Data sources

This paper by Paul A. Longley, James Cheshire and Alex Singleton reviews and assesses the prospects for developing geographically enabled research ready data (RRD) with reference to current UK initiatives. Examples of projects for which such data have been provisioned are given.

New historical census sources and advances in record linking technology are allowing economic historians to become big data genealogists.

In this talk hosted by the London School of Economics, James Feigenbaum shows how the ability to link individuals over time, and between databases, means that new avenues for research have opened up, thus allowing us to track intergenerational mobility, assimilation, discrimination and the returns to education.

The new Output Area Classification (OAC), produced in partnership with the Office for National Statistics by the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC), is available here.

CDRC provides the classification data in CSV, Shapefile and Geopackage formats. Supporting materials include pen portraits, local authority maps and summaries, and a technical document detailing the input variables and distribution statistics.

The classification is available under an Open Government Licence, allowing for free an unhindered reuse with attribution to ONS and CDRC (an Economic and Social Research Council Investment, grant reference ES/L011840/1).

Maps of the OAC Supergroups, Groups and Subgroups are available on CDRC’s Mapmaker platform here. Maps are provided using 2022 ONS Built-Up Areas and the 2023 Ordnance Survey Vector Map District geographies.

Throughout the past year the Office for National Statistics has been pioneering the use of new data and methods to produce important new insights to help tackle the impact of COVID-19. Today we continue to reshape and improve ways of working with the launch of the first stage of the new Integrated Data Service. The new service maximises the use and benefits of data for analysts in government, devolved administrations, and external researchers.

The response to the coronavirus pandemic has been driven by data. Never before have statistics been so crucial in informing decisions that affect us all. Pete Benton explains how the ONS will be maximising the value of the data collected from Census 2021 and how it aims to provide ever more timely statistics moving forwards.

Consumer Data Research Centre, is the UK's leading source of consumer data, part of the ESRC's Big Data Programme. Datasets are organised by Topics and listed on this site. They offer data under three tiers: Open, Safeguarded and Secure. Access to data in the Safeguarded and Secure tier is through a reviewed application process.

The programme offers an exciting opportunity to link students on Masters courses and their university supervisors with leading retail companies on projects which are important to the retail industry.

The scheme provides the opportunity to work directly with an industrial partner and to link students’ research to important retail and ‘open data’ sources. The project titles are devised by retailers and are open to students from a wide range of disciplines. Click on the title above for examples of projects completed previously.

Here ONS provide all the latest data and analysis on coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK and its effect on the economy and society.

Linkage to routine health and social records. The ALSPAC dataset is extensive and broad. However, to further strengthen the platform ALSPAC is undertaking to link our self-reported data with external data sources.

Data has the potential to transform public and private sector organisations, drive research and development, and increase productivity and innovation. The enormous volume and complexity of data that is now being collected by government departments, businesses and other organisations represents a significant resource within the UK which can be used to the mutual benefit of academic research, organisations and society as a whole....

By now, if all had gone to plan, England would be reaping the early benefits of a national database of patients’ medical records spanning primary and secondary care. Patients would have the comfort of knowing that their records could soon be accessed wherever they were treated; the ability to monitor outcomes might already be suggesting better ways of doing things; and researchers might be starting to interrogate anonymised datasets to generate and test hypotheses.

But all did not go to plan. NHS England’s care.data programme failed to win the public’s trust and lost the battle for doctors’ support. Two reports have now condemned the scheme, and last week the government decided to scrap it

Data linkage should be a vital component of the official statistics landscape. Value is being squandered because this is not currently the case. New powers have been given to the statistics system via the Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2017 that have the potential to unlock new sources of data and transform official statistics and research.

There are some powerful examples of data linkage being used in government to provide insights and drive policy change. This report highlights many such projects, and we know there are more. However, these success stories remain the exception, and the concern is that the efforts and time required to create these linked data resources can discourage others seeking to do similar work.

Origins is a segmentation system which classifies consumers according to the part of the world from which their forebears are most likely to have originated.

The Statistics User Forum (SUF), created in 2004, is an umbrella organisation which helps to bring together the increasingly large numbers of statistics users. Its role is to support users of official statistics in communicating their needs to the statistics’ producers; in turn, it provides a valuable channel through which such producers can communicate and build relationships with a broad range of statistics users.

Sir Michael Barber has published his report into how central government can ensure it is delivering maximum value for every pound spent on our hospitals, schools and other essential services.

The Code plays a vital role as statistics are the lifeblood of our democracy and an important public asset for society. It enables users and producers to have a set of principles that underpin independent statistics production and presentation, ensuring confidence in this essential public asset.

The Government Digital Service has created a blog to follow digital, data and technology people and skills activity across London. Digital People showcases ‘what good looks like’ when it comes to working in digital, data and technology in government.

The new MSc in Data Analytics for Government is a programme designed to equip the next generation of government data scientists and statisticians with an advanced set of skills and abilities. The MSc is provided by University College London, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Southampton.

The Data Science Campus goal is to explore how new data sources and data science techniques can improve our understanding of the UK’s economy, communities & people. Projects under five themes: The Evolving Economy, UK in a Global Context, Urban and Rural Future, Society and Sustainability.

Since the start of 2017, the Data Science Campus in collaboration with ONS’s Natural Capital Accounting team have been investigating the potential to form a nation-wide tree dataset, describing the publicly accessible trees surrounding the urban road network.

Data Pitch is for organisations who want to explore an open innovation approach with data. They offer bespoke support: from data sharing technology, to the legal aspects of data use and engagement with startups.Data Pitch can also support organisations running their own innovation programmes or collaborating with startups and SMEs to build data services.

Cenre for Cities have created a tool to explore data about the UK’s 63 largest cities and towns. The majority of the data in the main Data Tool is taken from Centre for Cities’ flagship annual Cities Outlook report which provides an economic healthcheck of the UK’s largest cities and towns.

Presentation by the Centre for Cities summaries their report which analyzes how UK city economies have changed over the last 100 years, and what they need to do to succeed in the next 100.

A century of cities: urban economic change since 1911 Report: This report, written by Centre for Cities, tracks how cities have changed over the years, and what factors have affected their growth and decline over a century of change

Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) are files containing records for samples of individuals and households. PUMS allow data users to conduct their own analyses of the the American Community Survey (ACS); the files contain the full range of population and household responses collected on individual ACS questionnaires.

