This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics website
22/06/2004
The Executive released its Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) Internet site today.
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics is the Executive's on-going programme to improve the availability, consistency and accessibility of small area statistics in Scotland.
This information is being used to inform the Executive's approach to improving the quality of life for people living in Scotland and especially in the most disadvantaged areas. The information will support a number of the Executive's targets and commitments aimed at closing the gap between disadvantaged areas and the rest of Scotland.
The information will be invaluable to Community Planning Partnerships and public sector agencies where the availability of up-to-date high quality information is crucial to the way in which services are developed and delivered and issues of local concern are addressed. It will also help local people and community groups bring together information to support funding and grant applications.
The Internet site is the main way in which the Executive will disseminate the range of small area statistics.
The Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics programme is transforming the information available for small areas by:
- increasing the breadth and depth of small area data sources across government;
- introducing a stable and common small area geography (data zones) for statistics across government; and
- making information accessible to a wide range of users, through the Internet.
Users across Scotland have welcomed SNS programme and see it as a good example of the way the Executive is working with its partners to significantly boost the two-way flow of information.
The site includes over five million data items.
The following small area statistical indicators are included:
- EDUCATION - statistics from the Scottish Qualifications Authority on pupil attainment;
- HEALTH - statistics from NHS Scotland Information and Statistics Division on immunisation and hospital episodes;
- BENEFITS - statistics from the Department of Work and Pensions on key employment and welfare benefits;
- DEPRIVATION - statistics from the Scottish Executive's Index of Multiple Deprivation;
- POPULATION - statistics from the General Register Office for Scotland on births, deaths and population estimates; and
- ACCESS TO SERVICES - statistics on drive times to various key services.
A prototype SNS Internet system was launched in 2003.
In the future, Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics will be updated on a quarterly basis which will allow the Scottish Executive to respond to data gaps and user priorities.
The Scottish Executive's Index of Multiple Deprivation was released on June 14 2004 and is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/SIMD2004Mapping
The Office for National Statistics are developing a comparable service for England and Wales ( www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk).