Comparing Small Area Statistics Across UK Nations:

Scale, time and availability

Small Area Stats EventEdinburgh, Scotland

5 October, 2010

Brian Webb / Cecilia WongCentre for Urban Policy Studies

School of Environment and DevelopmentUniversity of Manchester, UK

OUTLINE- The Housing and Neighbourhood Monitor- Indicator Selection- Comparison Difficulties

- Availability- Scale- Time

- Key Issues Noted In The Monitor- Conclusion

HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MONITOR

- The Joseph Rowntree Foundation HNM seeks to:

- provide a resource that brings together data on housing and neighbourhood trends across the UK

- support understanding of how long-term trends vary across the four nations of the UK

- assist in local, regional and national service planning by providing UK-wide maps of key indicators that enable people to compare different housing and neighbourhoods concerns across the four nations and different local areas

- provide an overall picture of key UK housing and neighbourhoods concerns.

HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MONITOR

Distinctiveness of the monitor:- UK-wide monitoring exercise reflecting developments in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland- The spatial scales of analysis cover the macro spatial level of the UK and the micro level of neighbourhood/local authority districts- The analysis considers how housing issues interact with wider neighbourhood characteristics to affect the overall trajectories of different types of neighbourhoods- It identifies major policy outcomes of housing and neighbourhood change by performing analysis of cross-cutting themes and by highlighting key policy implications

HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MONITOR

- Key housing & neighbourhood trends- Demographic trends- Economic climate - Labour market- Housing supply - House prices- Housing affordability - Homelessness- Housing and environmental quality

HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MONITOR

- Publications- UK wide report- Country specific reports

- England: Brownfield residential development in England- Wales: Regenerating Communities First Neighbourhoods in Wales (forthcoming) - Scotland: Delivering Affordable Housing in Troubled Times: Scotland National Report (forthcoming) - Northern Ireland: Housing Market Activity and Neighbourhood Renewal in Northern Ireland (forthcoming)

- Online web resource: www.hnm.org.uk

HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MONITOR

- Online web resource: www.hnm.org.uk

HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MONITOR

- Online web resource: www.hnm.org.uk

HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOOD MONITOR

- Online web resource: www.hnm.org.uk

INDICATOR SELECTION(AVAILABILITY)

- Stakeholder interviews and workshops were conducted with a variety of government and housing stakeholders to identify appropriate indicators for analysis.

- A number of ‘most applicable’ indicators were eventually dismissed due to lack of data availability at the small scale level

- In total 21 indicators were ultimately selected

INDICATOR SELECTION(AVAILABILITY)

- Of the indicators selected additional difficulties arose regarding definition of terms, eg:

- Homelessness (differing legislative definitions)- Burglaries (Scotland’s definition also includes attempts at burglary/housebreaking)- Household income (modelled mean income is used in England vs. Scotland which is based on the median of the gross weekly earnings vs. Northern Ireland which is based on survey information related to the median pay-week)

INDICATOR SELECTION(SCALE)

- Original intention to gather small area statistics

- Lack of availability at MSOA level for all countries led to a gradual shift towards LA level

- Makes neighbourhood analysis difficult

INDICATOR SELECTION

INDICATOR SELECTION

INDICATOR SELECTION(TIME)

- Time-series data at the small area level does not always correspond to like periods across each UK nation, such as financial years versus calendar years.- Survey based data is often collected over a single month but the months do not always align for all nations- Different base points also cause difficulties (household projections: England 2006-2031; Wales 2008-2033; Scotland 2008-2033; Northern Ireland 2008-2023)

KEY ISSUES NOTED IN THE MONITOR

- Supply: new build targets and suitable mechanisms?- Affordability: the changing face of the problem- Homelessness: key realm of policy divergence- Housing and environmental quality: the pros and cons of housing standards- Urban and neighbourhood regeneration: disjuncture between classic market failure regeneration and injecting private residential capital into city centres

CONCLUSIONS

- Improved coordination of small area level statistical data collection across the UK may be warranted in the future to allow for broader comparison of UK-wide trends

- Small area statistics at the neighbourhood level related to homelessness initiatives, urban regeneration, improved housing standards and housing supply and affordability are lacking across all four nations

- Analysing targeted government initiatives is challenging if data is only available at local authority level necessitating the continued collection of small area statistics to inform government policy evaluation both nationally and across the whole of the UK

THANK YOU

Dissemination website:

www.hnm.org.uk