SINePost newsletter - February 2016

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In this issue ...

1.  Social Mobility Index
2.  Destinations of Key Stage 4 pupils
3.  Destinations of Key Stage 5 students
4.  Youth Justice Statistics
5.  Active People Survey results
6.  Hypertension Profiles
7.  Dementia Profile
8.  Household Solar Energy statistics
9.  Met Office statistics
10.  Historic Population Estimates
11.  ONS Consultations
12.  Forthcoming Statistical Releases

1. Social Mobility Index

West Somerset is a notable social mobility ‘coldspot’ according to a new index developed by the government-sponsored Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. The district ranks bottom of 324 local authority district areas nationally.

The Social Mobility Index compares the chances of children from poorer backgrounds of doing well at school, finding a good job and having a decent standard of living, across all local authority district areas of England. Its aim is to understand the best and worst places in England in terms of the opportunities young people from poorer backgrounds have to succeed.

According to the Index, Taunton Deane offers the greatest opportunity for social mobility in Somerset, although it is only marginally within the top half of local authorities nationally (ranked 150^th), followed by Mendip (161^st), South Somerset (218^th) and Sedgemoor (238^th).

For further information, see: www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-mobility-index

2. Destinations of Key Stage 4 pupils

The proportion of Somerset young people going into sustained education, training or employment after key stage 4 increased to 92% in 2013/14, up 2 percentage points from the previous year, according to figures from the Department for Education: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/destinations-of-ks4-and-ks5-pupils-2013-to-2014

Approximately 7% of Somerset pupils went on to an apprenticeship, above the national average of 5%.

Disadvantaged students (those attracting the pupil premium) continued to be less likely to have a sustained education, employment or training destination than other students: 84% of disadvantaged students in Somerset were recorded in a sustained destination, compared with 93% for all other students.

3. Destinations of Key Stage 5 students

Just over three-quarters (76%) of Somerset young people were in sustained education, employment or training the year after taking A levels or equivalent qualifications, according to Department for Education figures (for 2013/14). This was above the national average of 73%: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/destinations-of-ks4-and-ks5-pupils-2013-to-2014

The proportion of Somerset young people specifically in sustained education was well below the national average (57% compared to 65% nationally).

A lower proportion of Somerset students eligible for free school meals (70%) progressed to a sustained education, employment or training destination compared to all other students (76%). This ‘gap’ was wider than nationally (71% and 74% respectively).

Overall, 39% of students from state-funded mainstream schools/colleges in Somerset went to a higher education institution in 2013/14 (nationally the proportion was 48%).

4. Youth Justice Statistics

Young people in Somerset were convicted of 691 proven offences (those resulting in a caution or conviction) in the year ending March 2015, a decline of 7% on the previous year, according to annual figures published by the Ministry of Justice: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-justice-annual-statistics-2014-to-2015

The number of proven offences in Somerset fell amongst most offence types, but increased for sexual offences and motoring offences. The largest proportion of offences in 2014/15 related to violence against the person, followed by theft and handling.

5. Active People Survey

An estimated 24.6% of adults in Somerset regularly participate in sport or active recreation (equivalent to 30 minutes on three or more days a week) according to the latest 2014/15 Active People Survey from Sport England. This represents a slight decline on the figure for 2013/14 but is still a significant increase on the 22.2% at the time of the first Active People Survey in 2005/06.

The latest results highlight wide demographic variations in participation rates, for example:

• Participation is higher for males than females (27.5% and 21.8% respectively).
• Participation declines with age, from 38.7% of 16-34 year olds, to 14.1% of people aged 55 or over.
• Participation declines with declining socio-economic (NS-SEC) status: 27.6% of adults in NS-SEC categories 1 and 2 (‘professional and managerial’) regularly participate, compared to 18.5% in the lower NS-SEC categories, 4 to 7.