Data USA is a highly comprehensive website and visualization engine for public US Government data.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides vital information annually about America and its people. The survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.

A data platform that helps people work together to solve problems faster by creating new ways to discover, prepare, and collaborate with data. data.world can ingest surveys in new formats to increase visibility and usability for new cohorts of users.

The purpose of StatsUserNet is to stimulate engagement between users, and between users and producers of official statistics. The site carries news of interest to users, materials relating to relevant events, discussion forums and other facilities.

In March 2017, ONS launched its Data Science campus. The campus acts as a hub for the whole of Government to gain practical advantage from the wider investment in data science research and help cement the UK’s reputation as an international leader in data science.

Sir Charles Bean, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and formerly Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy at the Bank of England, with the support of a small team of officials from HM Treasury, ONS and the Bank of England, conducted an independent review of UK economic statistics to assess the UK’s future (economic) statistics needs.

This is a five year strategy for the UK official statistics system. The strategy covers three principal elements of the UK official statistics system for which the UK Statistics Authority has oversight: (1) GSS, (2) ONS, and (3) independent regulation; setting out the mission, values and context for the work for 2015-2020.

The Archive of Market and Social Research (AMSR) provides a national resource on the development of the research industry, historic studies, key techniques and ground-breaking work. The Archive includes collections of papers and materials on Geodemographics and the UK Census

The section explains what type of information is protected by the Data Protection Act and what activities are regulated by the Act.

This overview highlights the key themes of the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) to help organisations understand the new legal framework in the EU. It explains the similarities with the existing UK Data Protection Act 1998 (the DPA), and describes some of the new and different requirements.

This is a Bill to make provisions about electronic communications infrastructure and services.

Ipsos MORI was commissioned by theEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to conduct a public dialogue examining the public’s views on using linked administrative data for research purposes, and to explore the operational and communications plans of the new ESRC-funded Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) that was set up in late 2013. The aim was to examine the public’s views on using linked administrative data for research purposes, and specifically to explore the operational and communications plans of the new ESRC-funded Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) that was set up in late 2013. The dialogue formed part of the widerPublic Attitudes to Science project, which collected quantitative data about the public’s views on the uses of big data.

The National Statistician’s Data Ethics Advisory Committee (NSDEC) has been established to advise the National Statistician that the access, use and sharing of public data, for research and statistical purposes, is ethical and for the public good.

UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. We support independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and civil society.

Natcen is Britain’s largest independent social research agency. For the last 40 years Natcen has worked on behalf of government and charities to find out what people really think about important social issues and how Britainis run.

The government has now confirmed that the UK will be implementing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

ADAN - the Advanced Analytics Network - aims to help identify, develop and disseminate research industry best practice in the general area of advanced analytics.
On Thursday 10^th November 2016
ADAN will be holding its third symposium, (a 2 hour evening mini-conference to be held in London which will build on the success of the previous two events.

This is one of a series of reports prepared under the provisions of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 . The Act gives the Statistics Authority power to re-assess whether the Code of Practice for Official Statistics continues to be complied with in relation to official statistics already designated as National Statistics. The report covers the following population estimates and projections (population) statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the UK and its constituent countries.

This is one of a series of reports prepared under the provisions of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 . The Act gives the Statistics Authority power to re-assess whether the Code of Practice for Official Statistics continues to be complied with in relation to official statistics already designated as National Statistics. The report covers the following population estimates and projections (population) statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the UK and its constituent countries

This report produced by the UK Statistics Authority brings to a close the Assessment of the official statistics from the threecensuses conducted in 2011 in England and Wales, in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland.

The UK Statistics Authority’s Regulatory have developed a standard for the quality assurance of administrative data that is used to produce official statistics. This helps to raise standards in this area.

The Code of Practice for Official Statistics  promotes the production and dissemination of official statistics that inform decision making, and supports the continuous improvement of those statistics. It is a concise and specific statement that requires sound judgement and interpretation.

CDRC Maps visualises consumer-related data through interactive maps to the most detailed geographical levels, with an option to download the data. Themes are selected from CRDC Data, part of the Consumer Data Research Centre, with maps of geodemographic, retail, housing and travel to work data, including area classification, retail rental values and house prices.  See also CDRC and Datashine maps.

Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database which contains all postcodes in teh UK.  The PAF is a collection of over 29 million Royal Mail postal addresses. Organisations generally take out licences to use PAF, although some types of users are eligible for free access.

DataShine COWZ-EW created by Chris Gale and Oliver O’Brien allows users to explore COWZ-EW data visuallly on a map.

COWZ-EW is a geodemographic classification of Workplace Zones (WZs) for England and Wales. It is based on the characteristics of workers and their workplaces, as recorded in the 2011 Census. COWZ-EW is an interim product for England and Wales, produced by the University of Southampton in collaboration with ONS. It was released in response to strong user interest whilst a full UK-wide classification is being finalised. The dataset is made available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Users may re-use this information free of charge, in any format or medium under the terms of the licence. See the COWZ-EW userguide here:

Access to administrative data for research is a positive public good. The de-identification and linking of these records, collected in the course of business by governmental and other bodies, creates a whole new potential for social and economic research and policy evaluation, which up until recently has remained largely unexplored.The Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) is a UK-wide initiative, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in 2013, to facilitate access to linked de-identified administrative data for social and economic research aimed at benefiting society. The results from the Network's earliest projects will be presented.

The largest study of its kind, looking at the attitudes and behaviours of consumers and citizens in 20 key countries around the world. Ipsos Mori reveals the complex, and sometimes contradictory, findings covering everything from marriage to migration, from ambition to advertising and from society to social media.

The Centre, supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), works with organisations with large data sets on many aspects of consumers to open the data for research. The website has information on consumer-related data, on its use by businesses and researchers, and on the Centre’s services and research projects. See also CRDC Maps and DataShine which visualise consumer-related data through interactive maps to the most detailed geographical levels.

Weeding out mistakes hidden among billions of data points seems an impossible task. Marco Puts, Piet Daas and Ton de Waal put forward some solutions.

