Data Tools & Sources

An Equality and Diversity Data Tool (provided by Equality South West and South West Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership) can be found by clicking Diversity Data Tool (Update).

Equality South West and the South West Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership are committed to widening the visibility and understanding of inequalities affecting South West communities who experience prejudice and discrimination.  We jointly commissioned OSCI to produce a South West equality data tool. This tool is now available to view and utilise.

As you will see the data is available in excel spreadsheet format. The tool collates and disaggregates (where possible), by local area and by equality strand and socio-economic status, existing data from a wide range of reliable and widely used national data sets, and is capable of detailed interrogation and analysis for a range of local equality purposes.

There are a range of health warnings:

• First and foremost we are trailling something so we want views and inputs about the scope of what it offers and how it might be enhanced, what could be done to make it easier to use. Beyond that there are a range of further key issues and questions to address: how would we make the tool available, how would we keep it updated and maintained, would we offer training and support and perhaps most significantly who and where should this tool be 'owned' by in the SW. We will be addressing these key issues during the summer but as we do we wanted to give practitioners an opportunity to 'trial it'

• Not all the data are as robust, complete or reliable as they might be, particularly in relation to some equality groups. It is important that figures quoted in reports carry appropriate ‘health warnings’ about their reliability so as to avoid misleading applications and interpretations.

• Explanations and caveats are included in the tool under ‘Datasets’ on the ‘Welcome’ page and these should be quoted where the data are used.

• Finally, it is widely acknowledged that there are significant gaps in equality data that need to be addressed over time. As understanding grows about the complex effects of prejudice and discrimination on people’s lives, relevant data should become more readily available.

These revisions have resulted in corrections to previously published population estimates for many areas, some of which are quite significant. Since mid-year estimates are used as the denominator for many other statistics, this may have effects on other data series. Mid-year estimates have also previously formed a component in the formulae used to allocate government grant to local authorities, therefore there may be local government finance implications.

Details of corrections caused by the improved methodology are available at the webpage above. This includes a further ONS analysis tool, that produces tables and charts of the impacts of the improvements; for convenience, this is also attached here (available by clicking here).

The latest ONS Population Estimates by Ethnic Group (experimental) from mid-2007, which were included on the GOSW / ONS SW Interactive Population Tool, can be found by clicking here.

Population Change vs. Economic Growth Resource - This analyses illustrates the relationship between population change and economic growth, intended as a starting point for discussion on what questions the evidence raises.

For more information on this, and an online discussion see Population Projections.