See: www.sportengland.org/research/who-plays-sport/local-picture/

6. Hypertension Profiles

Public Health England and the National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network have launched a series of Hypertension Profiles for each lower tier local authority and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG): www.yhpho.org.uk/hypertensionla/default.aspx

The profiles highlight lifestyle risk factors for hypertension; obesity, lack of exercise and excess alcohol drinking and combine them to produce an overall lifestyle hypertension ranking for each area. Sedgemoor district has by far the highest risk ranking in Somerset (ranked 304^th highest of 326 local authority areas nationally), and is followed by West Someset (ranked 216^th), South Somerset (157^th), Taunton Deane (124^th) and Mendip (119^th).

Overall, there are estimated to be 155,800 people in Somerset with hypertension, of which 58% have been diagnosed.

7. Dementia Profile

Around 1 in 25 adults aged 65 and over on GP registers in Somerset are diagnosed with dementia, according to new local authority profiles from Public Health England. The profiles bring together data on dementia in one place for the first time, broken down by six domains: prevalence, preventing well, diagnosing well, living well, supporting well, and dying well: http://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile-group/mental-health/profile/dementia

In Somerset there were a total of 3,034 emergency hospital admissions of patients aged 65+ with diagnosed dementia in 2013/14, up from 2,929 admissions the previous year. The rate of admissions in Somerset remains above the South West average but below the national average.

8. Household Solar Energy statistics

Approximately 1 in 20 households in Somerset have photovoltaic (solar energy) installations according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The Feed-in-Tariff scheme (FITs) pays households a tariff for the electricity they generate: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/sub-regional-feed-in-tariffs-confirmed-on-the-cfr-statistics

As at December 2015, there were 11,297 domestic photovoltaic (solar energy) installations, an increase of around 1,700 on the figure a year earlier. At a district level, West Somerset has the highest rate of installations (552 per 10,000 households) and South Somerset the lowest (461 per 10,000). The South West has by far the highest rate of installations of any region in England, linked to its generally favourable climate.

9. Met Office statistics

Somerset was on average warmer and drier in 2015 but with fewer hours of sunshine according to provisional figures from the Met Office (based on readings at Yeovilton). The warmest year since records began was 2014 (with comparable records going back to 1964).

December 2015 was by a substantial margin the warmest December on record with an average minimum temperature of 8.8C (compared to a 1964-2015 average of 2.1C). The provisional rainfall figure of 65 mm was actually below the 1964-2015 average of 79mm, while December’s sunshine total of 39.4 hours was the 7^th lowest in the same period.

See: www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/stationdata/yeoviltondata.txt

10. Historic Population Estimates

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published population estimates for local authorities for the period 1991 to 2014 by single year of age on its Nomis website (previously these were available by five year age band): www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/934.aspx

The figures highlight the county’s changing demography. For example, while Somerset’s overall population has increased by 75,000 since 1991, there are now fewer people at every individual year of age between 19 years and 41 years, and more people at every age 45 and over. Numbers of residents aged 85 or over have largely doubled from 9,100 to 18,100 over the period.

11. ONS Consultations

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is currently consulting on the following:

• Subnational Population Projections – understanding user requirements for subnational (inc. local authority level) population projections: ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/consultations-and-user-surveys/consultations/consultation-on-the-2014-based-subnational-population-projections-for-england/index.html (closes 26 February)

• Consultation on changes to ONS Products– considering a range of proposals to reduce costs, including conducting population projections every three years, instead of two: ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/consultations-and-user-surveys/consultations/consultation-on-changes-to-ons-products-2015/index.html (closes 8 February)

The next new subnational population projections (2014-based) are due for release in May 2016.

12. Forthcoming Statistical Releases

The following are due for release at sub-regional geographies during February:

• Measuring national well-being, personal well-being in the UK: three year data 2012 to 2015 (ONS)
• National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals to Dec 2015 (DWP)
• Rough sleeping in England: autumn 2015 (DCLG)
• Sub-national electricity and gas consumption at LSOA, MSOA and IGZ level in 2014 (DECC)
• Health Profiles: February 2016 data update (PHE)
• Breast Screening Programme, 2014 to 2015 (NHS)
• Conceptions in England and Wales: 2014 (ONS)
• Gross value added (GVA) for local enterprise partnerships in the UK: 1997 to 2014 (ONS)
• Sub-regional productivity in the UK: Mar 2016 (ONS)

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