ABI Annual Business Inquiry - a survey of employers and employees undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Affordable Housing There is now an agreed definition of affordable housing, contained within PPS3. It includes "social rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market". It does NOT include low cost market housing. http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/planningpolicystatement3.pdf.
Anti Social Behaviour Anti-social behaviour is any aggressive, intimidating or destructive activity that damages or destroys another person"s quality of life. The measure of perceptions of high levels of anti-social behaviour in the British Crime Survey is a composite measure based on seven individual ASB questions relating to: teenagers hanging around, vandalism/graffiti/other deliberate damage, drug use or dealing, drunk or rowdy behaviour, noisy neighbours or loud parties, rubbish or litter, abandoned or burnt out cars.
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Designated primarily for the conservation of landscape.
ASHE Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings - a survey of employees that collects data on earnings and hours worked.
APS Annual Population Survey - a resident based labour market survey carried out by ONS.
Biodiversity Action Plan species and habitats 1,149 species and 65 habitats listed as priorities for conservation under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
Biological capacity The amount of biologically productive area on land and sea that is available to meet human needs.
BIS Department for Business Innovation and Skills.
British Crime Survey (BCS) Measures the amount of crime in England and Wales by asking people about crimes they have experienced in the last year. The BCS includes crimes which are not reported to the police, so it is an important alternative to police records. The BCS also asks about other topics, such as people’s perceptions of anti-social behaviour and attitudes towards the criminal justice system, including the police and the courts.
BTO British Trust for Ornithology.
Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies Six-year plans detailing how the Environment Agency is going to manage water resources in your area.
Census A ten yearly count of all people and households, last held on 29th April 01; the most complete source of information about the population. The next Census will be in 2011.
Citizenship Survey A biennial survey of adults in England and Wales, covering a range of community based issues including views about the local area, racial and religious prejudice and discrimination, involvement in the community, civil renewal, volunteering and charitable giving.
Claimant Count The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits (Jobseeker"s Allowance and National Insurance Credits).
Claimant Count Rate The percentage of the working age resident population claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or National Insurance Credits.
CO 2
Carbon dioxide.
Communities and Local Government Government Department created in May 2006 from the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The Department’s remit includes creating better communities, local government, housing and planning, fire and resilience, and equalities.
Comprehensive Area Assessment Assessment of how well public services are delivered in an area by all service providers. Replaced Comprehensive Performance Assessment in April 2009.
Confidence Interval A quantification of the degree of uncertainty in estimated values, expressed as a lower and upper value for a range of values within which the true value of an estimated measure is likely to lie. For instance, a 95% confidence interval for a rate would define a range of values within which we can be 95% sure that the real value for the rate lies.
Constant Prices All values of an indicator are referenced to a particular time period. This means that inflation is taken into account. Any change in the variable between years reflects an underlying change and therefore constant prices enable comparisons between years. An indicator which has been adjusted for prices is also refered to as ‘real’ e.g. real GDP. See also real GVA.
County Council Upper-tier local authority in two-tier structure of local government.
Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership A combination of police, local authorities and other organisations working together to tackle crime and disorder at the local level.
DCMS Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
DCSF Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Defra Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
DET An online interactive web-based toolkit for accessing and using information about the cultural sector.
Dependency ratio Individuals aged over 65 as a proportion of the working age population.
Deprived Super Output Area (SOA) Taken here as being in the most deprived 10% in England.
DfES Department for Education and Skills.
DfT Department for Transport.
District Council Local authority that lies within a county in tow-tier structure of local government.
DWP Department of Work and Pensions.
Earnings A measure of the money people receive in return for work done gross of tax. It includes salaries and bonuses but does not include non-monetary perks such as benefits in kind. This differs from income, which is the amount of money received from all sources.
Eco footprint A comprehensive account of the resources that a population consumed, measuring the balance between human demand and nature’s supply.
Economically Active Includes those that are employed (including self-employed), unemployed and actively looking for work, are on a government supported employment and training programme, or are working unpaid for a family member.
Economically Inactive People who are not in employment, but do not satisfy all the criteria for UK unemployment. This group includes those who want a job but who have not been seeking work in the last 4 weeks, those who want a job and are seeking work but not available to start and those who do not want a job.
Employment There are two main ways of looking at employment: either the number of people with jobs or the number of jobs. The number of people in employment is measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and includes employees, the self-employed, participants in government training schemes and people doing unpaid family work. The number of jobs is measured by workforce jobs and is the sum of employee jobs, self employment jobs from the LFS, those in HM Forces, and government-supported trainees.
