Help shape the content of the LSYPE age 25 survey

Deadline for written submissions: 22 November 2013

Consultative conference: 6 December 2013

CLS is seeking advice on what should be covered in the age 25 survey of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), scheduled for 2015.

CLS has recently taken on management of the LSYPE. Their first tasks are to re-contact all participants and plan the Age 25 Survey. This is an important stage of life for the participants, and the survey will provide vital insights into the pathways to adulthood. Your expertise will help uthem produce a high-quality survey.

CLS is asking academics, policy makers and other stakeholders to put forward their specific suggestions for content and questions by Friday 22 November 2013 and to join them at the LSYPE age 25 consultative conference on Friday 6 December 2013.

How to contribute to the consultation

CLS have organised the survey content into five key themes (see below), with a theme leader responsible for reviewing and prioritising your proposals, and presenting a summary for debate at the consultative conference. Further information on the themes and theme leaders can be found below, and a copy of the consultation form (to be returned to the relevant theme leader by 22 November) can be found on the consultation website. Please visit website for more details.

 

Register for the conference

Date: Friday 6 December 2013

Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Location: Institute of Education, University of London
Email c.battye@ioe.ac.uk to book your place

The conference is free of charge. You do not need to have made a written submission to attend.

Themes and theme leaders

Employment and resources (Claire Crawford, Institute for Fiscal Studies, c.crawford@ifs.org.uk)
This theme covers current economic activity; activity histories; jobs and training; income and benefits; assets and housing; and future plans.

Household formation and relationships (Dylan Kneale, Relate, dylan.kneale@relate.org.uk)
This theme covers relationship and partnership histories; relationship with parents and families; children and childcare; and neighbourhood context.

Education (Alissa Goodman, Institute of Education, a.goodman@ioe.ac.uk)
This theme covers academic and vocational qualifications gained; qualifications being studied for; experience of and attitudes towards education; and aspirations and expectations.

Health and wellbeing
This theme is divided into two sections:

• General and physical health; and risk taking behaviours (Helen Sweeting, University of Glasgow, helen.sweeting@glasgow.ac.uk)
• Emotional health and wellbeing (Amanda Sacker, University College London, a.sacker@ucl.ac.uk, and Yvonne Kelly, University College London, y.kelly@ucl.ac.uk)

Identity and participation (Ingrid Schoon, Institute of Education, i.schoon@ioe.ac.uk)

This theme covers self concept; locus of control; self efficacy; gender, class and ethnic identity; politics; religion; civic participation and engagement; and social cohesion.

Help pick a new study name!

CLS are planning to rebrand the LSYPE to better reflect the broader scope of the study and the life stage of the participants. As part of the age 25 consultation, they are seeking ideas for a new name for the study. Please add your suggestions to your submission form, or email Carole Sanchez c.sanchez@ioe.ac.uk.

Please forward this information on to others you think would be interested in contributing to the consultation.

Census consultation: Future provision of population statistics

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is launching a three month public consultation on the census and future provision of population statistics in England and Wales today.

After each census, ONS reviews the future needs for information about the population and housing in England and Wales, and how these needs might be met.

Improvements in technology and in government data sources offer opportunities to either modernise the existing census process, or to develop an alternative census method that reuses existing data already held within government.

The ONS' research has resulted in two approaches for taking the census in future:

• a census once a decade, like that conducted in 2011, but primarily online
• a census using existing government data and compulsory annual surveys.

ONS believe that both approaches would provide annual statistics about the size of the population, nationally and for local authorities. A census using existing data and surveys would provide more statistics about the characteristics of the population every year. An online census would provide more detailed statistics once a decade.

The consultation document describes these approaches, their strengths and weaknesses and the different types of information they could provide:

http://ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/consultations/consultations/beyond-2011-consultation/beyond-2011-consultation-doc-c1.pdf

No decision has yet been made, and we welcome your views. Please respond using the online questionnaire:

http://ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/consultations/consultations/beyond-2011-consultation/index.html

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

HMRC consultation on data sharing

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is seeking views on the department sharing non identifiable information for the creation of general, aggregate and anonymised datasets, and on proposed safeguards.

