SINePost newsletter - October 2017

Click here to download a Word version of the current newsletter

In this issue ...

1. Personal Well-being estimates
2. Sexual Identity estimates
3. Over-Indebtedness
4. Insolvency statistics
5. Economic Factsheets
6. Apprenticeships Data Visualisations
7. Housing Factsheet
8. Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment 2017
9. Crime Survey for England and Wales: Impact of child abuse on later life
10. Energy Consumption statistics
11. Licensed Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle statistics
12. What’s New on the Somerset Intelligence website?
    

1. Personal Well-being estimates

Life satisfaction in Somerset has improved according to the latest annual results of the Measuring National Well-being programme. Meanwhile, happiness and ‘feelings that life is worthwhile’ have fallen marginally, and anxiety has increased. Results are based on the Annual Population Survey, with respondents (aged 16 or over) asked to rate their current well-being on a scale of 0 to 10.

Average ratings for Somerset in 2016/17 were 7.9 out of 10 for life satisfaction; 7.9 out of 10 for ‘worthwhile’; 7.6 out of 10 for happiness; and 2.9 out of 10 for anxiety. With the exception of anxiety, Somerset’s ratings are better than UK averages.

In terms of the distribution of scores, three-quarters (75%) of Somerset residents rate their happiness as ‘high’ (a score of between 7 and 10), while one in ten residents (10%) rate their happiness as ‘low’ (a score of between 0 and 3).

At a district level, West Somerset is ranked best for life satisfaction, ‘worthwhile’ and anxiety, while Sedgemoor is best for happiness.

See: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/measuringnationalwellbeing

2. Sexual Identity estimates

Results from the 2016 Annual Population Survey (APS) indicate that 2.0% of UK adults identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual (LGB). This represents an increase from 1.7% of adults the previous year. See:

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/sexuality/bulletins/sexualidentityuk/2016

The population aged 16 to 24 were the age group most likely to identify as LGB in 2016 (4.1%). More males (2.3%) than females (1.6%) identified themselves as LGB.

If national proportions were applied to Somerset’s population demographic, it would equate to around 9,000 lesbian, gay or bisexual adults in the county.

It is generally accepted that the APS will underestimate the true size of the lesbian, gay or bisexual population. Several historical surveys, both in the UK and overseas, have variously put the size of the LGB population at between 5% and 7%.

3. Over-Indebtedness

Over 63,000 adults in Somerset are estimated to be ‘over-indebted’ in research published by the Money Advice Service. ‘Over-indebted’ individuals are defined as those who are likely to find meeting monthly bills a ‘heavy burden’ and/or those missing more than two bill payments within a six-month period. An equivalent report published in 2013 suggested a Somerset figure of 57,000 over-indebted adults.

The proportion of over-indebted adults (aged 18 or over) is currently highest in Taunton Deane (15.0% of adults). Sedgemoor has the second highest proportion (14.7%), followed by South Somerset (14.3%), Mendip (13.7%) and West Somerset (12.6%).

In the South West region, 14.4% of adults are estimated to be over-indebted, while for the UK as a whole the proportion is higher, at 15.9%.

See: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/corporate/debt-publications

4. Insolvency statistics

There were 959 new cases of individual insolvency in Somerset in 2016 according to figures published by the Insolvency Service. This represented an increase on the 753 cases in 2015

At a rate of 21.8 individual insolvencies per 10,000 adult population in 2016, Somerset was above the England average rate (19.4 per 10,000). At a district level, rates were highest in West Somerset and lowest in Mendip. The figures combine Bankruptcy orders, Debt Relief orders and Individual Voluntary arrangements (IVAs).

Nationally, insolvency rates were highest in the 35-44 age group, with rates for females higher than males for the third successive year.

See: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/individual-insolvencies-by-location-age-and-gender-england-and-wales-2016

5. Economic Factsheets

Latest facts and figures on workforce skills, unemployment and economic inactivity in Somerset are available in two updated factsheets on the Somerset Intelligence website: www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/employment/

Headlines include:

• Unemployment in Somerset stood at 3.8% in March 2017, lower than the Heart of the South West LEP area (4.6%) and the UK as a whole (4.9%).
• Somerset continues to have a lower proportion of residents aged 16-64 qualified to at least NVQ level 4 (i.e. degree level) than nationally (34.5% compared to 38.0%).
• 5.8% of Somerset residents aged 16-64 have no qualifications; lower than the Heart of the South West LEP area (5.9%) and national (8.3%) averages.
• Participation in job related training fell slightly in Somerset, the LEP area and the UK as a whole between 2016 and 2017.

