Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been speaking about “Data Engagement and Local Information Systems” at the InstantAtlas User Conferences that took place in Rochdale and London. It was great to meet so many InstantAtlas and Data Pack users, and we hope the talk was a useful one. For those interested, the slides are below - click here to download them from Slideshare and to view slide notes for more context.

The conference is open to data professionals, researchers and LIS practitioners.  These days are open to any organisation, not just Instant Atlas or Data Packs customers.

Numbers are limited however, so register here to reserve a place.

The Data Packs version 2.3 update provides users with the latest data, benchmarks and outputs available for all geographies.

Major new datasets in this version include:

• Number of VAT and/or PAYE based enterprises by turnover size;
• Births by ethnicity of baby;
• Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010 underlying indicators.

Major updated datasets include:

• Mortality rates from key conditions;
• Life expectancy;
• Recorded crime;
• Affordable housing supply;
• Annual Population Survey updates (available down to Local Authority District level);
• Key benefits including Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment Support Allowance (and Incapacity Benefit), Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Housing Benefit, and Council Tax Benefit (updated to the most recently available date);
• Council tax benefit and housing benefit updates;
• Housing market updates – House prices and transactions.

Major publisher revisions to existing datasets include:

• Housing by type (denominator revision to include all household spaces – including those that are not occupied);
• Pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) by their primary type of need (numerator revision for 2010 to include secondary school pupils and denominator revision to include only pupils with Special Educational Needs).

The full lists of new and updated datasets are in the User area (login required), including details of all indicators in the Data Packs.

Major new datasets

Enterprises by turnover size: The ONS have published new data on the number of VAT and/or PAYE based enterprises by turnover size. These are taken from a snapshot of the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) taken on 28 March 2011. Turnover provided to the ONS for the majority of traders is based on VAT returns for a 12 month period. Data is provided in Data Packs down to Local Authority level.

Employee jobs data: The ONS have released new labour market data covering the total number of jobs in a local area with breakdowns by main industry of employment. The data can be used to assess the employment opportunities in the local area. Data is also available with breakdowns by public/private sector employment, which can be used to identify areas with high levels of public sector dependency.

Births by ethnicity: The ONS have published records of live births by ethnicity of baby. The ethnicity of the baby is defined by the mother; in a number of cases the ethnicity was not recorded. The figures are taken for births over a four year period between 2005 and 2008. Data is available in Data Packs down to Local Authority level.

Index of Multiple Deprivation underlying indicators: The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has released some of the underlying indicators that were used to construct the English Indices of Deprivation 2010. Most indicators relate to a 2008 time point. The indicators are released at Lower layer Super Output Area (LSOA) level.  Crime data cannot be made publicly available and so this domain is not presented in the Data Packs.

Major updated datasets

Mortality for key health conditions: The NHS Information Centre (NHS-IC) have developed a new indicator portal (http://indicators.ic.nhs.uk.) bringing together key health data from a range of sources. A number of updates to key mortality datasets have been published on this portal. Data is available down to Local Authority level and is age standardised and includes:

• Cancer mortality (updated for 2008-2010­);
• Circulatory disease mortality (updated for 2008-2010­);
• Suicide mortality (updated for 2007-2009­);
• Mortality from bronchitis and emphysema (updated for 2009);
• Mortality from diabetes (updated for 2009);
• Life expectancy: male, female at birth and aged 65+ (updated for 2008-2010­).

Affordable housing supply: A range of housing market data has been updated in the Data Packs. Mean, median, and lower quartile house price data has been provided for the second quarter of 2011. The number of property transactions over this period has also been provided. Information on the number of dwelling broken down by council tax band has also been updated in the system for 2010 and 2011. This provides information on number of properties within each price bracket for all of the dwelling stock in the area. DCLG has also provided updates relating to the availability of affordable housing, with figures on the numbers of additional affordable housing (both social rented and shared ownership) for 2010/11.

Recorded crime: Police recorded crime rates for the 2010/11 period have been added to Data Packs. Police statistics provide a good measure of trends in well-reported crimes, are an important indicator of police workload, and can be used for local crime pattern analysis. Data is available down to Local Authority level for the following key crime types: Wounding; Criminal Damage; Harassment; Theft from a person; Burglary of a non domestic dwelling; Common Assault.

DWP Benefit updates – May 2011: Data for a range of key DWP benefit datasets has been updated for February to LSOA level. These datasets capture measures of worklessness, low income and poor health and disability. The following indicators are included: Income Support; Carer’s Allowance claimants; Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance; Jobseeker’s Allowance; Attendance Allowance; Disability Living Allowance; Pension Credit; State Pension; Widows Benefit; Employment Support Allowance.

Annual Population Survey updates: The Annual Population Survey (APS) has been updated for April 2010 – March 2011 to Local Authority level. The APS is a key source of employment and skills data providing estimates of levels of economic activity for key equalities groups including age, gender, and disability.

The full lists of new and updated datasets are in the User area (login required), including details of all indicators in the Data Packs.

We talked to Mick Dunn, the GIS, Data and Information Business Manager and Wendy Conibear, the Senior Mapping Officer at Nottingham City Council to find out more about the LIS and how they have been using Data Packs to keep up with ever-growing local needs for in-depth information on neighbourhoods and trends over time.

Background

Nottingham Insight was initially built from an in-house GIS system, which supported data and maps at a neighbourhood level. As local need grew for reliable, up-to-date and easy-to-use data, the system was initially extended by integrating the existing system into Instant Atlas Desktop (www.instantatlas.com). This served Nottingham’s needs well for some time, but as the required volume of data continued to increase further, it was necessary to upgrade the system to Instant Atlas Server.

In order to meet the demand for a comprehensive range of public domain data, the Nottingham team decided to enhance the content of the system by integrating the OCSI Data Packs. Combined with locally collected data and the extensive documents hub already in place, this made the whole range of required information instantly available to users.

“We decided on Data Packs because the demand for national data was increasingly burdensome for us to meet – people are increasingly needing historic and in depth information”

Benefits of Data Packs

Meeting local need for national data

Faced with the demand for reliable and usable national data, Mick explained how it made sense to populate Nottingham Insight with the OCSI Data Packs content. As well the city of Nottingham, the packs provide content for all districts across the county, with the system providing different home-pages for the different local authority areas. In addition, the team continue to collect and input their own locally collected data – enabling them to meet data needs for all users:

“Data Packs were particularly appealing as they strongly relate to the JSNA and Community Strategy requirements”

Saving time and resources

Mick stressed that, since enhancing the LIS with the packs, the LIS team had saved a considerable amount of time over collecting and managing the data themselves. And due to the packs being formatted for Instant Atlas, Nottingham were able to load content directly into the system using minimal staff time.

“The speed of the Data Packs installation allowed us to get our enhanced LIS up and running so much quicker”

“I don’t need to carry out a cost/benefit analysis of Data Packs – it is clear to me that having them saves a lot of time and money that would have been spent on harvesting this data”

Easy to use

On loading into the system, content from the Data Packs is automatically sorted into pre-defined themes. As well as the underlying datasets and metadata, the packs define a set of ‘Data Profiles’, easy-to-configure reports that present the data as charts, tables, maps etc.

Wendy Conibear, responsible for managing the Nottingham Insight content, explained that the time saving due to the Data Packs allows her to focus on adding-value to the information for users, presenting the data in more effective ways. Presently, she is developing two new Data Profiles to be presented on the system: ‘Equality and Diversity’ and ‘Educational Improvement’. Once these profiles are set up, users will be able to instantly access the relevant indicators in a rich visual format.

Supporting local users and funding bids

A wide range of people have been actively using Nottingham Insight, including commissioners, service providers and the Voluntary & Community Sector.

Many voluntary organisations based in Nottingham use the information to support funding bids. For example, OSCAR received £10,000 from the Big Lottery ‘Awards for All’ programme to support sickle cell anaemia sufferers locally, using information and data held on the system to demonstrate the importance of the project in their funding bid. They did this by highlighting how their work fitted with key priorities for Nottingham (reducing the gap in health inequality and reducing the number of overweight adults), and by showing that they were targeting a group (19-24 age group) where there was a gap in current services.

