and Wales, 2008-10 (ONS)

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