Disaggregation of Social Report indicatorsData limitations restrict the extent of disaggregation Ideally, it would be possible to break down each indicator by sub-populations of interest, such as age, sex, ethnicity, socio-economic status, disability status and regional and local authority. Most indicators can be broken down by age, sex and ethnicity.3 For the majority of indicators, disaggregation by socio-economic status or disability status is not possible because the indicators rely on data sources that do not collect this type of information, or the sample sizes are too small to allow this type of breakdown. For some indicators (for example, unemployment and employment) detailed disaggregations are possible. However, the Social Report’s two-page format means we cannot include more information than we currently provide. There is an increasing demand for information on social wellbeing at a regional and local authority level. This largely results from the introduction of the Local Government Act 2002, which requires regional and local authorities to monitor community outcomes. In response to this demand, since 2005, we have disaggregated those Social Report indicators for which there is subnational data to regional and territorial authority boundaries. This information is intended to help local authorities identify areas of comparative strength and weakness within their communities, as well as to assist central government agencies in their work at a local level. This year, we have updated those indicators where more recent data is available, we have added a new indicator at the regional level of recorded offences and we have provided data on self-harm hospitalisations to supplement the regional suicide data. Time series information is provided where historical data is available. The regional and territorial authority indicators are in the regional section of the Social Report website. Information for the 16 regions only is published in companion books to the Social Report. |