“I would recommend Data Packs to anyone. OCSI have been fantastic, I cannot fault them. They have been very supportive and responsive to any questions or suggestions we have had along the way”

The Data Packs v2.2 update provides users with the latest data, benchmarks and outputs available for all geographies.

Major new datasets in this version  include:

• Standardised mortality ratios and emergency hospital admissions for key health conditions
• Overall crime rates
• Broadband availability

Major updated datasets in this version include:

• Mid Year Estimates 2010
• Earnings data (resident and workplace mean and median earnings)
• Crime in England and Wales
• Qualification levels
• Vulnerable children datasets, including children in need
• Pupil attainment by pupil characteristics
• Pupil characteristics (including language, ethnicity and pupils eligible for Free School Meals)
• Births data (country of birth of mother, fertility, teenage conceptions, infant mortality)
• Annual Population Survey updates (available down to Local Authority District level)
• Key benefits including Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment Support Allowance (and Incapacity Benefit), Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Housing Benefit, and Council Tax Benefit (updated to the most recently available date)
• Deaths: Monthly death rates
• Council tax benefit and housing benefit updates
• Housing market updates – Houseprices and transactions

Major publisher revisions to existing datasets include:

• Annual Population Survey: Data re-weighted for all timepoints back to 2004
• Earnings data: Data revised for all pre 2010 timepoints (publisher revision)
• Derived rates: All rates using Mid Year population estimates have been revised for 2010 and 2011.
• Additional descriptions for dynamic rates

The full list of new and updated datasets are in the User area (login required), including details of all indicators in the Data Packs.

Major new datasets

Standardised mortality ratios and emergency hospital admissions for key health conditions: The Office of National Statistics have published a range of mortality datasets down to sub-district level in order for users to examine health inequalities within their local areas. Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMR) have been published for a range of key conditions

• All causes
• Circulatory disease
• Cancer
• Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)
• Respiratory disease
• Stroke

Overall crime rates: The Home Office publishes a measure of the overall crime rate across Local Authorities: the Recorded Crime – British Crime Survey (BCS) comparator offences. To enable local level comparisons, these datasets are for a selection of crimes recorded in the British Crime Survey, but the figures are taken from police recorded crime data. Data is updated annually; we have provided the last two years worth of data (2009/10 and 2010/11) in the Data Packs and plan to backdate this indicator as part of future updates.

Broadband availability: Ofcom have compiled data on the average take-up and speed of broadband and availability of superfast broadband. Data is up-to-date as of 2011 and is available for all Local Authorities in Britain.

Major updated datasets

Mid-Year Estimates 2010: The 2010 Mid-Year Estimates have been added to the Data Packs, providing breakdowns of the population by age and gender. Data is available down to Lower Layer Super Output Area for broad age bands and Middle Layer Super Output Area for five year age breakdowns. Data is published by the Office for National Statistics. MYE populations are used as the denominators for the majority of rates in the Data Packs. Indicators showing rates for 2010 have therefore also been revised.

Recorded crime: Police recorded crime rates for the 2010/11 period have been added to Data Packs. Police statistics provide a good measure of trends in well-reported crimes, are an important indicator of police workload, and can be used for local crime pattern analysis. Data is available down to Local Authority level for the following key crime types: Violence against the person; Sexual Offences; Burglary; Robbery; Vehicle Crime.

DWP Benefit updates for February 2011: Data for a range of key DWP benefit datasets has been updated for February to LSOA level. These datasets capture measures of worklessness, low income and poor health and disability. The following indicators are included: Income Support; Carer’s Allowance claimants; Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance; Jobseeker’s Allowance; Attendance Allowance; Disability Living Allowance; Pension Credit; State Pension; Widows Benefit; Employment Support Allowance.

Qualification levels: Data on the proportion of people by level of qualification has been updated for 2010. The update includes qualification levels of the working age population and the economically active population as well as information on people with no qualifications who are economically active. Data is taken from the Annual Population Survey and is available down to Local Authority District level.

