SINePost newsletter - September 2017

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In this issue ...

1. Housebuilding statistics
2. Local Area Migration Indicators
3. Parents’ County of Birth data
4. Non-UK national Benefit Claimant statistics
5. Progression to Higher Education by Free School Meal status
6. Economic Factsheet: Occupation and Earnings
7. Physical Activity Data Tool
8. NHS Stop Smoking Service statistics
9. Internet Access Survey
10. Fire Statistics
11. Forthcoming Statistical Releases

1. Housebuilding statistics

Following two successive years of increase, the number of new dwellings completed in Somerset declined in 2016/17, according to figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

A total of 2,030 new permanent dwellings were completed in the county during 2016/17, compared to 2,250 dwellings in 2015/16, and 2,140 dwellings in 2014/15.

Of the new homes built in 2016/17, approximately 87% were built through private enterprise, with approximately 13% through housing associations.

A total of 1,880 new permanent dwellings were started in Somerset in 2016/17, a decline on the 2,090 starts during 2015/16.

For further details, see: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building (Table 253).

2. Local Area Migration Indicators

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published its latest annual dataset bringing together a range of migration-related statistics at local authority level. Figures include migrant NINo (National Insurance number) registrations, new GP registrations and estimates of the non-British population: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/migrationwithintheuk

Findings include:

• In 2016/17, there were an estimated 23,000 non-British people living in Somerset. This figure has been broadly unchanged for the last four years.
• West Somerset and Sedgemoor now have the highest rates of migrant NINo registrations per head of ‘working-age’ population.
• In 2015/16, there were 3,824 new migrant GP registrations in Somerset, with highest rates (per head of population) in Taunton Deane.

3. Parents’ Country of Birth data

One in seven births in Somerset are now to mothers born outside the UK, according to latest annual figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Across England and Wales this proportion is one in four.

Of the 747 Somerset babies born to non-UK mothers during 2016, a total of 517 were to mothers born in Europe (of which 382 were ‘new EU’ countries); 109 were to mothers from the Middle East and Asia; 45 from Africa; and 47 from the rest of the world.

At a district level, Taunton Deane has replaced Sedgemoor as having the highest proportion of births to non-UK born mothers (at 16%). West Somerset continues to have the lowest proportion (6% in 2016).

See: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths

4. Non-UK national Benefit Claimant statistics

The Department for Work and Pensions has published latest estimates for numbers of current benefit claimants who were non-UK nationals when they first entered the labour market (that is, first registered for a National Insurance Number):

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/nationality-at-point-of-nino-registration-of-dwp-working-age-benefit-recipients-data-to-feb-2017

In February 2017, an estimated 689 working-age benefit claimants in Somerset were non-UK nationals (at time of registration) of which 65 were claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and 318 were claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or incapacity benefits.

By way of context, in February 2017 official figures indicate a total of 1,414 JSA claimants in Somerset and around 17,000 ESA or incapacity benefit claimants.

5. Progression to Higher Education by Free School Meal status

An estimated 13% of state-funded Somerset school pupils who received Free School Meals (FSM) at age 15 entered Higher Education by age 19 (in the 2014/15 academic year) according to latest figures from the Department for Education. This compares to 32% for non-FSM pupils.

Somerset’s ‘inequality gap’ of 19 percentage points (ppts) is broadly in line with the England average of 18 ppts, although nationally a higher proportion of both FSM and non-FSM pupils progress to higher education (24% and 41% respectively in 2014/15).

See: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/widening-participation-in-higher-education-2017

6. Economic Factsheet: Occupation and Earnings

An updated factsheet on Somerset’s occupational structure and average earnings is now available:

www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/occupations-and-earnings-sept-2017

Summary findings include:

• Somerset continues to have a smaller proportion of people employed in the public sector (21.0%) than the UK (21.8%) and Heart of the South West LEP (22.3%) averages.
• The largest occupation group in Somerset is professional roles (18.2% of all employees).
• Skilled trades are the next strongest group in Somerset, accounting for 14.6% of employees (well above the national proportion of 10.4%).

7. Physical Activity Data Tool

Public Health England (PHE) has updated its Physical Activity data tool with two new indicators relating to overall physical activity and inactivity in adults: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/physical-activity

According to the latest indicators, two-thirds (66%) of adults in Somerset are physically active, while approximately one in five adults (21%) are physically inactive. In both cases, Somerset is identified as marginally better than the England average.

Somerset is in line with national benchmarks in respect of most of the tool’s indicators. The county performs particularly well in terms of physical activity in young people (based on data from the 2014/15 ‘What About YOUth?’ survey). Somerset appears worse than the national benchmark in terms of proportions of people using the ‘natural environment’ for health or exercise purposes.

8. NHS Stop Smoking Service statistics

A total of 1,293 people in Somerset successfully quit smoking in 2016/17 through the NHS Stop Smoking Service, according to statistics released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. This was from a total of 2,463 clients who set a ‘quit date’, giving a quit success rate of 52%. Successful quitters are those who, when assessed 4 weeks after their designated quit date, declare they have not smoked in the past two weeks.

In Somerset, the quitting success rate was highest amongst people in intermediate occupations (with 64% successfully quitting), followed by people in managerial and professional occupations (63%). The people least likely to successfully quit were those who have never worked or who have been unemployed for over 1 year (with a 35% success rate).

See: www.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB30058 

9. Internet Access Survey

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published its latest assessment of household internet access and usage, based on interviews with around 3,000 households nationally:

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics

Findings include:

• In 2017, 73% of adults accessed the internet ‘on the go’ using a mobile phone or smartphone, up from 70% in 2016 and nearly double the 2011 estimate of 36%.
• Only 32% of adults used the internet to obtain information from public authorities/services websites in 2017, down from 39% in the previous year.
• The most common reason for households not having internet access continued to be: ‘don’t need it’ (64% of respondents); and lack of skills (20%); followed by having access to internet elsewhere (12%).

10. Fire Statistics

In 2016/17, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS) attended 4,229 fires in Devon and Somerset according to provisional figures published by the DCLG. Generally, numbers of fires have continued to decline over the last decade; however 2016/17 showed an increase on the previous year’s figure of 3,994.

There were 924 accidental dwelling fires recorded by the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service during 2016/17, 15 more than in the previous year.

Numbers of deliberate fires attended by the fire and rescue service have halved over the last eight years, to a total of 1,472 in 2016/17.

See: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables

11. Forthcoming Statistical Releases

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

• Early Years Health Profiles 2017 (Public Health England)
• Suicides in England and Wales by local authority 2016 (ONS)
• Civil partnership statistics in England and Wales: 2016 (ONS)
• Local authority green belt statistics for England: 2016 to 2017 (DCLG)
• Apprenticeships Data visualisations (experimental) (DfE)
• Taxi and private hire vehicles statistics, England: 2017 (DfT)

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