The consultation also covers the potential benefits, costs / risks and necessary safeguards for proposals to share VAT registration data, either publicly or under controlled conditions for specified purposes, for example, credit rating. Views are welcome on the principles underlying these proposals and on the suggested approaches to implementation.

The consultation will run until the 24th September 2013. You can find out more information and download the consultation documentation from https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/sharing-and-publishing-data-for-public-benefit.

Help define the UK Data Service identity: User Survey

The ESRC are establishing a new UK Data Service which integrates several existing services including the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), the Census Programme and the Secure Data Service.

 

Work is now underway to establish an identity for the new service. To make it a cohesive and meaningful brand, we’d like to hear from data users – those who currently use digital research data, and those who might use it in the future.

 

Below is a link to a short survey designed just for data users. It’s a quick and fun questionnaire – not a research study, but a way to get some initial indications of what you think should characterise the UK Data Service’s ‘brand’. It should take less than 10 minutes of your time, and all responses are anonymous.

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UKdataservice_users

 

Please complete the questionnaire by Sunday evening, 16^thSeptember.

 

Consultation on EU-SILC

Eurostat is currently evaluating the usefulness of the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), and examining the options for the future of the survey. They have commissioned a small team at ISER to write a report on one aspect of the EU-SILC, namely the design of the longitudinal component of the survey.

As part of this exercise, ISER have prepared a survey for the research community, asking researchers about their experiences with the EU-SILC data, and what they think about the different options for changing the design.

The survey can be found here https://essex.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eQC5D4XtnOmzE0t

Consultation on the Health Survey for England

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has launched a public consultation to seek feedback from users of the Health Survey for England (HSE) on the proposed changes to the smoking module.

The HSE is a series of annual surveys about the health of people living in England. It is a major study in the ESDS (recently refunded as UKDS) catalogue, sponsored by the Department of Health to provide better and more reliable information about various aspects of people's health and to monitor selected health targets.

The modules and questions within the HSE are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure they are of most benefit to users. As part of this process, the smoking module was reviewed in 2012, with a view to making changes for the HSE 2013.

The consultation will run for 6 weeks and close on Wednesday 3 October 2012.

Following the consultation period, all comments received by the HSCIC will be considered and decisions will be made on the content of the Smoking Module for HSE 2013 onwards.

·         Full details of the consultation

Intergrated Household Survey Consultation

In light of the diminishing sample size of the Integrated Household Survey and subsequent loss of statistical precision for Sexual Identity estimates at the Local Authority level, ONS is asking for feedback from IHS data users on this proposal for the future of the IHS datasets.

ONS do not believe quarterly annual IHS datasets, comprising only the Annual Population Survey and the Living Costs and Food Survey, provide value for money and propose to reduce the IHS to one annual dataset per year – based on the January to December fieldwork period.

The last quarterly dataset ONS is planning to produce will be the April 2011 to March 2012 dataset, which will comprise four quarters of APS and LCF and only three quarters of GLF. This experimental dataset is due to be released in September 2012, with its associated Statistical Bulletin. The next dataset will be the January to December 2012 dataset, due to be released in June 2013. This means that datasets Jul11-Jun12 and Oct11-Sep12 will be omitted from production and delivery.

ONS are interested in IHS data users' views on this proposal and would appreciate feedback by the end of October 2012, using the email addresses below: 

caroline.jones@ons.gsi.gov.uk
dean.fletcher@ons.gsi.gov.uk
simon.woodsford@ons.gsi.gov.uk

Consultation on access to address register data for social science research

The ESRC has initiated a consultation to inform its approach in advocating academic access to GeoPlace address register data. As part of the consultation a survey is being undertaken. This, and further information, is available at

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/22050/consultation-on-access-to-address-register-data-for-social-science-research.aspx

Data Horizons Questionnaire

This survey is an exploratory study of social science data users and those involved in data support services.

