Saturday, 16 February 2013

ONS Workshop: International Migration and the 2011 Census

A workshop hosted by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.

Date: Monday 25 February 2013
Time: 13:45-14.45

Place: Dahrendorf Seminar Room, St. Antony’s College Oxford

Speakers:
Emma Wright
Head of Population Analysis, UK Office for National Statistics

Peter Stokes
Census Statistical Design Manager, UK Office for National Statistics

For more information about the workshop please contact carlos.vargas-silva@compas.ox.ac.uk, 01865 284975.

All are welcome to attend but spaces are limited, so please RSVP to lindsey.robinson@compas.ox.ac.uk.

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Dear colleagues [on behalf of Dave Martin and Paul Norman]

Understandably, only a few of us can invest much time in following the plans for future censuses and you may therefore be unaware of recent developments. If you are a user of small area census data, please read on and act if you can - there is a real risk of losing the small area census data that you currently take for granted.

ONS are currently undertaking research on potential replacements for the conventional census in 2021. Although that seems a very long way off, recommendations need to go before parliament next year and the preparatory work is already well advanced. Based on the series of roadshows run by ONS last autumn, they have not received convincing high-value use cases for small area population attributes. Arguments such as "they are used to target local services" are not sufficiently robust to stand up to the inevitable financial scrutiny. A leading option is to derive basic age/sex data from linked administrative records and to use social survey data to obtain the types of population attributes that would previously have been obtained from the census - (ethnicity, LLTI, tenure, car ownership, employment, etc.) This would clearly not deliver small area data of the current quality, if at all.

We are urgently appealing to the research community to have your say: if no case is made, it seems entirely likely that ONS will not be able to include generation of costly small area data as part of the recommended option. If you can demonstrate high-value research (and ideally high-valued impacts!) based on small area 2001 census data, please mail David Martin and Paul Norman (d.j.martin@soton.ac.uk, p.d.norman@leeds.ac.uk)  - we need to marshall further evidence by the end of February.

Ideally, we are seeking identifiable research with an estimate of value and impact and/or an indication of why it could not be done without high quality small area data. If you can supply a paper or URL where further details could be pursued, better still. NB This is about England and Wales, although Scotland and Northern Ireland will be reviewing the same issues in due course.

If you want to find out more about Beyond 2011, see http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/what-we-do/programmes---projects/beyond-2011/index.html Although there is not a formal consultation currently open, you can also mail them at beyond2011@ons.gsi.gov.uk

With many thanks,
David Martin, University of Southampton Email: D.J.Martin@soton.ac.uk
Paul Norman, University of Leeds Email: P.D.Norman@leeds.ac.uk

Training resources: Sharing, Preservation and Licensing of Data

The Research Data MANTRA project has announced publication of their final learning unit - Sharing, Preservation and Licensing: 

http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/preservation.html
(It may be necessary for you to refresh your browser to view it.)

Topics covered, through the usual combination of text, illustrations, videos and quizzes include:

About the unit
Story of a thwarted data user (case study from Clinical Psychology)
Why share data?
Sharing your research data
Data sharing: Benefits
Data sharing: Barriers
Data fabrication and fraudulent practices
Long-term data preservation: the risk of loss
Preservation and trusted repositories
Open data licensing
Open Data Commons
ODC Guide
Summary


Feedback on 2011 Census data

This is your opportunity to feed back your views on the 2011 Census data

The ONS has developed a user satisfaction survey about the 2011 Census data that will take around 15 minutes to complete.

Your views on the presentation and associated commentary, datasets and supporting information will provide valuable feed back for future planning.


The survey will remain open until Friday 8th March. This should enable you to view/use the data before responding.

If you have any further comments on this survey which fall outside of the questions, please email benefits.realisation@ons.gov.uk

click here to enter 2011 Census user satisfaction survey: -> https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DJSB97K

USEFUL CENSUS CONTACTS

Queries relating to tables or the census in general should be addressed to: census.customerservices@ons.gov.uk

Queries relating to boundaries/geography should be addressed to: ons.geography@ons.gov.uk

2011 Census homepage :
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html