The rise of Big Data changes the context in which organisations producing official statistics operate. Big Data provides opportunities, but in order to make optimal use of Big Data, a number of challenges have to be addressed. This stimulates increased collaboration between National Statistical Institutes, Big Data holders, businesses and universities. In time, this may lead to a shift in the role of statistical institutes in the provision of high-quality and impartial statistical information to society. In this paper, the changes in context, the opportunities, the challenges and the way to collaborate are addressed.In this paper by Peter Struijs, Barteld Braaksma, Piet JH Daas, the changes in context, the opportunities, the challenges and the way to collaborate are addressed. The collaboration between the various stakeholders will involve each partner building on and contributing different strengths.

The International Association of Survey Statisticians aims to promote the study and development of the theory and practice of sample surveys and censuses. It also aims to increase the interest in surveys and censuses among statisticians, governments and the public in the different countries of the world.

This paper is a study of UK regions, comparing the “geographies of talk” to their administrative counterparts,before turning to the ways in which social networksreflect underlying problems of deprivation and of accessto opportunity. We will then examine derived indicators ofglobalization from the United Kingdom’s most economi-cally vibrant area, Greater South East England, beforefinally discussing early work on real-time data-drivenhousehold classification systems

This paper reviews the potential value of a number of commercial datasets before focusing on high temporal resolution household electricity load data collected via smart metering.

Geodemographics for Marketers is being published by Kogan Page early in 2016.The book has been written to provide marketing professionals and students with the know-how to leverage geodemographics techniques, and demonstrates their many applications and benefits. The author is Barry Leventhal, and the book includes articles and case studies contributed by a wide range of experts.

The Statistics User Forum (SUF) is hosted by the Royal Statistical Society and supported by a secondment from the UK Statistics Authority. A grant from the Economic and Social Research Council helped establish and develop the Forum. The purpose is to support users of official statistics in communicating their needs to the government statistical service. The overall aim is to maximise the value of official statistics for the benefit of society. Various user groups are part of SUF and two representatives from each group are invited to attend SUF meetings. The website StatsUserNet has been set up to facilitate online communication between members of SUF, and to stimulate engagement both between users of official statistics, and between users and producers of official statistics. The website provides a mechanism for the RSS and SUF to keep in touch with current statistical issues and with a range of users of official statistics. The site carries news of interest to users, materials relating to relevant events, discussion forums and other facilities.

The UK Statistics Authority has a statutory function under section 8 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 to monitor the production and publication of official statistics. The Authority will publish reports under this section of the Act and will issue these as "Authority Monitoring Reports". They will be produced with the involvement of external experts and user interests, and will reflect the independent views of the Authority.

After three decades without a Population and Housing Census, a census enumeration was conducted in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar from 30 March to 10 April 2014. To support transparency of the census and to better understand the way data was collected, the Ministry of Immigration and Population invited an independent Census Observation Mission to observe the census. The Mission was made up of 47 experienced observers; 23 international and 24 Myanmar nationals. These experts were statisticians, census experts, demographers or social scientists. This document is a summary of the findings of the Observation Mission. Additional information, not from the Observation Mission, has been included to provide readers with a clearer understanding of information that may need further explanation.

The report provides a brief overview of the implementation of the 2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme, including information on national participation in the 2010 census round, successes and challenges and a summary of activities carried out by the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in support of the 2010 World Programme. The report also describes the preparatory activities for the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme. The Statistical Commission is invited to express its views regarding the information provided in the report. In particular, the Commission is invited to approve the draft resolution on the 2020 World Programme, review and endorse the draft Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses: the 2020 Round, Revision 3, and provide guidance on the proposed activities of the Division for the 2020 World Programme.

The website of the 2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme facilitates the international exchange and sharing of knowledge and information on census taking, as well as provision of guidance to countries, and monitoring progress on the implementation of the Programme. The website presents practical information and guidelines on census methodology and on best practices to help countries plan and carry out a census, as well as an up-to-date account of national census taking activities and of provision of support to countries in the implementation of the census round. The website also provides information on national, regional and international activities related to the 2010 World Programme. A major component of the website is the census knowledge base that is a repository of documents on census methodology, including reports on what has been done by countries during their censuses.

ONS are reviewing the criteria and process used to grant Approved Researcher status, and the safeguards used to ensure the confidentiality of all personal data held by ONS, and are proposing a number of possible changes, which would address issues already identified. This is being carried out through a public consultation.

The Administrative Data Research Centre for England is led by the University of Southampton, and runs in collaboration with University College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Office for National Statistics. The Centre combines exceptional physical facilities with high performance computer platforms to provide knowledge and evidence to help develop, implement and evaluate public policy and future research

CESG is the Information Security arm of GCHQ, and the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance within the UK. This means that CESG is the definitive voice on the technical aspects of Information Security in Government. This is done by: Providing tailored advice to Government on the security risks of new and existing IT systems, and providing ideas and designs to protect those risks; Building capability through the provision of standards and guidance, working with industry to ensure that appropriately assured products, services and people are available, and to build a pool of world class Information Assurance and Cyber; Security professionals that organisations can draw upon; Providing operational support to existing systems by alerting to specific threats and vulnerabilities, providing incident response, and technical solutions such as cryptographic keys to protect the most sensitive information. These outcomes are achieved in partnership with industry and academia, as well as using insights into threats from the work of our colleagues in the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body operating at arm's length from government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament. It was established on 1 April 2008 by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The Authority's statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It is also required to promote and safeguard the quality and comprehensiveness of official statistics, and ensure good practice in relation to official statistics.

The Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) is a UK wide partnership between universities, government departments and agencies, funders and the wider research community. The ADRN is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and has been established to facilitate accredited researchers in accessing de-identified administrative data for the purposes social and economic research. In December 2012 the Administrative Data Task Force Report was published. This report recommended that the UK Statistics Authority be the reporting body to UK parliament on the ADRN. Subsequently, the Authority has established the ADRN Board, from which the Authority Board will seek assurance for the robust performance and governance of the network.

This site provides details of upcoming courses and training offered by Administrative Data Research Centres and other organisations on behalf of the Administrative Data Research Network.

