SINePost newsletter - November 2016

Click here to download a Word version of the current newsletter

In this issue ...

1. Latest Small Area Population Estimates
2. Armed Forces Veterans statistics
3. Working and Workless Households
4. Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings results
5. Business Activity, Size and Location data
6. Housing summary measures analysis
7. Child Obesity
8. Annual Bus Statistics
9. Hate Crime statistics
10. What's New on the Somerset Intelligence website?
11. Forthcoming Statistical Releases 

1. Latest Small Area Population Estimates

The Office for National Statistics has published latest population estimates for small areas, including electoral wards, output areas (OAs, LSOAs, MSOAs) and National Parks, by age and sex. The figures relate to estimated usual resident population on 30 June 2015 (‘mid-2015’): www.gov.uk/government/statistics/small-area-population-estimates-in-england-and-wales-mid-2015

The estimates can be useful in service planning and for calculating a range of rates and indicators. The figures also reveal:

• Of Somerset’s 138 electoral wards, 96 have seen a population increase since the 2011 Census and 42 have seen a population decrease (of which two-thirds are rural wards).
• There are now ten wards in Somerset in which at least one-in-three of the population are aged 65 or over, of which six are in West Somerset.
• One ward (Minehead North) now has more residents aged 65 or over than it has ‘working age’ residents (aged 16-64).

2. Armed Forces Veterans statistics

As at 31 March 2016, there were 7,240 Somerset residents in receipt of a pension under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS), an ongoing war pension under the War Pensions Scheme (WPS) and /or compensation under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). Of these, 6,774 were veterans.

The data, published by the Ministry of Defence, indicates that almost half of Somerset veterans live in South Somerset (3,329 veterans), with Taunton Deane the next most common local authority area (1,192), followed by Sedgemoor (974), Mendip (957) and West Somerset (322).

See: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/location-of-armed-forces-pension-and-compensation-recipients-2016

3. Working and Workless Households

The number of ‘workless’ households in Somerset has increased according to latest annual figures from the Annual Population Survey (APS): www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes

An estimated 11.8% of Somerset households were workless in 2015 (equating to approximately 20,000 households); up from 11.0% in 2014. The proportion of workless households peaked at 19.0% in 2010; at the height of the economic recession. A workless household is defined as one which includes at least one person aged 16-64 and where no-one aged 16 or over is in work.

The APS also assesses reasons for not working. Data are not published at local authority level but in the South West region ‘sickness or disability’ (29%) and early retirement (25%) are the most common factors, followed by ‘looking after family/home’ (14%) and unemployment (11%).

4. Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings results

Median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees living in Somerset increased by 0.7% to £482 in 2016 in provisional estimates from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The equivalent earnings figure for people working in Somerset (based on ‘place of work’ rather than ‘place of residence’) was lower, at £468, suggesting a ‘leakage’ of Somerset workers to higher value jobs outside the county.

For Somerset residents, the distribution of earnings in 2016 saw the bottom 10% of full-time employees earn less than £298 per week. At the other end of the distribution, the top 10% of full-time employees earned more than £962 per week. The bottom of the distribution saw the largest year-on-year growth, likely to be due to the introduction of the National Living Wage.

In 2016 the gender pay gap (for median hourly earnings) for full-time employees was 19% for Somerset residents, compared to 9% nationally. It should be noted that the figures do not show differences in rates of pay for comparable jobs but are affected by factors such as the proportion of men and women in different types of occupations.

See: www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours

5. Business Activity, Size and Location data

The number of businesses (enterprises) in Somerset increased to 24,010 in 2016 according to figures from the Office for National Statistics, a rise of approximately 400 businesses on the 2015 total.

The figures also reveal:

• 78% of Somerset businesses employ fewer than five people, and 90% employ fewer than ten people.
• Taunton Deane has the largest concentration of medium and larger businesses in the county, with 12% employing more than 10 people.
• Somerset’s largest sectors in terms of number of businesses continue to be: agriculture, forestry and fishing (16%), professional, scientific and technical (14%) and construction (13%).

See: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-activity-size-and-location-in-the-uk-2016

6. Housing summary measures analysis

The Office for National Statistics has published its latest annual (2015-based) housing summary measures dataset, bringing together 16 indicators to give a broad overview of the availability and affordability of privately owned and social housing: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/housingsummarymeasuresanalysis/2015

The 2015 housing summary measures include one additional measure not included in 2014: the number of housing repossessions by tenure type. This is intended to act as an indicator of the changing affordability of housing in different tenures. Social landlord possession actions in Somerset fell for the first time in five years in 2015, having increased year-on-year since the economic recession. Mortgage possession actions have fallen sharply each year over the same period.

7. Child Obesity

Somerset saw a decrease in child obesity in 2015/16 according to annual results from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). This decrease was contrary to a national upward trend.

For Somerset, in 2015/16:

• In Reception Year (age 4-5 years), one in five children (20.1%) measured were either overweight or obese. This was below both South West (21.9%) and England (22.1%) averages.
• In Year 6 (age 10-11 years), three in ten children (28.8%) were overweight or obese, lower than both regional (30.3%) and national (34.2%) averages.
• Although not statistically significant, the highest proportions of children with excess weight occurred in Sedgemoor, and the lowest in Mendip.

See: http://content.digital.nhs.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=23381&q=national+child+measurement+programme&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1#top

8. Annual Bus Statistics

The number of passenger journeys on local bus services in Somerset increased for the third successive year in 2015/16, in figures published by the Department for Transport. There were an estimated 9.7 million passenger journeys in the county during 2015/16, up from 8.9 million in 2014/15, and 8.6 million in 2013/14.

At 17.7 journeys per head of population per year, Somerset continues to have the lowest rate of local bus passenger journeys in the South West region, and the ninth lowest rate in England as a whole. In the South West there were 39.7 passenger journeys per head of population in 2015/16.

For the full dataset, see: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus01-local-bus-passenger-journeys

9. Hate Crime statistics

There were 1,966 hate crimes recorded in the Avon and Somerset police force area during 2015/16 according to figures from the Home Office, an increase on the 1,841 hate crimes recorded in 2014/15.

The local increase in recorded hate crime (up 6%) was well below the increase seen nationally (up 19%). Improved recording, a greater awareness of hate crime, and a greater willingness for victims to come forward are seen as contributing factors in the overall national increase.

The majority of hate crimes in Avon and Somerset in 2015/16 were motivated by race (73%), with sexual orientation (14%) and disability (10%) the next most common motivating factors. Nationally, 79% of hate crime is motivated by race.

See: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2015-to-2016

10. What’s New on the Somerset Intelligence website?

The following content has been updated in the last month:

• Child Obesity: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/obesity.html
• Local Area population estimates: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/population-estimates-and-projections/
• Bus usage http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/bus-usage.html
• Looked-After Children: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/children-looked-after.html
• Council Tax band housing stock: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/housing-stock.html
• Birth and fertility rates: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/birth-rates.html
• Suicide prevention: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/suicide.html

11. Forthcoming Statistical Releases

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

• Health Profiles: November 2016 data update (PHE)
• Local tobacco control profiles for England: November 2016 data update (PHE)
• Destinations of KS4 and KS5 pupils: 2015 (provisional) (DfE)
• Business Demography: 2015 (ONS)
• Fly tipping in England 2015 to 2016 (Defra)
• Traveller caravan count: July 2016 (DCLG)
• Blue badge scheme statistics: 2016 (DfT)

And finally ...

• If you have any news or articles you’d like to share
• If any of the links in this newsletter don’t work
• If you would like to unsubscribe from the SINePost email alert

Please email TXAtkins@somerset.gov.uk