Annual Population Survey updates: The Annual Population Survey (APS) has been updated for January 2010 – December 2010 to Local Authority level. The APS is a key source of employment and skills data providing estimates of levels of economic activity for key equalities groups including age, gender, and disability.

Pupil attainment by pupil characteristics:  Neighbourhood statistics have released a range of pupil attainment datasets covering the academic year 2009/10. Data is based on the location of where the pupil resides rather than where they attend school. Data is available broken down by a) gender b) ethnicity c) free school meal eligibility. Data on the following examinations are included: Early Years Foundation Profile, Key Stage 1; Key Stage 2; GCSE; GCE/VCE/Applied A/AS. Data is available to LSOA, MSOA or Local Authority level (depending on the dataset).

Pupil characteristics: Data on pupil characteristics including gender, ethnicity, language, free school meal eligibility and information on attendance and absence has been updated for 2010. Data is taken from the School Census and is all available down to MSOA level (with the exception of pupil ethnicity and pupils with English as an additional language, which are available down to Local Authority level).

The full list of new and updated datasets are in the User area (login required), including details of all indicators in the Data Packs.

Coventry’s Local Information System, ‘Facts about Coventry’ (www.facts-about-coventry.com), was set up in November 2010 by the Coventry Partnership. It set out to offer citizens and service providers a single point of reference for information about the public services people use, and background contextual information about the place itself.

Facts about Coventry primarily aims to ensure Service Managers can improve services through better access to better data. However, the system also serves a wider range of users, including local councillors, civil society organisations or members engaged in the Big Society, local businesses, those with an interest in public issues, students with projects, teachers and more. We talked to Tim Healey, Corporate Research Officer for Coventry City Council to find out more about how they are using Data Packs.

Launching Facts about Coventry

Unlike many Local Information Systems, ‘Facts about Coventry’ was not built on an existing system, but was built from scratch. Before the development of this system, the different departments within the authority were used to collecting and presenting their data in different ways from one another, with no integrated system in place. Faced with this problem at the inception of ‘Facts about Coventry’, developers decided the best approach was to buy a system using ‘off the peg’ solutions.

After an extensive review of the range of products available, Instant Atlas Server (www.instantatlas.com/iads.xhtml) and OCSI Data Packs (www.data-packs.com) stood out as offering the best solutions. Data Packs were selected due to the comprehensive range of public domain data and reporting they made instantly available, and because they were prepared in a way that enabled the user to load them directly into the Coventry system in a format readily processed by Instant Atlas.

Benefits of Data Packs for Coventry

A powerful tool for service managers

Facts about Coventry has proved to be useful to all Partnership data teams and service managers. As Tim explained, it is standard practice in Coventry for service providers to collect and analyse local service information. The contextual information provided by Data Packs is now used to support and strengthen this local data and has enabled service providers to deepen their analysis.

As an example, Tim highlighted an occasion where the service manager responsible for reducing the levels of fly-tipping was aware of what factors might be contributing to the problem, but did not have wider information on these patterns linked-to the pattern of fly-tipping. Using the ‘double maps dataviews’ feature – which is part of their Instant Atlas package -  Tim was easily able to present the locally collected fly-tipping data to the service manager in the context of social demographic data such as the Index of Multiple Deprivation and data relating to tenancy types. He explained that presenting the data in this way instantly visualised that fly-tipping was predominantly occurring in areas with high densities of private rented sector accommodation which include student-dense areas. Based on this information, the service manager contacted the private landlords directly to remind them of their responsibility to ensure refuse belonging to their tenants was disposed of correctly.

“Combining our service data with the contextual data supplied by OCSI in this way is a very powerful tool for service managers.”

Less time spent on data collection means more available resources where it matters most

Tim was enthusiastic about the considerable savings for all local partners in terms of time and money spent on data collection and organisation.  He explained:

“We used to get data in a case-by-case bespoke way, using sites such as NOMIS, NASCIS and ONS. Now it’s pre-prepared, it’s in one place. OCSI do the hoovering-up, so I don’t have to go and sweep under the chairs.”