6. Apprenticeships Data Visualisations

The Department for Education has published experimental data visualisations based on published apprenticeships data, at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/experimental-apprenticeships-data-visualisations

Provisional figures indicate that there were a total of 4,910 apprenticeships started in Somerset during 2016/17, representing a decline on the 5,250 apprenticeship starts in 2015/16, and mirroring a national fall. The biggest declines were in the area of Retail and Commercial Enterprise.

The most common subject areas for apprenticeship starts in Somerset in 2016/17 were Health, Public Services and Care (with 1,500 apprenticeships) and Business, Administration and Law (1,040 apprenticeships).

7. Housing Factsheet

An updated factsheet looking at trends in house prices and sales in Somerset is now available, at: www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/house-prices-2017/

Headlines include:

• The average house price in Somerset was £238,682 in 2016, an increase of 6.1% on the previous year
• Mendip currently has the highest average house price of any Somerset district.
• There were a total of 10,951 housing sales in Somerset in 2016, a 4.8% increase on the previous year’s figure.
• Since the launch of the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme (1st April 2013 to 31st December 2016), 1,888 properties have been purchased within Somerset, with around 40% of these in Taunton Deane.

8. Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment 2017

A new Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment has been published by Somerset Public Health:

www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/files/SomersetDomesticAbuseNeedsAssessment2017final.pdf

The report estimates that 57,000 adult residents (aged 16-59) have ever been a victim of domestic abuse in Somerset, with 17,300 residents being a victim of domestic abuse within the past year (July 2015 – June 2016). Estimates are based on the results of the national Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Partner abuse is the most prevalent type of abuse experienced by victims, with family-based abuse being less common but still suffered by over one third of domestic abuse victims.

The Needs Assessment informs a revised Somerset Domestic Abuse Strategy 2017-2020, available at: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/interpersonal-violence.html

9. Crime Survey for England and Wales: Impact of child abuse on later life

More than half (51%) of adults who were abused as children experienced domestic abuse in later life, analysis from the Office for National Statistics has revealed: https://visual.ons.gov.uk/people-who-were-abused-as-children-are-more-likely-to-be-abused-as-an-adult/

The analysis shows that adult survivors of childhood abuse were more likely to have taken illegal drugs in the last year than those who had not experienced abuse as a child (12% compared with 8%). They were also almost twice as likely to report having a long-standing illness or disability compared with those who were not abused as a child (28% compared with 15%).

At the same time, 78% of child abuse survivors said their health, in general, was ‘very good’ or ‘good’, compared to 87% of those who did not experience abuse as a child.

10. Energy Consumption statistics

Total energy consumption for Somerset was down 3% in 2015 to 1124.6 ktoe (thousand tonnes of oil equivalent) in final estimates published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Consumption by fuel type in Somerset in 2015 was estimated as follows:

• Petroleum accounted for 49% per of total consumption (a 1% increase in ktoe compared to 2015).
• Gas and Electricity accounted for 22% and 21% of total consumption respectively (both seeing an 8% decrease in ktoe compared to 2015)
• Biofuels and wastes accounted for 4% of consumption; manufactured solid fuels accounted for 4%, and coal, 3%.

Overall, 39% of energy consumption in Somerset is attributed to transport, 30% to industry and 27% to domestic use.

See: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/total-final-energy-consumption-at-regional-and-local-authority-level

11. Licensed Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle statistics

The number of licenced taxis in Somerset has declined by 13% in the last two years, in figures published by the Department for Transport:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taxi-and-private-hire-vehicles-statistics-england-2017

As at 31 March 2017 there were 674 licensed taxis in Somerset compared to 777 at the same point two years earlier. The number of wheelchair accessible taxis increased from 203 to 244 over the same period.

Meanwhile, numbers of licensed private hire vehicles (PHVs) increased to 338 at 31 March 2017, compared to 306 two years earlier.

Nationally, the average person made 11 taxi or PHV trips in 2016 and travelled 58 miles. The average trip lasted 20 minutes.

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

Updates in the last month include:

• Internal Migration (within the UK) (http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/internal-migration.html)
• International Migration (http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/internal-migration.html)
• Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (somersetintelligence.org.uk/jsna) – with new pages on A&E Attendance and Admissions; Long-term Conditions; Multi-Morbidity; and Preventing Ill-Health
• Children Looked After (somersetintelligence.org.uk/children-looked-after/
• Fuel Poverty (www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/fuel-poverty.html)

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