The Administrative Data Taskforce (ADT) was formed in December 2011 by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome Trust, and chaired by Sir Alan Langlands. The ADT has been working with a range of government departments, academic experts, the funding agencies and representatives from all four nations in the UK to examine the best procedures and mechanisms to make administrative data available for research safely. The report from the ADT (available at this site) was published in December 2012. The ADT recommendations propose a UK Administrative Data Research Network that would be responsible for linking data between government departments. The proposed network will provide a single governance structure that will allow for consistent and robust decision-making.

The Administrative Data Research Network is a UK-wide partnership between universities, government departments and agencies, national statistics authorities, the third sector, funders and researchers. It helps accredited researchers carry out social and economic research using linked, de-identified administrative data – information which is routinely collected by government organisations. The ADRN makes sure any information which directly identifies people (such as names and addresses) is removed from the data before any research is done. An independent approvals panel examines every research proposal thoroughly. Once they give their approval, the data custodian has to agree to share its data before the research can go ahead. The ADRN provides a secure environment for the researcher to work in. They can’t take any data out of this safe setting, and ADRN staff will scrutinise their results before publication to make sure they are relevant to the project and don’t disclose any information about individuals.

Data has the potential to transform public and private sector organisations, drive research and development, and increase productivity and innovation. The enormous volume and complexity of data that is now being collected by government departments, businesses and other organisations represents a significant resource within the UK which can be used to the mutual benefit of academic research, organisations and society as a whole. The ESRC is investing in a Big Data Network in order to help optimise this resource. Divided into three phases, the Big Data Network will shape our knowledge of society and help us prepare and evaluate better government policies in the future.

The ESRC framework for Research Ethics helps researchers to consider ethics issues during the complete lifecycle of a project and includes information and guidelines on good research conduct and governance

Geolytix has created a list of open supermarkets in the UK and their locations. There is no commercially sensitive information attached to the stores, just the store name, and an address from the retailers store locator, the GeoLytix town and locality names, and an exact rooftop location (in British National Grid and web friendly WGS84 lat/long). Current retailers include Aldi, Asda, Booths, Budgens, Lidl, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Wholefoods.

data.gov.uk is a UK Government project to make available non-personal UK government data as open data. It was launched in closed beta in September 2009 and publicly launched in January 2010. data.gov.uk contains 13911 data sets from various UK Government departments. All data are non-personal and provided in a format that allows it to be reused. data.gov.uk intends to increase the use of Linked Data standards, to allow people to provide data to data.gov.uk in a way that allows for flexible and easy reuse

The Ordnance Survey offers a range of quality assured, regularly updated products that enable you to analyse your data, build interactive websites and create stunning visuals – and they're all free. All that OS asks is an acknowledgement. OS OpenData can be combined with other open datasets available from a variety of sources.

The ONS replaced the Publication Hub  with the new release calendar last year. This is designed as a one-stop shop for people to access official statistics and for a general audience to know which statistics are due for release in the coming 12 months.

The Open Data User Group UK (ODUG UK) published its proposals for a National Information Infrastructure in the report 'The National Information Infrastructure (NII): Why, What and How'. The report sets out the current issues with accessibility to government data, the benefits of a central and open NII, and proposals for how the NII could be created.

A new collection of data maps of London reveals a city heaving with information.

Analysis of the Referendum results by Professor John Curtice.

LuminoCity is a comprehensive map platform for exploring cities in Great Britain, developed for general use as a non-commercial project at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London.. It has clear guidance for users and a wide range of key indicators, including population, housing, travel, employment, business location and energy use, many from the 2011 Census. Indicators are mapped using an innovatory method that highlights the size and density of urban centres and their surroundings, with datasets transformed to a kilometre grid, and data displayed as 3D blocks representing density - so called ‘hexbins’ - thus combining spatial patterns and frequencies. Change over time and flow data are included. Maps are supplemented by interactive graphics, in-depth statistics, and metadata The platform is geared to analysis of city regions and relationships between them, most telling by showing the stark contrasts between London and the rest of Britain.

The Open Data User Group (ODUG) exists to help government understand the requirements of people who are using, or could use, the datasets it collects. Here you can search for available datasets. 

Information about the Release of Data Fund and Breakthrough Fund, and details of how to apply.

The Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA) began on 1 April 2011 and gives public sector organisations in England and Wales access to Ordnance Survey products.

Read the latest outputs from researchers, alumni and friends at UCL CASA, including some insightful mapping and tools produced from 2011 Census releases. 

DataShine is part of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) supported project to promote the use of large open data sets. The DataShine blog  introduces a series of nine themed websites all visualising data mainly though numerous interactive maps to the most detailed geographical level, and has news of updates and applications. The websites are - Census - the 2011 Census comprehensive Quick Statistics mapped for England and Wales - Scotland - Scotland’s 2011 Census mapped for Scotland - Commute - 2011 journey to work flows to and from zones mapped for England and Wales - Scotland Commute - 2011 journey to work flows mapped for Scotland - Region Commute - 2011 journey to work flows mapped at local authority level for the UK - Output Area Classification (OAC) - mapped for the UK - LOAC - Output Areas re-classified to depict the unique structure of Greater London - COWZ-EW - a workforce classification of Workplace Zones in England and Wales - Election - UK 2015 General Election swing map. Each site provides explanatory information, including sources of downloadable open data where available. .

Simply said, ENGAGE is a door for researchers that leads them to the world of Open Government Data. By using the ENGAGE platform, researchers and citizens will be able to submit, acquire, search and visualize diverse, distributed and derived Public sector datasets from all the countries of the European Union. Register on the ENGAGE Platform and join a growing and active community of users who rely on Open (Government) Data for their research:

A site providing useful maps detailing the 2011 Census data wards in England. Use these maps to explore over 400 key census variables. The topics covered include age, marital and civil partnership status, national identity, health, religion, and qualifications.

Géoportail is a comprehensive on-line service of the French government with maps and high resolution aerial photography from more than 90 sources for France, freely available as open data.

The ADLS provides a variety of services to help and assist organisations to make their administrative data available for research and provides a variety of services to help and assist researchers with administrative data research. You can also search for information (including access procedures) about administrative datasets, download information and documents about an organisation’s administrative data, find publications and publicly available data and search for methods and codes used in administrative data research.