Less time spent on data collection has equated to more available resources where it matters most. There have also been notable resource savings in relation to time spent responding to daily research queries. Previously, a data request to the Corporate Research team which may have taken an officer, for example, several hours to respond to, could now take as little as five minutes.  A further example relates to the number of telephone queries (which are predominantly from students) to the City Council Corporate Research Team. These have reduced from 35 per week to, on average, less than one.

Tim was keen to stress that the significant savings on time and money gained since developing the system has not compromised the level of quality in the data provided by the packs. He explained that, in the past, if there were questions­­­ over a quantitative fact about the City, each partner could come up with a different answer. So, given the proven reliability and up-to-date nature of the packs it is now possible for all Partnership Data Teams and Service Managers to work from the same data source, “…we are now seeing this as the default place to go for the most correct and up-to-date data,” Tim explained.

Fast turnaround means Facts about Coventry supports users with the latest information

Alongside the improvement in the quality of data provided in the packs, Tim has found OCSI to be a “first class act,” particularly in terms of responsiveness to newly available data. He highlighted that OCSI delivered the IMD data for Coventry on the same day it was released from Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG):

“We had got an IMD briefing note together that day anyway, but with OCSI’s help, we were able to follow up with more in-depth analysis and visualisations on Instant Atlas the very next day. That was fantastic. “

The Data Packs v2.0 update provides users with the latest data, benchmarks and outputs available for all geographies. Major new and updated datasets in this version include:

• Indices of Deprivation 2010
• Annual Population Survey updates (available down to Local Authority District level)
• Business survival rates and age of businesses
• Births data : Age of mother, gender of baby, fertility rate
• Deaths: Death rates by key causes and monthly death rates
• Council tax benefit and housing benefit updates
• Dwelling stock by council tax band
• Earnings data (resident and workplace mean and median earnings)
• Housing supply – house building and demolitions
• Housing tenure – Housing stock by housing tenure and supply of new affordable homes, right to buy sales and households on the housing register (excluding households waiting for transfers)
• Housing market updates – Houseprices, transaction and affordability
• Monthly claimant count, claimant flows and Job Centre vacancy rates
• Out-of-work benefits at Output Area level
• Slope Index of Inequality for Life Expectancy
• VAT based local units by industry and sizeband

The full list of new and updated datasets are in the User area (login required), including details of all indicators in the Data Packs.

Major new datasets

Indices of Deprivation 2010: Communities and Local Government (CLG) have published the Indices of Deprivation 2010. The Indices of Deprivation (IoD) have been used extensively by central and local government to identify areas that would benefit from additional targeted resources. The Indices have, for example, been used to identify areas eligible for Neighbourhood Renewal Funding and Local Enterprise Growth Initiative. The new IoD 2010 updates earlier versions of the Indices with more recent data. Most of the indicators used in these statistics are from 2008. We have included all of the Local Authority summaries, domains, sub-domains and supplementary indices as part of the update.

Births by age of mother: Live births by the age of mother when giving birth has been added to the system. Data is based on mothers usual residence and is broken down by nine broad age bands and contains counts and rates per age cohort.

Slope Index of Inequality for Life Expectancy: The Slope Index of Inequality (SII) in life expectancy is a single score which represents the gap in years of life expectancy between the best-off and worst-off within the local authority, based on a statistical analysis of the relationship between life expectancy and deprivation scores across the whole authority.  Data is broken down by gender.