As part of the ESRC funded Digital Social Research programme, a team at Manchester University is conducting a scoping review of the changes in the data environment and the innovations that will be necessary to use social science data in the future.

Alongside the well documented expansion in the quantity of data, categorical shifts in the type and form of that data are happening and will continue to do so. Understanding the form that these shifts will take in the short, medium and long term, what the resultant data will look like and how we might use them is vital for the planning and development of the social science resource base and for the training of the next generation of social science researchers.

Please complete this short scoping questionnaire. https://selectsurveys.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=DATA_HORIZONS

All responses will be treated confidentially.

It should only take 15 minutes to complete and your input is very important.

You will also be entered into the prize draw for £50 of book vouchers.

ONS Consultation on International Migration Outpus

The Office for National Statistics is beginning a review into the methods used to produce the migration assumptions which feed into the production of the national population projections. The current methodology was introduced for the 1991-based national population projections with some later modifications made for the 1996-based NPPs. However patterns of migration and data availability have changed since then which is why ONS are taking forward this review.

 A project board has been set up and consists of the NPP Committee, the Head of ONS's Migration Statistics Unit and a representative from ONS's Methodology Directorate. The review work itself will be carried out by Jakub Bijak of the University of Southampton over the summer of 2012

It is important to that the new methods are not only statistically robust but that they meet user needs and therefore ONS are consulting with key stakeholders through a User Forum. They are also interested in hearing from any other users of the population projections who would like to feed in their views on the content and timing of any of the following statistical outputs:

* Migration flows
* Population stocks
* Local Area Migration Indicators
* Migration Reporting
* Data Explorer Tool

For details on the consultation and how to respond please see the ONS website:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/consultations/open-consultations/international-migration/index.html or contact Suzie Dunsmith at natpopproj@ons.gsi.gov.ukor or by phoning 01329 444023.

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NHS Lifestyle Surveys Consultation

The NHS Information Centre (IC) publishes the following Lifestyles survey publications: 

• Health Survey for England – Health, Lifestyles and Social Care
• Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England
• Infant Feeding Survey

The findings are used to provide an insight into the health and behaviour of people in England. The longevity of the surveys also enables changing trends to be studied over time. They can be used to help decision makers improve policies and services and ultimately improve the health of population in this country.

The NHS IC has launched a public consultation on the Lifestyles surveys with the following aims:

• to engage with the users of the surveys to develop a more complete understanding of the use made of this data
• to ensure the surveys are relevant and meaningful to the needs of users
• to seek the views of users on the content and format of the publications

This consultation will run for 12 weeks from Friday 30 December 2011 to Friday 23 March 2012. Please ensure you submit any comments prior to the closing date so they can be considered.

Further details, along with the full consultation document are available at

www.ic.nhs.uk/work-with-us/consultations/lifestyles-surveys-consultation-review

If you would like to know more about the consultation or if you have any queries, please contact the Lifestyles Statistics Section Head: 

Paul Eastwood

Email: paul.eastwood@ic.nhs.uk

Telephone: 0113 254 2509

Select Committee Inquiry: The Census and Social Science

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

No. 98 (10-12): 9 November 2011

NEW INQUIRY ANNOUNCED: The census and social science

In July 2010 the Government announced that the Census, the official population count carried out by Government every 10 years, would be axed after 2011. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) set up the Beyond 2011 Programme to investigate and assess alternative options for producing the population and socio-demographic data required in England and Wales.

The Science and Technology Committee has agreed to conduct a short inquiry looking at the impact of ending the Census on social science research. It is anticipated that this will feed into the work of the ONS.