Data firms could be in line for a raft of lucrative Government contracts after a leading think tank recommended Whitehall should seek out private sector companies who can utilise 'big data' to make public sector savings. Read the news piece here:

The UK Data Service is a comprehensive resource funded by the ESRC to support researchers, teachers and policymakers who depend on high-quality social and economic data. It is a single point of access to a wide range of secondary data including large-scale government surveys, international macrodata, business microdata, qualitative studies and census data from 1971 to 2011, all backed with extensive support and guidance. However, there may be some access restrictions. Data sharing is promoted to encourage the reuse of data, and provide expertise in developing best practice for research data management. The UK Data Service provides a very full introduction to the Service.

GeoPlace is a Limited Liability Partnership jointly owned by the Local Government Group and Ordnance Survey. It brings together local government’s address and streets gazetteers; the NLPG and the NSG, with all of Ordnance Survey’s addressing products to create a ‘national address gazetteer database’ for England and Wales, providing one definitive source of accurate publicly-owned spatial address data

Graphs and maps are a great way of making statistics memorable and meaningful, visit the ONS website for interactive mapping and data visualisation that allows you to engage with ONS data.

A major resource for those designing questions and questionnaires is the UK Data Service Variable and Question Bank This allows researchers to search questionnaires, and to find individual survey questions. It provides access to questionnaires from a range of major UK social surveys, and the question text from over 200,000 questions. It also writes and commissions methods fact sheets and topic overviews - vital to making sense of the questions and the data created from them.  www.discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/variables

ESDS International disseminates and supports both aggregate and survey international datasets for UK FE and HE. The service is jointly run by Mimas and the UK Data Archive.

Beacon Dodsworth specialise in geographic business solutions, including market analysis GIS and geodemographics. Their flagship product, Prospex, combines the ability to analyse geodemographic data with traditional GIS functionality to produce a complete market visualisation and decision support tool. Their geodemographic people classification, P2 People & Places, uses geography to classify people by where they live. Beacon Dodsworth can also supply and tailor a web mapping application to suit all needs using their product MapVision. BeaconDodsworth are suppliers of Census 2011, mapping data, and custom supply and demand models.

Capscan provide address management software and are an official agency for the 1991 Census. There is an opportunity to download trial versions of some of their software, such as Matchcode 5, from this site.

The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR) at the University of Manchester. The centre's newsletters and the conference papers produced by researchers at the centre can be read online at this site, and detailed lists of the researchers' other publications can be obtained.

The Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) concentrates its research on areas' economic and social development. A full list of the Centre's recent projects is included in the site, as are links to many of the projects' own pages.

Equifax provide marketing information and market profiling services as well as many other products, including credit information provision and vehicle history checking.

InSite, from CACI, is a market analysis tool that brings together database, mapping and reporting functionality. It enables users to uncover intelligence in marketing data, from finding trends and opportunities in customer information to understanding locations in terms of people and demographics.

JICPOPS - the Joint Industry Committee for POPulation Standards - was set up in 1994 and aims to address the issues surrounding the anomalies that exist in the population and household datasets commonly used in micromarketing. The site outlines the problems in question and provides contact details for further information.

The Maptitude GIS for Windows is a low cost mapping solution for business, government, and education from Caliper Corporation. The software is available bundled with postcode boundaries (to sector level), postcode locator tools and a range of demographic and mapping datasets.

This page from the ONS website provides information on the area classifications derived from 2011 Census data.

The ONS Longitudinal Study involves a 1% sample of the population of England and Wales and has been running since 1971, deriving data from the Census and from other related sources. The LS data is less easily available than is the case for many ONS-controlled surveys due to confidentiality laws, and charges will be made to any non-academic users of the data.

Logate - Formally Postcode Anywhere, is a web based address management software which provides access to UK and international addresses, bank data, maps, lifestyle and geographic information.

PSI Navigator is a search engine and directory for public sector information resources (files, datasets, publications etc) for many European Union countries.

Social Grade is the 'common currency' social classification (the 'ABC1' system) used by the advertising industry and employed throughout marketing and market research. This site provides details of the new approximation to Social Grade available in the outputs from the 2011 Census. A report is available which describes the development of the algorithm and accuracy achieved, and evaluates the discriminatory power of the approximation in comparison with ‘true’ Social Grade. 

The 1970 BCS is a longitudinal survey of people born in the same week in 1970. Numerous studies have taken place on this sample, primarily concentrating on physiological condition early in the survey's history, but most recently (1996) addressing a much wider range of issues, from healthcare to the social environments in which the sample live. The site contains full documentation of the survey, and also information on obtaining the datasets themselves.

This paper by Arij Dekker a specialist in Census Technology from The Netherlands was given at the United Nations' Symposium on Global Review of 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses: Mid-Decade Assessment and Future Prospects in August 2001. It gives a detailed review of the impact of new technologies on all aspects of census planning, data collection, processing and dissemination. Issued by the United Nations Statistics Division, the full paper is available for download.

Bartholomew produce mapping at various scales and coverages, including full UK streetmap-style digital basemapping at 1:10000 scale, and in a variety of formats.

The BHPS is a longitudinal panel survey designed to "further our understanding of social and economic change". The survey has run since 1991 and had an initial sample size of nearly 14,000 individuals. It is administered by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex.

This site provides some very basic statistics for the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as information on the process to follow to obtain more detailed figures. The most recent information on the site dates from 1995.

Acorn, the first geodemographic classification in the UK, is produced by market analysis company CACI. The company provides a combination of data, software and consultancy to help market products and services more effectively to the right consumers.

The site contains information on a huge range of Census-related issues.

Online access to the latest census news released by the Office for National Statistics.

The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is based at the University of London Institute of Education, and is concerned with the management and analysis of longitudinal surveys, such as the British Cohort Studies Program. The centre used to be known as the Social Statistics Research Unit.

18 June - The ONS Data Visualisation Centre and the ONS Neighbourhood Statistics Service have recently launched CommuterView on DVD. CommuterView takes Census data and enables users to create interactive maps showing flows of commuters within Super Output Areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Data Zones or Intermediate Zones in Scotland. Copies of the DVD are available by emailing better.info@ons.gov.uk

This paper by Sam Suharto was given at the United Nations' Symposium on Global Review of 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses: Mid-Decade Assessment and Future Prospects in August 2001. It gives a detailed review of the various sources of social statistics including population and housing censuses, household sample surveys and administrative records. Issued by the United Nations Statistics Division the full paper is available for download.