Major updated datasets

Housing market updates: Updated housing data has been published by the Department for Communities and Local
Government. The following indicators are included:

• Additional affordable dwellings provided by local authority area (by LA providing funding) (Updated for 2009/10)
• Additional social rent dwellings provided by local authority area (by LA providing funding)
  (Updated for 2009/10)
• Additional units of intermediate affordable housing provided by local authority area (by LA
  providing funding) (Updated for 2009/10)
• Housebuilding: permanent dwellings started and completed, by tenure (Updated for
  2009/10)
• Households on local authorities’ housing waiting lists: Excluding households waiting for
  transfer (Updated for 2010)
• Lower quartile house price (Updated for Q3 2010)
• Mean house price (Updated for Q3 2010)
• Median house price (Updated for Q3 2010)
• Property sales based on Land Registry data (Updated for Q3 2010)
• Ratio of lower quartile workplace earnings to lower quartile house prices (Updated for 2010)
• Ratio of median workplace earnings to median house prices (Updated for 2010)
• Right to Buy sales (Updated for 2009/10)
• Smallest Geography: Local Authority District (LAD)
• RSL dwelling stock by District (Updated for 2010)
• RSL housing rents (Updated for 2010)
• Tenure of dwellings (Updated for 2010)
• Total dwelling stock (Updated for 2010)

Annual Population Survey updates: The Annual Population Survey (APS) has been updated for Jul 2009 – Jun 2010 to Local Authority level. The APS is a key source of employment and skills data providing estimates of  levels of economic activity for key equalities groups including age, gender, and disability.

Births and deaths: Data on births and deaths has been updated for 2009. This includes small area figures (down to MSOA level) on numbers of births and deaths in the area. In addition, there is more detailed data at Local Authority level, with data on births at including fertility rates and data on deaths including key causes of death and standardised mortality ratios. Monthly death figures have also been updated (for December 2010).

Enterprise data: Data on VAT registered enterprises by age of business, number of people employed and type of business sector has been updated in the system for 2010. Data is published by BERR and released down to Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level.

The full list of new and updated datasets are in the User area (login required), including details of all indicators in the Data Packs.

We are well aware of how important this dataset is for local understanding of deprivation patterns and changes relative to other areas. So the Data Packs team have been hard at work today getting the data formatted for our Data Packs users, and have already provided the data for loading straight into local information systems, with metadata, added data (deciles) etc.

Also, we have started using an InstantAtlas Dynamic Radar report to visualise the data, see screenshots below (thanks to Stephen Davis at Bradford for providing his template for IMD 2007). This is relatively easy to setup in InstantAtlas – create a new Data View with the IMD 2010 indicators, and then link the Data View to the dynamic report. Get in touch if you would like any help setting this up.

And let us know if you have any examples locally of visualising or reporting the IMD and other datasets – it would be great to be able to link to (or upload) any good examples.

The full list of new and updated datasets are in the User area (login required), including details of all indicators in the Data Packs.

In the interactive workshop session run by OCSI’s Tom Smith [Tom's presentation - LIS in the Age of Austerity is available here, and we’ll link to the other presentations when available], Tom summarised the context with 3 points:

1. Increasing need for local intelligence, but …
2. Less national (and regional) infrastructure and support for local decision-making, e.g. disappearing Data Hub, Places Analysis Toolkit, Floor Targets, State of the Cities, Regional ONS statisticians and Local Improvement Advisors. ONS hit by 10% per year budget cuts, CLG even more.
3. Value of local information systems and local intelligence = influence on local actions and decisions.

Delegates then hotly debated two questions: What has been done in your area (with your LIS) to influence decisions and actions? And what would you like to do that would give most value to your communities? Some important themes were highlighted, with the Work Boards (see photo) full of suggestions on how LIS can support local working.

Efficiency – local one-stop-shops

Many users and case studies highlighted the growing role of local information systems as the first port of call for public sector, providers (both 3^rd sector and commercial), local communities and citizens looking for information on the local area. Users saw this role as increasing in importance with the disappearance of national systems such as the CLG Places Analysis Toolkit and Floor Targets – and there was speculation over the future of Neighbourhood Statistics given ONS budget cuts.

As well as the efficiency in providing a one-stop-shop for local information – reducing duplication across agencies – users also quoted the “collect once, use many times” mantra. There were real savings in areas where LIS were used to quickly bring together “Data Appendices” for a range of needs assessments, such as the health and social care Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), Local Economic Assessment (LEA) and the community safety Joint Strategic Intelligence Assessment (JSIA). Local analysts were then freed-up to focus on adding-value to local data, and understanding and interpreting the key local messages (rather than spending time developing and reporting the routine datasets for these assessments).

