SINePost newsletter - November 2013

Click here to download a Word version of the current newsletter

In this issue ...

1. Personal Well-being
   
2. Civil Partnerships
   
3. Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimants
   
4. Business Register and Employment Survey
   
5. Children living in out-of-work benefit households
   
6. Food Banks
   
7. Fly tipping statistics
   
8. Population Components of Change
   
9. European Review of Health Inequalities
   
10. DCLG Statistics User Engagement Day
    
11. HCA Statistical Data Return review
    
12. Forthcoming Statistical Releases
    

1.  Personal Well-being

The second year of detailed results from the Measuring National Well-being programme has been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The programme aims to measure people’s ongoing quality of life, and to complement existing indicators such as economic performance: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/wellbeing/measuring-national-well-being/personal-well-being-across-the-uk--2012-13/index.html

In 2012/13, Somerset residents on average rated their ‘life satisfaction’ and ‘feelings that things in life are worthwhile’ at broadly the same levels as seen in 2011/12. However, residents rated their levels of ‘happiness’ on average lower in 2012/13 than a year earlier, while levels of ‘anxiety’ were higher. The latter two findings are contrary to the overall national picture, which saw happiness levels increase and anxiety decrease.

2.  Civil Partnerships

A total of 52 civil partnerships were formed in Somerset in 2012 according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), comprising 30 female partnerships and 22 male partnerships. A total of 353 civil partnerships have been formed in Somerset since 2006. Somerset has one of the lowest rates of civil partnership formation in the South West region (only South Gloucestershire and Dorset have lower rates per head of adult population): www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob2/civil-partnership-statistics--united-kingdom/2012/index.html

Meanwhile, results just published from the 2012 Integrated Household Survey (IHS) indicate that 1.5% of adults in the UK identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. If this proportion were applied to the Somerset population it would equate to 6,600 adults in the county. The IHS is the largest social survey conducted by ONS after the national Census, with approximately 340,000 individual respondents: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/integrated-household-survey/integrated-household-survey/january-to-december-2012/index.html

3. Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimants

The Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimant rate in Somerset is at its lowest level since December 2008 according to latest monthly figures published by the Office for National Statistics. In September, 5,645 people in Somerset were claiming JSA, down from 6,765 a year earlier, and down from a peak of 8,285 in February 2010. See: www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/781.aspx

The number of young people (aged 18-24) claiming JSA is also at its lowest level since the end of 2008, although the number of long-term unemployed young people, claiming for over two years, is the highest since September 1997, mirroring a national picture.

4. Business Register and Employment Survey

The number of people in Somerset employed in the public sector fell by 7.4% (3,100 people) between 2011 and 2012 according to provisional estimates from the national Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). At the same time, the number of private sector employees fell by 1.7% (2,700 people). The BRES takes a snapshot of the workforce in September each year: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/bus-register/business-register-employment-survey/2012-provisional/index.html

Within the South West region, all local authority areas saw declines in the estimated size of the public sector workforce, ranging from 2% in North Somerset to, 19% in Cornwall. Within 11 of 16 South West authorities a decline in the number of public sector employees was offset by an increase in the size of the private sector workforce.

5. Children living in out-of-work benefit households

Around 1 in 8 children (aged 0-18) in Somerset live in an out-of-work benefit household according to the latest annual snapshot from the Department for Work and Pensions (as of 31 May 2012). The latest figure of 15,080 children is marginally lower than that seen in 2011 (15,140 children) and in 2010 (15,390 children): www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-in-out-of-work-benefit-households-2012-statistics

More than half (55%) of such children live in Income Support claimant households; 21% live in Employment and Support Allowance claimant households; 16% in JSA claimant households and 16% in Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance claimant households.

In 2012, the areas with the highest numbers of children living in out-of-work benefit households were Bridgwater Hamp Ward (635) and Bridgwater Sydenham Ward (620).