This paper by Tim Kindberg and several co-authors describes the 'Cooltown Project'. This project, initiated by HP Labs, seeks to develop an infrastructure to support web presence for people, places and things. By providing a bridge between the real world and a web-based virtual world it will enable services to become more personalised, spontaneous and responsive to the wide variety of contexts in which people live their lives.

Though still at the testing stage, this site already provides detailed figures on the demographic build-up of the Czech Republic. It is based on the standards proposed by POPIN guidelines.

The website of the official Danish Statistical Bureau. The site includes macro-scale demographic and economic indicator figures and brief summary statistics for Denmark's regions. Also included is information on the economic modelling activities of the organisation. The site can be searched in order to find specific data.

An online resource containing the UK's largest collection of machine-readable data relating to the social sciences and the humanities. The site allows access to metadata for a huge range of datasets, including large-scale public sector surveys such as the Family Expenditure Survey. The datasets themselves may be ordered online.

Database Marketing magazine brings together the latest news, case studies and feature articles on UK target marketing and customer management for a sophisticated audience of managers and users in the marketing, sales and service functions. Printed 11 times a year, it covers topics like campaign management, business and consumer data, customer relationship management strategy and software, profiling, segmentation and data warehousing.

The OCSI 'Data Provision for Neighbourhood Renewal' report and website has been launched by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Neighbourhood Renewal Unit as part of its work to support evidence based policy making at local level. The project offers signposts to key sources of data available for targeting, monitoring, priority setting and performance management.

The Edinburgh University Data Library holds a large collection of datasets relevant to the UK under a range of headings, encompassing agriculture, sociology, demography and more. Much of the data is available to academic users via registration, however other users may need to negotiate terms of access. The site includes a page of links to other similar data elsewhere on the Web.

ESRC Society Today provides access to social and economic research - available, planned and in progress.

21 June - Researchers at University College London have launched the Ethnographic Database Project (EDP), a web-based tool for the collection of comparative ethnographic data. For more information about the project and to find out how to contribute visit the EDP website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucsalfo/EDP/

This paper by Franz Rothenbacher of the Mannheimer Zentrum f?r Europ?ische Sozialforschung. Written in 2001 the paper outlines some of the main characteristics of the ongoing census taking operations in Europe. It also provides an historical background and discusses the contents of the planned census and publication programmes in Europe.

Eurostat is a European statistical information service delivered by the European Commission. Updated daily, this vast site contains news, reports and a large database of downloadable datasets, as well as user-friendly tutorials and multilingual facilities.

The Family Expenditure Survey is an ongoing survey of UK households' spending patterns, carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). MIMAS hold electronic versions of both the data and the associated documentation.

The Family Resources Survey is a continuous, ONS-controlled survey that includes family members' income information. It has a considerably larger sample size than the otherwise similar Family Expenditure Survey and General Household Survey. Data and documentation are available online to registered users.

The Fedstats website exists to provide a single access point to all publicly-released statistics produced by the agencies of the United States Federal Government. In addition to an A-Z index the site includes a search facility to rapidly interrogate the database.

This paper by Durrant-Whyte, Williams and Dissanayake describes an implementation of the Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm undertaken at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics in a variety of field applications. The paper includes a useful introduction to SLAM and a large number of key references on the subject.

Statistics Finland provides official statistics on the Finnish population and economy, and this website includes StatFin, a statistical self-service system, for accessing this detailed data. The site also provides information on the products commercially available from the organisation such as a Finnish business information register.

In addition to a fairly comprehensive range of demographic and economic indicator statistics, INSEE's website also provides information on the French Rolling Census and lists of official publications and working papers.

This site is hosted by the Directorate-General Energy and Transport of the European Union (EU) and describes the GALILEO Project. The mission of this project is to provide an alternative and complementary satellite-based global positioning capability to the GPS, the American system. The site includes details of the political background, the partners involved and many informative papers and technical documents relating to the Project.

The General Household Survey is an annual multipurpose survey of about 10,000 British households, and has an excellent reputation for the quality of its sampling procedures and its survey design. Data from the GHS is available for each year since 1973, although MIMAS registration is required in order to access it.

Geofutures Ltd is a specialist provider of GIS and web mapping, integrating and modelling multiple datasets including geodemographics to deliver online information tools to government, business and non-profit clients. Geofutures maintains a large warehouse of social, economic and environmental datasets, all pre-processed and ready to map, and also has a growing presence in the sustainability data field.

GeoLytics provide demographic data, business information, GIS and mapping company for USA. They produce and sell demographic data and estimates, census data products, business data, GIS data, and create custom data reports and projects. They also provide free census data and thematic maps that can be accessed via the website.

This site provides online access to the United States County and City Data Books of 1988 and 1994. The data available is similar in scope to that contained in the British Local Base Statistics (LBS), but access is completely unrestricted.

Based in Germany, GfK GeoMarketing provides a wide-range of up-to-date market data for all of Europe, including detailed information on purchasing power, point-of-sale turnover, demographics, consumer profiles, company distributions and various other datasets for assessing consumer and product potential.

Gigateway is a free web service aimed at increasing awareness of and access to geospatial information in the UK. It offers assistance and guidance on the collection of metadata to national and international standards and purpose built software.

Go-Geo! is an online geospatial resource and data discovery tool which allows for the identification and retrieval of metadata records describing data available within UK tertiary education and access to a comprehensive range of updated and reviewed resource information about news events, conferences, publications, free software and more.

The HCSO administers the execution of the official surveys in Hungary and the subsequent dissemination of the data. The site includes some freely-downloadable publications and a compendium of basic Hungarian statistics. More detailed datasets can be accessed via the STADAT system, for which subscription is required.

Hungary’s next census will combine the collection of some data from an online enumeration with the use of administrative registers. Originally scheduled for 1 May 2021, the census has been postponed to 1 October 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the Icelandic national statistics institute, Statistics Iceland's website provides detailed demographic and economic statistics and the institute's latest press releases that act as brief summaries of the statistics elsewhere on the site.

The IMPS project aims to improve migration and population statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics and avoid the problems of Census 2001 where there was a large difference between the Census and the rolled-forward mid year population estimates.