Terms of Reference

The Committee seeks written submissions on the following matters:

1. How do social scientists use Census data?
2. What impact will the ending of the Census have on social science research?
3. What alternatives to the Census would provide population and socio-demographic data of equivalent or higher quality?
4. What other existing sources of population and socio-demographic data could be improved upon?

Submitting written evidence

The Committee invites written submissions on these issues by noon on Wednesday 30 November 2011.

Each submission should:

a) be no more than 3,000 words in length;
b) be in Word format with as little use of colour or logos as possible;
c) have numbered paragraphs; and
d) include a declaration of interests.

A copy of the submission should be sent by e-mail to scitechcom@parliament.uk and marked "Census". An additional paper copy should be sent in due course (not by the deadline) to:

The Clerk
Science and Technology Committee
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London SW1P 3JA

Please note that:

·                     ▪ Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a proposed memorandum, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.

·                     ▪ Memoranda submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.

·                     ▪ Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

·                     ▪ Select Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.

More information on submitting evidence to Select Committees may be found on the parliamentary website at: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/have-your-say/take-part-in-committee-inquiries/witness/

FURTHER INFORMATION

Committee Membership:

Andrew Miller (Labour, Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Chair)
Gavin Barwell (Conservative, Croydon Central)
Gregg McClymont (Labour, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Stephen McPartland (Conservative, Stevenage)
Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative, South Basildon and East Thurrock)
David Morris (Conservative, Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Stephen Mosley (Conservative, City of Chester)
Pamela Nash (Labour, Airdrie and Shotts)
Jonathan Reynolds (Labour/Co-operative, Stalybridge and Hyde)
Graham Stringer (Labour, Blackley and Broughton)
Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat, Brecon and Radnorshire)

Specific Committee Information:  scitechcom@parliament.uk / 020 7219 2793
Media Information: Rebecca Jones  jonesbl@parliament.uk / 020 7219 5693
Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/science
Watch committees and parliamentary debates online:  www.parliamentlive.tv

Publications / Reports / Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474).  Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

British Crime Survey Consultation - Intimate Personal Violence questions

Last year the Home Office ran a split sample experiment to trial an alternative wording of questions relating to intimate personal violence (IPV). Results and analysis of the experiment can be found in the Home Office publication “Analysis of the 2010/11 British Crime Survey intimate personal violence split-sample experiment” available on the Home Office Website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/analysis-bcs-ipv-2011

The Home Office is currently in the process of a consultation regarding whether to proceed with the new questions, which seem to give us higher affirmative response rates, or the old questions, which would provide us with a longer term time series comparison.

Should you have any response to this consultation, please read the above linked document and pass your comments along with some details of your background interest to ravi.mulchandani@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

Millenium Cohort Survey 6 Consultation - Age 14 Sweep

7th October 2011, 10 am – 5 pm
Woburn House Conference Centre, 20 Tavistock Square. London, WC1H 9HQ

In 2015 the sixth wave of the Millenium Cohort Study will be carried out. The CLS would like to get your views on the priorities and possibilities for what data should be collected from and about the Study children at that point, when they will be aged around 14 years.

For more information on the consultation and why CLS think this is a particularly important point to collect as wide a range of views as possible, not only on what should be collected, but also where (e.g. at home or elsewhere), how (e.g. by personal interview, direct measures and assessments, web self-completion), and who from (e.g. Study members, their parents, others) please see the note on the CLS website http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/events.asp?section=000100010004&item=1129

Input from participants will be preceded by expert overviews from speakers including Paul Gregg, Jane Elliott and Mark Peters.

Whether or not you have actively used the Millennium Cohort Study previously, the study team would value your input.

Registration is free: Please contact Richard Bull (R.Bull@ioe.ac.uk), stating your first and second preference from the themes listed below.

• Education and aspirations
• Attitudes and activities
• Well-being: health and happiness
• Friends and networks
• Risk-taking and victimisation
• Biomeasures

Consultation on Tax Credits and HMRC Official Statistics

HM Revenue & Customs are carrying out a formal review of our Tax Credits National and Official Statistics publications (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm).