6. Food Banks

The LocalGov website has recently reported that the number of people using foodbanks in the UK has tripled in the last year, based on information on 400 foodbanks managed by the Trussell Trust: www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=111345

Locally, during 2012/13, the Trussell Trust distributed 918 food parcels in Somerset, from centres in Taunton and Highbridge. So far this year (April to September) the Trust has supplied 2,035 food parcels, including those from an additional facility in Bridgwater.

7. Fly tipping statistics

The number of fly tipping incidents reported to local authorities in Somerset declined in 2012/13 compared to 2011/12 according to figures published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA): www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/env24-fly-tipping-incidents-and-actions-taken-in-england

There were 5,190 incidents in Somerset in 2012/13 compared to 5,687 incidents in the previous year. Levels are still well above those recorded in 2010/11, when there were 3,692 incidents.

Rates of fly tipping within Somerset vary widely by district, from 14.9 incidents per 1,000 population in Mendip to 2.7 incidents per 1,000 in West Somerset. The Mendip rate in 2012/13 was the highest in the South West region, and also fell within the 20% highest in England.

8. Population Components of Change

The ONS has now added 2011 and 2012 data to its ‘components of change’ dataset, to provide detailed estimates of births, deaths and internal/international migration over the last ten years, by gender and single year of age: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/business-transparency/freedom-of-information/what-can-i-request/published-ad-hoc-data/pop/october-2013/population-estimates-time-series-2002-2012--detailed-components-of-change.zip

Some general observations from the data are:

• The number of births in Somerset is broadly increasing year-on-year, while the number of deaths is falling. Since 2010, the number of births has exceeded the number of deaths.
• Somerset sees a substantial net outflow of young people aged 18 to 20 to other parts of the UK (2,500 people in 2012). In respect of virtually all other ages there is a net inflow into the county.
• There has been a net inflow of people from overseas into Somerset in each of the last ten years, with the exception of 2009. In 2012 the net inflow of people from overseas was estimated to be 500.

9. European Review of Health Inequalities

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published the latest of three reviews into health inequalities, chaired by Sir Michael Marmot. The Review of Social Determinants and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region follows on from a global review in 2008 and an English review (‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’) published in 2010: www.instituteofhealthequity.org/projects/who-european-review

Following two years of cross-European analysis, the Review indentifies that the UK falls behind its closest European neighbours on key indicators such as female life expectancy, mortality of young children (under 5s) and child poverty. The Review also raises concerns about the health outcomes of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in the UK.

10. DCLG Statistics User Engagement Day

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is holding a user engagement day on 25^th November in London. The event will include parallel sessions on different areas of statistics that DCLG produces, including housing, planning, local government finance, fire and deprivation (including preparations to update the 2010 Indices of Deprivation, due out in 2015).  See: www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/dclg-user-engagement-event-25-november-2013.pdf

Places are limited and registration is required by 15th November, at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/7W2RSWC

11. HCA Statistical Data Return review

The UK Statistical Authority (UKSA) is currently reviewing the extent to which the Homes & Communities Agency's Statistical Data Return (SDR) meets the standards of its code of practice; in terms of quality, accessibility and meeting users’ needs.

The SDR is based on an annual online survey completed by all English private registered providers of social housing, collecting data on stock size, types, location, rents, sales and acquisitions. The latest SDR was published in August 2013: www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/news/second-statistical-data-return

The questions to which UKSA are asking for users’ responses (by 14 November) are at: http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/assessment/current-assessments/hca-s-statistical-data-return.html

12. Forthcoming Statistical Releases

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

• Public Health Outcomes Framework - Data update, November 2013 (PHE)
• Local Authority Collected Waste Management Statistics - England, Final Annual Results 2012/13 (Defra)
• Count of Traveller Caravans - July 2013 (DCLG)
• Excess Winter Mortality in England and Wales - 2012/13 (Provisional) and 2011/12 (Final) (ONS)
• Business Demography – 2012 (ONS)