Wednesday 10 September 2003, 4pm, Conference Centre
2001 census: how will it be for London?
Giorgio Finella and Gareth Piggott, Greater London Authority (GLA)
This paper will outline the plans of the GLA for a whole range of analyses of the 2001 census data. This programme of research is being planned and carried out for the GLA, London boroughs, unitary authorities in Berkshire and a range of other public sector bodies in London.
It will focus on those areas in which we are mainly interested for London, and will give most detail on the areas in which there has been most progress by the time of the conference. The range of topics includes ethnicity, religion and country of birth and their relationships with other variables in the 2001 census such as housing and the labour market, households and families, wider housing and labour market issues, London's workers, educational attainment related to other social characteristics and many more. There also are plans for a Ward Atlas of London.
There will be some discussion about the data required to carry out this programme of research, some of which will have to be commissioned.
Email: giorgio.finella@london.gov.uk
Email: gareth.piggott@london.gov.uk
Norfolk in partnership for dissemination of 2001 census
Wendy Pontin, Norfolk County Council
Census data are used by government to determine standard spending assessments, and are essential to support strategic planning, resource allocation decisions and fund bidding throughout the authority over at least the following decade. It was recognised that departments within the county council need immediate access to both primary and derived data (based on statistics relating to their own service planning and fund bidding areas) to be able to conduct a significant proportion of their required analysis and applications themselves.
In order to satisfy this demand it was decided to provide viewing and interrogation of the 2001 census data customised to a Norfolk perspective via intranet browser technology with mapping capabilities. A project to commission and then build 'Norfolk Census Explorer' was undertaken.
The paper will discuss:
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the progress made to date and describe the functionality and data that the application delivers;
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the liaison and joint working that has been undertaken with other departments to deliver what is the first corporate data sharing initiative within the county council;
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the part this initiative has and is playing in the council's commitment to meet the e-government imperatives for common standards and good practice in the electronic access and sharing of information; and
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related initiatives that are being undertaken to disseminate 2001 census information for Norfolk to other local partnerships/ agencies such as:
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access via Norfolk Data Observatory, an internet mapping browser holding socio-economic data, being developed by the county's Shaping the Future Economic Partnership
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districts for their service planning
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schools, colleges and libraries for research
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health authorities, police and other public agencies
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the general public - a 'lightweight explorer'.
Email: wendy.pontin.pt@norfolk.gov.uk
Opening doors to the data: facilitating streamlined educational registrations for the census
Lucy Bell, Census Registration Service Coordinator, UK Data Archive.
This paper describes the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)/ Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded one-stop Census Registration Service (CRS), a user-friendly online system which registers UK higher education (HE)/ further education (FE) for the resources from the 1971-2001 censuses. Access to census data is an often overlooked but essential issue which can have far-reaching effects on research. No matter how fundamental the census data may be, without an obvious path to them, their value will always be reduced. The CRS was established at the UK Data Archive in order to make clear the academic's way to the data.
This paper will start by reviewing the background to the registration project, explaining the need for a coordinated service. UK HE institutions, through the universities of Essex, Manchester, Edinburgh and Leeds, have been providing access to census data for over a quarter of a century. In that time, the data products associated with the 1971-1991 censuses have increased dramatically, to more than 50. The number of products will increase again with the results from the 2001 census. Such a wealth of resources has provided the academic user with not only the use of many sophisticated datasets but also with a requirement to fulfil the terms and conditions of the various licences covering these products.
The paper will allude to the legal changes which have resulted in a new single academic licence covering the 1971-2001 censuses. The paper will also describe the functioning of the new registration service since its launch in summer 2002 and highlight some of the lessons which have been learned during its development.
Email: lajbell@essex.ac.uk
Good health - the 2001 census and London's National Health Service
Giovanna Maria Polato, London Health Observatory
Despite a tradition of census usage in former health authorities, census utilisation has been somehow patchy within London's NHS as a whole. Massive organisational upheaval, personnel changes and the consequent loss of analytical capacity and organisational memory, as well as uncertainties in the release schedule and its compatibility with the planning cycle complicated an already challenging environment.
The London Health Observatory has undertaken the task of assisting London's NHS to make best use of the treasury of information the 2001 census offers. This has particular relevance to London, where the demographic profile of the population appear from first results to have changed extensively, with variations from population projections of 25 per cent in parts of inner London, and the percentages of persons belonging to black and minority ethnic groups almost doubling from 22 per cent to 40 per cent.
The means by which this is being achieved include a consortium purchase and distribution arrangements geared towards assisting, and building capacity within, all participating organisations, as well as supplying consortium members with agreed analysed datasets ready for use. This has created an environment where most organisations can feel supported and capable of dealing with the opportunities the census brings.
Email: giovanna.polato@lho.org.uk
city-stats.org.uk - the future of data sharing within local government?
Louise A Hulton, Brighton and Hove City Council
city-stats.org.uk is the outcome of a large data sharing partnership within Brighton and Hove Unitary Authority. It is an interactive, one-stop shop data source that uses web-enabled geographic information system technology to enable the retrieval and viewing of small area data via a map interface. It also contains a data catalogue, so that users can download data from a range of data providers, and an online report facility, which provides reports requested by users grouping selected data from a range of sources into one table. In addition city-stats has a library from which users can download written or analytical reports and survey results posted by partners to facilitate access and disseminate information widely.
The system was developed to facilitate access to key census data for the city, and, more importantly, to integrate census data with other data from throughout the city. This is the first data-sharing initiative in the UK to include every public sector body in the city as a data provider and partner.
The key innovations of this project include the use of small area geo-coded data. This enables analysis by non-conventional geographies (such as neighbourhoods). In addition the combining of data from partners (health, police, local authority and so on) with census data creates population rates by age and sex or per 1,000 households at multiple geographies, which is a more meaningful approach to identifying areas of need than simply mapping events. This paper reviews the lessons learnt in building this data-sharing partnership and developing this site. A demonstration of the site will be given in conjunction with the paper.
Brighton and Hove City Council
Kings House
Grand Avenue
Hove BN12RL