This report, approved by the Steering Group of the Initiative for Privacy Standardisation in Europe (IPSE), reviews the possible role of standardisation in realising privacy and data protection in accordance with the European Directive 95/46/EC. It was issued by the CEN/ISS Secretariat in September 2001 following an extended period of public review. The report is available as a pdf file to download.

The Institute for Social and Economic Research is based at the University of Essex and concentrates on studying longitudinal survey design and data analysis. The ISER also carries out the British Household Panel Survey, to which a page on the site is dedicated. There is also a link to the European Centre for Analysis in the Social Sciences, a division of the ISER.

This site is hosted by the US Census Bureau and provides a comprehensive set of links to statistical agencies worldwide. Where sites do not include an English-language section, details are given of the languages available.

This site includes Internet usage and population statistics for over 233 countries and regions.

Intute is a freely available Internet service which aims to provide a trusted source of selected, high quality Internet information for students, academics, researchers and practitioners in the social sciences, business and law. It is part of the UK Resource Discovery Network.

ISTAT's website provides comprehensive datasets and related reports and articles on Italy's population, economy and environment. The site is updated regularly to include the very latest figures and press releases.

Italy’s next census on 9 October 2021 will combine the collection of some data from an online enumeration with the use of administrative registers.

Administered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the LFS produces regional employment data to an internationally-agreed standard, enabling comparison across the EU member states. This site provides data and documentation associated with the survey.

The MABLE/Geocorr Geographic Correspondence Engine is intended to produce reports that illustrate the relationships that exist between different geographic coverages in the United States. The system incorporates 1990 Census Geographies and some 'extension' coverages eg labour markets.

This site is hosted by the electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). It gives the latest news and events relating to the introduction of identity cards in countries on a worldwide basis. ID cards would require the introduction of population registers and this may be relevant to the production of census-type information through means other than a traditional census.

The National Land and Property Gazetteer, or NLPG, is an aggregation of every Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) in the country. LLPGs are compiled by local authorities and contain data that, when aggregated, will become the definitive land and property dataset in the country. The site also contains data from the electoral and Council Tax registers and the Ordnance Survey's Address-Point product.

The National Land Information Service (NLIS) is a government initiative intended to enable easy access to reliable data concerning land and property in the UK. The site contains information on all aspects of the NLIS and a detailed breakdown of how it can benefit specific users.

The National Public Transport Access Node (NaPTAN) database is a UK nationwide system for uniquely identifying all the points of access to public transport in the UK. Every UK station, coach terminus, airport, ferry terminal, bus stop, etc is allocated at least one identifier together with meaningful text descriptions of the stop point and its location.  This enables both computerised transport systems and the general public to find and reference the stop unambiguously.  Stops can be related to topographic regions via the National Public Transport Gazetteer.

The National Public Transport Gazetteer provides a topographic database of towns and settlements in the UK; it provides a common frame of reference for the National Public Access Nodes (NaPTAN) schema and other UK Public Transport Information schemas such as JourneyWeb.

The official UK government site for UK statistics and research

The Neighbourhood Statistics Service is a new website designed to enable straightforward access to a range of ward-level statistics for the entire country. Closely related to the 'Vital Statistics' dataset, the database can be interrogated by region or by postcode. The data is freely accessible, and no registration is required.

The National Street Gazetteer is the product of a joint project between local authorities and the Ordnance Survey, the aim of which is to produce a comprehensive dataset of every street in the country. The data is specifically stated as being useful within market analysis and targetting applications. Availability of the data is currently under review.

Nationmaster is a website that carries general statistics and comparisons of nations.It also allows users to generate maps and graphs of all kinds of statistics. The site aims to be a one-stop resource for country statistics on everything from "soldiers to wall plug voltages".

OCSI can help local government and other public sector organisations develop detailed area profiles, providing information and analysis needed for area based strategies.

In addition to census data, this Princeton University-based resource provides users with data for a number of other less well-known surveys, including , for example, data on Guatemalan family planning. A good site to visit if you are seeking data relating to healthcare issues in the developing world.

This site provides extensive details of the numerous types of OS base mapping available, including pricing and file format information. The 'Business Geographies' section features mapping at scales and details considered particularly suitable for use in market visualisation applications.

The website of Statistics Poland. Poland’s next census, scheduled for 31 March 2021, will combine the collection of some data from an online enumeration with the use of administrative registers.

This site gives details of the census enumeration dates for all countries that conduct censuses. It was produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in 2003 and is regularly updated.

The website of Statistics Portugal. The INFOLINE service is an online access point to official Portuguese statistical data and related reports and publications. Originally scheduled for 22 March 2021, Portugal’s next census is currently postponed to 19 April 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report gives detailed recommendations on the operational aspects of population and housing censuses, on the topics that should be covered in a census and on the dissemination of census outputs. It was produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in 1998. A PDF version of the report is available for download.

This document sets out a proposed design for the integration of the UK Government household surveys on which the Office for National Statistics leads, into one Continuous Population Survey. The surveys included for integration are the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the annual Population Survey (APS), the General Household Survey (GHS), the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) and the Omnibus Survey (OMN). The deadline for the consultation has now passed.

QuickAddress Pro provides address validation software.

The Satellite Imaging Corporation provides a range of services based on the combining of satellite images and digital aerial photography mosaics with extracted vector and client supplied attribute data and hot links, using ESRI's ArcView GIS, ArcGIS and ArcGIS 3d Analyst Project Files in support of a range of applications. These include GIS base mapping, urban development, environmental impact studies, flood analysis and property and tax mapping.

SEDAC is a division of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) whose site acts as a gateway to both US and global datasets, including the US Census PUMS (Public Use Microdata Samples) and statistics for a gridded population of the world.

This site is devoted to monitoring the state and civil liberties in the European Union. It includes news stories and reports relating to the introduction of identity cards and other issues which may impact on population registers and other administrative data sources.

The Statistics Commission act as a 'watchdog' to ensure that the official statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics and other UK Government departments meet necessary standards of quality and integrity, and that their activities are responsive to public needs.

This paper by Marie Desnoyers and Doug Norris of Statistics Canada was given at the United Nations' Symposium on Global Review of 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses: Mid-Decade Assessment and Future Prospects in August 2001. It gives a detailed review of the stakeholders involved in a census and their roles in the determination of census content and in data collection and dissemination. Issued by the United Nations Statistics Division the full paper is available for download.

