Appendix 1
Changes to The Social Report 2006
There have been only minor changes to the outcome domains and indicators used in this year's edition of the social report.
Table AP1 Changes to the indicators in The Social Report 2006
| Outcome Domain |
Change |
| Knowledge and Skills |
The indicators have been reordered to reflect the typical progress of learning throughout a person's life |
| Cultural Identity |
The relevant hours for Māori Television and Prime Television have been added to the indicator Local content programming on New Zealand television |
| Leisure and Recreation |
The Participation in sport and active leisure indicator has been changed to pick up information from SPARC's Continuous Monitoring Survey 2005 |
| Physical Environment |
The Drinking water quality indicator has been redefined to cover the total population whose drinking water complies with the 2000 Drinking Water Standards of New Zealand relating to E. coli and Cryptosporidium |
| Social Connectedness |
The information on family/whānau activities is no longer being collected, so the second indicator in the domain focuses only on regular contact with family and friends |
Future Work
Although there have been no major changes to the outcome domains or indicators
in this year's social report, a number of areas were identified during consultation
as needing further work. These areas will be investigated as resources are
available as part of the ongoing social report work programme.
The Health domain currently has no robust indicator of mental health. While suicide captures some aspects of mental health, and is an important negative outcome in its own right, it is not necessarily strongly correlated with the overall prevalence of mental health issues. A key area for further work will be to identify a better measure of mental health.
The current indicator of perceived corruption is based on surveys from international
sources rather than reflecting how New Zealanders feel about their government.
Because it is primarily an international ranking, in which New Zealand is consistently
at the top, it is not particularly useful for tracking changes over time. An
indicator of trust in government may have value in place of, or in addition
to, the indicator of perceived corruption.
The Cultural Identity domain currently captures very little information about cultural groups other than those defined primarily by ethnicity. For example, the distinct linguistic and cultural group of people who are deaf and who use New Zealand Sign Language as their first or preferred language is not captured by the social report's existing cultural identity indicators. A priority for work in this domain is to investigate options for a more robust and inclusive indicator of the cultural vitality of different population groups.
The Leisure and Recreation outcome domain was introduced as part of The Social Report 2004. There is only a limited range of information available to provide indicators for this domain, and the scope of the domain has not been reviewed since it was introduced. Further work could usefully review the scope of the domain and investigate new indicators in this area.
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