Employment Rate The number of people in employment expressed as a percentage of the relevant working age population.
Expenditure and Food Survey Is a continuous survey of household expenditure, food consumption and income.
Extra-Regio This accounts for economic activity that cannot be assigned to any specific region. For the UK this consists of offshore oil and gas extraction and the activities of UK embassies and forces overseas.
Flytipping The illegal dumping of waste.
GCE/VCE General Certificate of Education/Vocational Certificate of Education.
GCSE/GNVQ General Certificate of Secondary Education/General National Vocational.
GDHI Gross Disposable Household Income - a measure of what is available for households to spend or save once taxes, social contributions, pension contributions and property ownership have been taken into account.
GDP Gross Domestic Product - a measure of the value of goods and services produced in the UK before providing for capital consumption. It is equal to GVA (gross value added) at basic prices plus taxes less subsidies on products.
General Quality Assessment (GQA) Headline Indicator An assessment used by the Environment Agency to assess river water quality in terms of chemistry, biology and nutrients. GQA will continue to be used by the Government as a national headline indicator and will overlap with Water Framework Directive reporting.
Global hectares How much productive land and sea is available to provide the energy, food and materials that we use in our everyday lives.
Government Office for the South West Agency of central Government for the South West region. GOSW represents and acts on behalf of 12 Whitehall Departments.
Greenhouse gas Emissions of a ‘basket’ of six key gases that are accelerating climate change. These include carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4), nitrous oxide (N 2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF 6).
Groundwater Water that has soaked into the ground, flowing as underground streams and aquifers.
GVA Gross Value Added (GVA) is a measure of total economic output and describes the total value of goods and services produced through economic activity in any particular period.
- Nominal GVA: Measures GVA in ‘current prices’ i.e. value of transactions in the prices relating to the period being measured. Includes effects of inflation.
- Real GVA: see constant prices
GVA per Head Gross Value Added per head of resident population. This measure is a useful indicator of the relative economic performance of regions as it takes account of variations in geographical size and population.
HEIs Higher Education Institutions.
Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) A widely used small area index of economic, health, educational and social deprivation produced by ODPM (Department now called Communities and Local Government).
Jobcentre Plus (JCP) Jobcentre Plus is an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions. It provides services that support people of working age from welfare into work, and helps employers to fill their vacancies.
Landfill capacity The amount of space or ‘capacity’ remaining in permitted landfill sites, expressed as cubic metres.
Listed buildings Marking and celebrating a building"s special architectural and historic interest. This English Heirtage designation also brings a building under the consideration of the planning system so that some thought will be taken about its future.
Local Air Quality Management Areas (LAQM) If an area is not likely to achieve air quality objectives, a local authority must designate a LAQM as well as prepare and implement remedial action plans to tackle the problem.
Local Area Agreement Three-year funding arrangement between central Government and a local area, represented by a local authority and other key partners through the Local Strategic Partnership.
LEA Local Education Authority.
Local Strategic Partnership Single non-statutory body in a local area that brings together key service providers from the public, private, business, community and voluntary sectors.
Low Income Households Commonly defined as those receiving less than 60% of the national median household income.
MEP Member of the European Parliament.
Multi Area Agreement (MAA) Voluntary three-year agreement between two or more county or unitary councils, their local partners and Government for an area that extends across local authority boundaries.
MP Member of (UK) Parliament.
Municipal waste All waste under the control of local authorities.
Natural Change Population change resulting from the difference between birth and death rates - not migration.
Nominal Values are not in constant prices and therefore do not take inflation into account.
NOMIS A web-based database of labour market statistics.
NUTS Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. The South West is a NUTS1 area; there are seven NUTS2 areas in the region - Cornwall and Isles of Scilly; Devon; Dorset and Somerset; and Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and North Somerset (which includes all the former Avon area).
NVQ National vocational qualifications - work-related, competence-based qualifications which reflect the skills and knowledge needed to do a job effectively.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) Former Government Department. In May 2006, with added responsibilities, this became Communities and Local Government.
ONS Office for National Statistics.
PAYE Pay As You Earn - a method of paying income tax and national insurance contributions where an employer deducts tax and national insurance contributions from your wages or occupational pensions.
Pensionable age Defined in this document as 60+ (Female) and 65+ (Male).