Your views will enable HMRC to evaluate whether any changes are needed to their publications. They would like to know if other information would be useful to their users that is not currently available, or whether there are any areas of the statistics which you feel are irrelevant. There may also be issues with the format of the tables that need to be addressed, or presentational amendments that could be useful.

The survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tax_credits

The survey should take 5-10 minutes of your time. The results will be published but all results and all views will be completely anonymous. The deadline for reply is 31st August.

Consultation on Statistics on Poverty

The UK Statistics Authority is currently assessing the following Statistics on Poverty, Benefit Take-Up and Household Resources produced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP):


* Households Below Average Income;
* Income Related Benefits: Estimates of Take-Up;
* Family Resources Survey; and
* The Pensioners' Incomes Series

They would like to hear from any current and potential users of these statistics. Meeting users' needs is at the heart of the Code of Practice, and collecting user views is an important part of the assessment process.

Please see http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/assessment/current-assessments/statistics-on-poverty--benefit-take-up-and-household-resources.html for more information.

Review of HMRC Tax Credits Publications

HM Revenue & Customs are carrying out a formal review of our Tax Credits National and Official Statistics publications (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm ).


The responses will help them to evaluate whether any changes are needed to the publications. HMRC would like to know if other information would be useful that is not currently available, or whether there are any areas of the statistics which you feel are irrelevant. There may also be issues with the format of the tables that need to be addressed, or presentational amendments that could be useful.

The survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tax_credits  

The survey will take 5-10 minutes, and the results will be published but all results and all views will be completely anonymous. The deadline for reply is 31st August.

Data Management Costing Tool

The UK Data Archive has recently developed an activity-based data management costing tool for the social sciences. The pilot version has been made available for testing, and your feedback would be appreciated.


The tool and background information on how it was developed are available at: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/planning-for-sharing/costing

The UKDA is interested to know how useful and practical this simple tool would be for researchers and data managers when preparing research applications and/or data management plans. We also want your view on the tool's approach to costing data management, and suggestions for improvements and additions.

Feedback and comments can be sent to datasharing@data-archive.ac.uk until 20 May 2011.

The tool's approach is to measure the additional costs – above standard research procedures and practices – that are needed to make research data shareable beyond the primary research team. The tool is based on identifying all applicable data management activities and steps required to make data shareable, based on a data management checklist, then costing each activity in terms of people’s time or physical resources needed such as hardware or software.

The tool was developed as part of the Data Management Planning for ESRC Research Data-rich Investments project (DMP-ESRC), in collaboration with various researchers.

Government consultation on reducing 'Red Tape' ie. regulation

The government is undertaking a consultation aimed at reducing ‘red tape’. The consultation asks ‘which regulations are working and which are not; what should be scrapped, what should be saved and what should be simplified’.

Areas under consultation include Pensions, Employment, Equality, as well as Environment, Health and Safety and industry specific regulations.

Questions include:
Should the Equality Act 2010 be scrapped altogether?

Should the 50 regulations that relate to pension protection be merged with existing regulations?

How can employment laws be improved?

For more information and to leave your comments please see the RED TAPE CHALLENGE website http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/ or search for ‘red tape challenge’

ONS Consultation - future of NOMIS

ONS is proposing an alternative to NOMIS for access to labour market data https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/Default.asp

If you use NOMIS, or plan to use it in the future please have a look at this consultation. It seems that there will be a lot less flexibility in the range of outputs, in particular for geographical analysis. The ONS are asking for researchers to let them know how they would like the data to be presented and which breakdowns are of use to them. It is important you make a case for the data you need as once these categories and breakdowns have been decided on they will not change.

For more information and to for an list of individual datasets and how they will be affected please see https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/557.aspx?Session_GUID=&

Responses should be sent by 20 May 2011 to Bob.Watson@ons.gov.uk