Surpop provides registered census data users with the opportunity to access population estimates for 200 metre cells derived from both the 1981 and 1991 Censuses. The estimations were achieved by applying surface modelling algorithms to the aggregated census data, and aim to represent the population distribution within enumeration districts. Detailed descriptions of the techniques involved are available on the site.

'Swiss Statistics' s the website of the Federal Statistical Office in Switzerland, and includes a search facility to find specific pieces of data among the vast range included on the site.

This UK Government funded project aims to develop a nationally consistent system of retail data collection including areas of town centre activity, floorspace, employment and retail sales turnover. A pilot study covering the London area has been completed and the project is now extending to the rest of England and Wales.

This paper by Aidan Punch of Statistics Ireland was given at the United Nations' Symposium on Global Review of 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses: Mid-Decade Assessment and Future Prospects in August 2001. It gives a detailed assessment of the alternatives to a traditional census including household surveys and the use of administrative registers. Issued by the United Nations Statistics Division the full paper is available for download.

This website provides access to a host of demographic data and online reports, both for Turkey as a whole and for each of its provinces. The site is regularly updated with the latest published statistics and reports.

Hosted by EDINA (Edinburgh Data and INformation Access), UKBORDERS provides digitised boundary datasets for the UK. The files are available in most common GIS formats.

This site provides a running record of matters that have been raised with the UK Statistics Authority.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has recently launched Understanding Society, the world's largest ever household longitudinal study. Understanding Society will collect information from 100,000 individuals, across 40,000 households from across the country to enhance the understanding of the long term effects of social and economic change, and will provide tools to study the impact of policy interventions on the well being of the UK population.

The GEO Data Portal is the authoritative source for data sets used by UNEP and its partners in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report and other integrated environment assessments. Its online database holds more than 450 different variables, as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets, covering themes like Freshwater, Population, Forests, Emissions, Climate, Disasters, Health and GDP. The site allows users to display the data as maps, graphs, data tables or download the data in different formats.

POPIN is a UN project to coordinate population information activity between countries and regions, and to make this information easily available. The site contains links to the regional POPIN sites.

The Statistics Division compiles statistics from many international sources and produces global updates, including the Statistical Yearbook, World Statistics Pocketbook and yearbooks in specialised fields of statistics.

The US Census Bureau is responsible for administering the United States Census and other similar surveys. The huge amount of information on this site can be accessed either via an A to Z index or through a search engine. The 'Access Tools' section of the site details the ways in which the data itself can be accessed, including the 1990 Census Lookup facility, and the Data Extraction System.

The Vital Statistics for Wards are produced annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and consist of the number of births and deaths each year in the UK tabulated by ward. They can be of use in calculating the SMR (Standardised Mortality Ratio) and for predicting natural population change. Registration is required for access to the data.

The International Monetary Fund's bi-annual World Economic Outlook database allows users to find country-level macroeconomic data. Data is available from 1980 to the present, and projections are given for the next two years.

This site includes the latest official German demographic, environmental and economic indicator statistics, press releases, and the opportunity to obtain data from official German surveys through the online Statistik-Shop (which, unlike the rest of the site, is only available in German).

Germany’s next census will combine the collection of some data from an online enumeration with the use of administrative registers. Originally scheduled for 16 May 2021, the census has been postponed to 15 May 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This site provides basic indicator statistics for the Republic of Ireland, downloadable publications and press releases, and information on ordering more explicit reports.

Ireland’s next census has been postponed from 18 April 2021 to 3 April 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

16 May - ISER, in collaboration with the University of Warwick and the Institute of Education, is to start work on a new 40,000 Household Longitudinal Study, funded by the ESRC. The study is multi-topic and designed to meet the research needs of a range of disciplines across the social and bio-medical sciences. The large sample size will enable unprecedented analysis of the diversity of the UK population and how it is changing over time. It will include a sample boost for ethnic minority groups.
An open consultative meeting will be held at the Royal Statistical Society on 19 June to identify and develop the topics for inclusion in the survey.

The latest wave of BHPS data and documentation is now available from the UK Data Archive.

Strategy for analysing change over time for small areas has been developed and published by ONS. This article provides an introduction to the strategy and illustrates the principles with a simple case study using out-of-work benefit data as a proxy for ‘worklessness’. It aims to show that, although comparison of change over time has some complexities, it is manageable when broken down into stages.

These estimates, produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), provide the average household income for small areas within England and Wales. It is the income a household receives from wages and salaries, self-employment, benefits, pensions, plus any other sources of income. These estimates are produced at Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level. The page includes links to detailed papers on methodology, validation and quality, as well as a user guide and links to the datasets produced.

Jan 2017 article
Pete Stokes discusses how ONS makes data available for research, while protecting confidentiality at all times

The National Statistician is principal adviser to the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) and Government on official statistics. A member of UKSA Board as Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary. And Head of the Government Statistical Service (GSS). Government Statistical Service (GSS) statistical policies, standards and guidance can be found in the Policy Store. This includes Guidance and other information from the National Statistician.

The Troubled Families’ Programme aims to transform the way services work with
families. To do this, the Programme champions working with the whole family to
overcome multiple and complex problems, whilst joining up how services and
partners work together to deliver a comprehensive and more effective intervention
strategy.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government wanted to design a
national evaluation that was robust enough to stand up to public scrutiny and to
establish whether the Programme was achieving its goals and utilising the resources
effectively. Read more about the methods they used to do this and the key findings in the National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme 2015 - 2020 which is published here:

Caliper provides data with its Maptitude Mapping Software and TransCAD Transportation Planning Software. Their packages contain nationwide geographic, Census, and demographic data.

As part of the ongoing Historical Census Digitisation Project, The Office for National Statistics, working in partnership with the University of Salford Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis lab (PRImA) and Nomis, have produced the next batch of digitised statistical outputs which are now available to explore and download via Nomis.

This release is focused on tables from the 1921 Census and covers topics including age, sex, orphanhood, and marital status. For the first time searchable, digital versions of the 1921 tables have been created, capturing a key point in our history post First World War One and the Spanish flu pandemic. The tables can be accessed and downloaded via the Nomis website. 

This is the first batch of several releases focused on 1921, with more being added once they are complete.