Paper 05/11e - SCOTTISH POPULATION SURVEYS CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE
EQUALITIES AND POPULATION SURVEYS
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Purpose
1. This paper sets out some of the recent developments relating to equalities and population surveys. Members are asked to note progress and future plans.
Use of surveys to generate equalities data
2. Population surveys can help to identify inequities among the Scottish population and as such, penetrating breakdowns of the population for a range of outcome variables can help to target policy interventions more effectively.
3. Another important function of surveys is their potential to measure progress towards achieving a more equitable society. If surveys can be carefully shaped with relevant outcomes measures in mind, data derived from surveys alone may be sufficient to inform policy objectives, avoiding the need to commission separate (and sometimes expensive) pieces of work.
4. In some cases, small numbers will be a fact of life and where there is an unavoidable dearth of information on particular groups, it may be justifiable to conduct smaller, separate surveys on specific social groups. However, one-off surveys may not be the most cost-effective way to fill gaps if it is possible to make comparatively less expensive adjustments to existing national surveys (e.g. sample boosts) to generate relevant information.
SE commitment to better data on equalities groups
5. The mainstreaming agenda argues that statistical information on different groups should now be viewed as having equal status to the main data set and not provided as an 'add on'. In the 2000-01 Scottish Executive Statistical Plan the Scottish Executive statistics service committed itself to "Take forward the commitments in the Equality Strategy to provide better disaggregated data on relevant groups, by exploiting data more effectively, identifying data gaps and planning how to fill them". http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/mper-06.asp
6. Although all this suggests that equalities data must be collected, disaggregated and reported routinely, it is also been acknowledged during recent discussions that survey design and analysis should also be more purposeful and shaped to match policy objectives.
7. There is a considerable amount of work already underway to improve data collection and dissemination.
Harmonised questions
8. The harmonisation and realignment work being carried out by OCS is considering the equalities outputs from the large scale surveys. Work will also be undertaken on the use of harmonised equalities questions in large scale surveys. Work will also be undertaken on deciding the content of a core socio-economic set of questions.
Coverage
9. There have been recent discussions at the Scottish Household Survey Technical Group about the questions on employment and training and whether it is appropriate to use an age cut-off. Similar questions may be applicable to other topics and large scale surveys.
Ethnicity
Ethnic Identity Classifications
10. OCS ran the Review of Census Ethnicity Classifications Consultation between 23rd June and 15th September 2005. The aim of the consultation was to gather the views of data providers and data users on a set of proposals to review the ethnic identity question that was used in the 2001 Census. The review is based on a commitment made by Scottish Ministers to review the ethnicity classification based on recommendations made by REAF in 2001 and address concerns raised by certain communities. An analysis of the consultation responses has been prepared by an independent research company and these will be published in mid November. The results of the consultation, together with the findings of the earlier SE research on Ethnic Identity and the Census will help to inform SE recommendations to the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) about the ethnic identity classifications to be used in the 2011 Census. The recommendation will be submitted to GROS on 14th November for inclusion in the 2006 Census Test to be undertaken in spring 2006.
Labour Force Survey
11. OCS has actively pursued options to secure a minority ethnic boost to the Labour Force Survey in Scotland. Whilst OCS would look to fund a boost, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not have the capacity to undertake this work on our behalf. OCS and ETLLD are due to have discussion shortly to discuss the possibility of contracting out this work.
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics
12. Work continues to provide SNS data disaggregated by the main equality themes where the data allows for this and does not compromise acceptable sample sizes and/or disclosure rules/ parameters.
Disability
13. The Social Focus on Disability made extensive use of survey data . It was published in August 2004 and explores the characteristics and position of disabled people in Scotland. This has been provided to departments to help inform relevant policies and is also available to the general public.
14. GROS will also include two new questions on disability in the Census Test that will run next year.
Gender
15. OCS is developing a short analysis of gender including the most up to date statistics available.
Conclusion
16. It should be noted that current reviews and on-going work to develop and improve population surveys have presented an opportunity to configure surveys to accommodate future evidence needs. Considerations of equalities priorities are an aspect of survey reviews and are part of a longer term strategy to develop Scottish population surveys.
Catherine Bissett
DD:ASD
Equalities Research Team