Equality Evidence Newsletter - Issue 6: June 2010

Office for National Statistics Improving Equality Data Newsletter

The Office for National Statistics Equalities and Wellbeing branch produce a newsletter to inform users of research which is currently being undertaken and to highlight key milestones in equality issues. Examples of the topics in recent editions include harmonisation, non-household populations and the equality measurement framework (EMF).

Office for National Statistics website: Equality data review newsletters

Analysing Equality Data

On June 15th the Statistical Directorate published ‘Guidance on Analysing Equality Data’. This statistical article provides key guidance on using equality data in Wales including information on sources, definitions, limitations and developments. The article is organised by strand and was designed as an accompaniment for the Using Equality Evidence Seminar taking place in September.

Welsh Assembly Government Equality Theme Page

The Welsh Assembly Government’s Statistical Directorate have updated and improved their Equality Statistics Theme Page following feedback from users.
The aim of the improvements was to ensure that equality data can be accessed in a more streamlined and focussed way. The new pages can be navigated by equality strand and bring together statistical data and information on equality issues. Details of statistical publications, data sets and links to relevant information on external websites are included.

We would very much appreciate any feedback on the theme page. Please forward any comments to stats.popcensus@wales.gsi.gov.uk.

Using Equality Evidence Seminar

The Welsh Assembly Government in conjunction with the Welsh Local Government Association, the National Health Service and the Equality and Human Rights Commission are hosting two seminars (one in North Wales and one in South Wales) focusing on using equality evidence. These are pilot seminars targeted towards NHS and local government equality practitioners and they will be rolled-out more widely later in 2010.

The seminars aim to examine what equality evidence is, why equality evidence is important and how equality evidence can be used in the development of a policy or service. The seminars will also cover the types of equality evidence available and offer advice on what people can do if they cannot find the evidence they need.

Good Relations Framework

Work is ongoing to establish a Good Relations Measurement Framework in time for the Equality and Human Rights Commission triennial report.
Good relations is a relatively new concept which looks at how people ‘get along’ and the Good Relations Measurement Framework (GRMF) aims to produce a set of indicators that cover the current state of good relations using four domains:

• Attitudes
• Personal security
• Interaction with others
• Participation and influence

Following consultation a final report has been drafted and publication is due later in 2010.

Older People in Wales Report

The Statistical Directorate have published updates for the ‘Older People in Wales’ report, which presents data on the indicators that monitor progress against the Welsh Assembly Government’s Strategy for Older People in Wales. The indicators that have been updated are:

• StatsWales website: Indicator 1a: Percentage of people aged 50+ who report that their lives are greatly affected by fear of crime
• StatsWales website: Indicator 4: Participation by people aged 50+ in any sport or activity during a four-week period
• StatsWales website: Indicator 5: Rate of people aged 65+ helped to live at home, per 1,000 population aged 65+
• Statswales webiste: Indicator 8: Average number of years that a person aged 65 can expect to live in good or fairly good health, based on people's own assessment of their general health
• Statswales website: Indicator 9: Average number of years that a person aged 65 can expect to live free from long-term limiting illness

Further updates will be published in September 2010.
The full set of data, analysis and notes on all the indicators are available through the StatsWales website: Older people in Wales.

Contact information

For further information on any of the above topics please contact Sam Grant, Statistical Directorate, Welsh Assembly Government:

Tel: (029) 2082 6023
Fax: (029) 2082 5350
E-mail: stats.popcensus@wales.gsi.gov.uk