Beyond 2011 programme - National Records of Scotland public engagement events

The Beyond 2011 programme was initiated by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) to propose viable alternative options to the traditional census in Scotland. The census has long been the benchmark for capturing a comprehensive, consolidated and accurate snapshot of the population.  However, various sources indicate that the current system of providing population and key socio-demographic statistics is no longer meeting all user needs.  

The Beyond 2011 programme will produce an options paper for Scottish Government ministers, describing the work that has been completed in the research phase and detailing the options for the next phases. 

As part of this research phase, NRS need to determine what the user requirements are for producing small area population and socio-demographic statistics and would like to invite your views.  A series of public engagement events in the morning and afternoon (times to be confirmed) of the 19th and 21st February 2013 will be held at the Dome, New Register House, Edinburgh (http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/contacts/opentime/colormap.html). 

If you would like to attend or for more information please contact beyond2011@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk by the 21st January 2013 and state your preferred date and session. 

The Beyond 2011 programme also has a group on the Knowledge Hub which can be accessed from https://knowledgehub.local.gov.uk/group/scottishbeyond2011programmebeyond2011scotland.  Registration is required.

North American Data Documentation Initiative Conference 2013

The call for papers for the North American Data Documentation Initiative 2013 Conference has been extended through January 31. http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/naddi/papers.shtml

Conference registration is also now open http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/naddi/registration.shtml  .

The North American Data Documentation Initiative Conference (NADDI) is an opportunity for those using DDI and those interested in learning more about it to come together and learn from each other. Patterned after the successful European DDI conference (EDDI), NADDI 2013 will be a two day conference with invited and contributed presentations. This conference should be of interest to both researchers and data professionals in the social sciences and other disciplines. Training sessions will follow the conference.

For more information about DDI see http://www.ddialliance.org/

2011 Census User Guide and Key Statistics interface

The 2011 Census User Guide brings together the information you need in order to understand and use statistics from the 2011 Census in England and Wales -

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/census-data/2011-census-user-guide/index.html

Newly available: information about variables and classifications, a comprehensive glossary, and a report about comparability over time. The guide also contains information about quality assurance, quality measures, comparability with other data sources, statistical disclosure control methods, coverage assessment and adjustment methods, and frequently asked questions.

The guide will expand over time as the releases become more detailed. In the meantime, let ONS know what you think.

The Key Statistics interface has now been updated (v2.5) and is available at the following link: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/census-data/index.html

This tool enables comparisons between 2001 and 2011 Census population estimates of selected tables and is available in both Office 2003 and 2007 versions.

ONS recommends that you replace any earlier versions you may have received or downloaded and now use this updated version.

 

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

2011 Census News and Events:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/the-2011-census/news-and-events/index.html

Manchester Statistical Society Meeting: The Quality of Data

The quality of data in Britain

 

Tuesday 15 January 2013 at 5.30pm (refreshments available from 5.15pm)

Jil Matheson

National Statistician, Head of the Government Statistical Service & Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority

Manchester Statistical Society

Questioning Social & Economic Issues

 President: Dr Philip Lund

http://www.manstatsoc.org/

Britain has a rich history of data that has been used to inform and influence public debate for many years. Our views around what we mean by ‘quality’ have been built on this tradition of data. But with mountains of data now being generated every day, are our traditional measures of quality still the right ones to use? The public increasingly only sees statistics through the media - so how can they know the quality of what they see, and how does this affect their trust in statistics? Statisticians need to consider where we fit in to this new world of data and how we respond to the challenges that it presents us.

 

Jil Matheson was appointed National Statistician, Head of the Government Statistical Service and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority in September 2009.

The meeting will be held at the Manchester Cathedral Visitor Centre, 10 Cateaton Street, Manchester M3 1SQ, starting at 5.30 and ending about 7pm.

Please notify your intention to attend by Friday 11 January 2013 at the latest. Bookings received after this date may not be accepted.

Please send an email to brian.robson@manchester.ac.uk if you are likely to attend.

Conference on statistics for adult social care policy

29 January 2013; 10am to 4pm;

Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX

The imperative for reform of the system of funding of social care in England has again been highlighted by the report of the Dilnot Commission, and the case for reform has been accepted in principle by the Government. However, the Dilnot Commission also highlighted the lack of a robust statistical base either for analysing the current social care situation or for monitoring and evaluating the effects of future changes in policy. 

This one day Statistics User Forum conference at the Royal Statistical Society will bring together social care policy analysts and data producers together with bodies concerned with the funding of social care, to explore the adequacy of existing statistics to analyse adult social care service availability, utilisation and costs. If we were designing a statistical monitoring system from scratch, what would it look like? What are the gaps in the current system and how might they be addressed? The aim is to identify the major issues for future study and to map out how they might be addressed, as well as providing some pointers for action in the short and medium term.  

The conference will interest a wide range of organisations in both the public and private sectors with an interest in the provision of adult social care data:

* Those concerned with social care policy

* Commissioners of social care data from surveys and from administrative sources
* Analysts and researchers in government, academia and research bodies
* Those concerned with social care policy delivery in both the public and private sectors

Further information and registration details are at:

http://tinyurl.com/ccfn2fe 

Fees are:

Full fee £95
RSS Fellow rate £65
RSS Student Fellow / Retired Fellow rate £45 ______

Consultation on MCS age 14 Survey

CLS is seeking advice from the academic, policy and practitioner communities on what should be covered in the age 14 survey of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), scheduled for 2015.

The latest stage of the MCS6 consultation is taking place from December 2012 to March 2013. We are asking academics, policy makers and other stakeholders to put forward their specific suggestions for content and questions. This information will then be summarised and presented for further debate the MCS6 consultative conference to be held on 27 March 2013 at the Institute of Education, University of London.

For more information see the CLS website:  http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/page.aspx?&sitesectionid=1110&sitesectiontitle=MCS+age+14+survey+consultation

Migration Statistics User Survey

The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) is examining the topic of migration statistics, as part of a programme of work on statistics and their use in government.  The PASC call for evidence is here: http://tinyurl.com/czwc3wg.

The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and the Statistics User Forum (SUF) will be submitting evidence to PASC in January.  It is important that this represents the views of the widest possible set of users, and to this end the RSS has put up a survey here to collect opinions:

 

http://surveys.rss.org.uk/v.asp?i=66134lennv

Your response to this survey will be a key input to the overall RSS and SUF response to PASC.  Please complete this survey by Wednesday 9th January to allow time for collation of views by the RSS and SUF.