Productivity The amount of economic output (GVA) generated from a given level of input. This is normally labour input, namely, the number of filled jobs and the number of hours worked. GVA per head is often used as a broad proxy of productivity but it is a far from perfect measure. GVA per hour worked or GVA per full time equivalent worker is a better measure of productivity.
RCDF Regional Cultural Data Framework.
Recorded Crime Figures based on crimes recorded by the police, compiled from police returns to the Home Office.
Regional Economic Strategy (RES) 10-year strategy document, co-ordinated and reviewed by the South West Regional Development Agency on behalf of the region, which provides a framework for all economic development activity in the South West. The latest review of the RES, for 2006–2015, was launched in May 2006.
Regional Grand Committee Meeting of all MPs in an English region to put questions directly to the Regional Minister.
Regional Minister One of nine Government ministers with responsibility, and acting as a figurehead for, a specific English region.
Regional Select Committee One of nine Government committees responsible for scrutinising the work of the agencies within a specific English region.
R-ISEW Regional Index of Sustainable Economic Well-being - a composite measure of well-being developed by the New Economics Foundation. Income and GVA are adjusted to take into account environmental and social factors.
RSPB Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
S106 agreements: Section 106 (S106) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a local planning authority (LPA) to enter into a legally-binding agreement or planning obligation with a landowner in association with the granting of planning permission. They are increasingly used to support the provision of services and infrastructure, such as highways, recreational facilities, education, health and affordable housing.
Scheduled Ancient Monuments Archaeological Sites designated by DCMS, so that permission is required for works to the monument.
SEN Special Educational Needs.
SIC (2003) Standard Industrial Classification (2003 version).
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) Nationally important nature conservation sites which support England’s best wildlife and geology.
SMR Standardized Mortality Ratio. A method used to determine if mortality in an area is high or low compared to some reference area.
Social enterprise A social enterprise is a business that is driven by social and environmental purposes. Any profits are typically re-invested to further their goals.
SOA (Super output area) 2001 Census-based statistical reporting unit. The "lower tier" SOAs have an average of 1500 residents.
South West Councils Brings together the 41 local authorities in the region to provide a voice for consituent local authorities in the region (see http://www.swcouncils.gov.uk for full description of function).
South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) Non-departmental public body, directly funded by Government, tasked with ensuring the long-term economic success of the South West.
South West Regional Economic Group Forum of South West organisations working together to better understand, and mitigate against, the effects of the recession, and to prepare for recovery. Chaired by the Regional Minister.
SRR Standardised Registration Ratio. A method used to determine if the registrations of disease in an area is high or low compared to a reference area.
The Strategic Leaders’ Board is the executive arm of South West Councils . The Strategic Leaders" Board received responsibilities for Planning, Transport and Housing formerly undertaken by the Regional Assembly in May 2009.
Third Sector Commonly used to describe the Voluntary and Community Sector.
Two tier council Structure of local government where responsibilities are shared between a county council and its component district councils.
UKCIP United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. Helps organisations to adapt to inevitable climate change.
Unemployment Measured by (1) data collected and published using the ILO definition (see below) and (2) the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits (see claimant count).
Unemployment (ILO) People who are: not in employment, want a job, have actively sought work in the previous four weeks and are available to start work within the next fortnight, or, out of work and have accepted a job which they are waiting to start in the next fortnight.
Unemployment rate The widely quoted unemployment rate is the number of ILO defined unemployed people expressed as a percentage of the relevant economically active population.
Unitary Authority A local authority with responsibility for all local government functions in their area.
Urban and Rural The LA Classification was introduced in 2005 as a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) initiative and was delivered by the Rural Evidence Research Centre at Birkbeck College (RERC). In April 2009 significant local government reorganisation meant that a change to the LA classification methodology was required. Additional classifications using the revised methodology have been created for a range of higher level geographies. See: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/lac.asp.
VAT Value Added Tax - a tax that is charged on most goods and services that VAT-registered businesses provide in the UK. All businesses with a turnover of over £68,000 are required to register for VAT.
Water Framework Directive A European Directive that came into force in December 2000 and became law in December 2003. It provides the Environment Agency the opportunity to plan and deliver a better water environment, focussing on ecology.
Working Age A woman aged 16 to 59 or a man aged 16 to 64.
Workless household A household that includes at least one person of working age where no one aged 16 or over is in employment.
