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Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics Guide: www.sns.gov.uk
INTRODUCTION
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) aims to make the most of the wealth of small area information held within central government which can help inform the development and monitoring of national and local policy. Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics has developed new, consistent, small-area statistical geographies and a range of socio-economic aggregate statistics from administrative systems that are being used across government.
SNS will continue to develop over the coming years, clearly demonstrating the Executive's ongoing commitment to making up-to-date small-area information available to as wide an audience as possible.
This guide outlines how SNS is being used, the data and geography being developed, and the main features of the internet site used to disseminate the statistics.
We would welcome any comments or suggestions that would help us to improve Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics.
Office of the Chief Statistician
Scottish Executive
USES OF SCOTTISH NEIGHBOURHOOD STATISTICS
Changing Needs
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics is the Scottish Executive's ongoing programme to improve the availability, consistency and accessibility of small-area statistics in Scotland.
Information from SNS is being used to inform the Scottish Executive, Community Planning Partnerships, and other public sector agencies' approach to delivering services and improving the quality of life for people living in Scotland.
Increasingly, understanding the different needs of deprived, rural, and remote local areas is crucial to the way in which services are developed and delivered, and issues of local concern are addressed across Scotland.
The information contained within SNS is also readily available to community groups, voluntary organisations and individuals, and can be used to support grant applications.
Supporting Policy
The introduction of new, consistent, small-area statistical geographies (which are being used across government), and the development of statistics about these local areas is making it easier to support national and local policy making in a joined-up way.
Sharing information across the public sector on consistent small-area geography to help understand the make-up of local areas, and comparing and contrasting them.
- Targeting and Allocating Resources
Definitively identifying and agreeing which areas have the greatest need, allocating resources, and developing targets across the public sector accordingly.
Examining the impact of policies and the progress made against both local and national commitments and targets.
DEVELOPING SMALL-AREA STATISTICS
Demand
Traditionally the decennial Census of Population has been one of the key sources of small-area statistics to support policy making. However, there has always
been a demand for small-area information on a more regular basis and Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics is developing data to meet this demand.
Administrative Data
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics is making the most of the wealth of administrative data held by central government and public sector organisations. A range of small area socio-economic statistics has been developed and work continues to develop further information about small areas.
Scotland's most deprived areas have been identified through the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Population, household and housing statistics are crucial to most applications, and a programme of work is in place to develop these down to data zone level. The first outputs from this work are expected by Autumn 2005. (The new statistical geographies data zones and intermediate geography are described in more detail on pages 6 and 7.)
There has been extensive modernisation of the collection and sharing of education statistics through the ScotXed programme.
A range of hospital and practice team information is available from NHSScotland.
Information about home care, day care and residential care is available at the small-area level.
Key information about the labour market is available at small-area level.
Key information about receipt of benefits and credits produced by the Department for Work and Pensions, and Inland Revenue, is available on SNS.
Indicators showing the accessibility to a range of services at the data-zone level.
Indicators showing proximity to landfill sites, industrial pollutants and other environmental factors at the data-zone level.
Confidentiality
Protecting the confidentiality of personal information is crucial and statistics disseminated through Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics follow the National Statistics protocols for maintaining confidentiality. SNS contains no information at an individual person level. Only aggregations based on personal information which meet confidentiality protocols are included.
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