Finally, LIS were seen as a key resource in getting evidence and analysis quickly to users – rather than waiting for lengthy reports to be written and published. The InstantAtlas templates were being used as a standard way to disseminate information to different local groups, such as performance data for GPs and results from local surveys and other data collection.

Improving knowledge and skills – influencing actions and decisions

“… good decisions depend on the skills and knowledge of those who have been empowered”, Kirsteen Thomson (Sustainable Communities Excellence Network).

Unsurprisingly, many flagged-up the importance of providing data for communities, and making it  available over time to understand trends. However, it was noticeable that the discussions quickly moved onto the need for knowledge and data for specific groups and particular decisions – rather than a general call for “raw data now”.

Many of the examples for how the LIS had influenced actions and decisions were about local hot topics, such as providing evidence to help locate Sure Start centres, health services and new technical college provision, and helping decide how resources were spent on social care services. And some LIS teams were providing external training to the community and voluntary sectors as well as other public agencies such as Fire and Rescue services, in using the LIS and the information held. Regular mail-outs, and “how-to-use” materials such as videos, were also identified as good ways of helping different groups make best use of the information in the LIS.

Engaging and informing different types of users

Local information systems need to work well for different types of user – who will have different information requirements and skill levels. The Welsh Local Government Data Unit team highlighted that there were 3 different types of user of their InfoBase system – names and photographs for these user-types (‘personas’) help the team keep the different groups in mind when publishing new information or designing new functionality. The 3 personas were:

1. Those with limited technical skills (both computer and data) simply wanting overview information, maybe a couple of times a year – primarily members of the public (nicknamed ‘Bethan’)
2. Those technically proficient but with no knowledge of official statistics, wanting to use data to inform, for example, funding bids and planning – primarily voluntary organisations, councillors, and local authority officers (nicknamed ‘Alys)
3. Those with advanced computer skills and knowledge of official statistics such as researchers who are already using data (nicknamed ‘Carys’).

There were also many examples from other LIS teams around the importance of analysing and interpreting the data. Summary reports, analysis and profiles add value for those users less familiar with the data were seen as important in engaging and informing users from the community and voluntary sectors. Suggestions on how to maximize impact of analysis included data visualisations and “bold conclusions”. However, the raw data is still needed for ‘power users’ such as researchers (who may want access to a much wider set of data than practical to include in reports).

About OCSI and the Data Packs

Designed to load straight into your local information system, the Data and Report Packs provide the data and visualisations you, your communities and partners need to ensure effective service delivery and make informed decisions. You can instantly benefit from the years of expertise we have invested in managing, analysing, maintaining and cataloguing data for the public sector. See www.data-packs.com for detail.

OCSI develop and interpret the evidence base to help the public sector and other organisations deliver better services to the public. We are committed to improving social and economic outcomes by providing high quality rigorous research and analysis that meets the needs of our users. Since launching in 2003, OCSI have worked with more than 90 public and voluntary sector agencies at local, regional and national level to improve policy-making and service delivery. We are a “spin-out” research consultancy from the Oxford University team behind the Index of Multiple Deprivation. See the OCSI website www.ocsi.co.uk for more.

• The key datasets to understand the economic, social and health needs, trends, performance and priorities across your local neighbourhoods.
• Rich visualisations, communicating the key information needed to inform and engage communities and partners for local decision-making.

Powering your local information system
Designed to load straight into your local information system, the packs sit alongside your existing information to provide additional data and outputs for all users. All data, visualisations and report outputs can be customised and combined with local data, using the functionality of your system.

Cost-effective
Save money in managing your local information system by reducing the resources used to obtain, format, load, visualise and update data. Data Packs load straight into your system, cost from as little as £1,500 and save as much as 70% of the cost of doing this work in-house.

Better use of your time
Instead of doing the heavy lifting of managing, importing and reporting routine data content, focus your resources on how you use the information to improve service delivery and decision-making.

Use our experience to get up-to-speed fast
We have spent years finding, collecting, cleaning, aggregating, analysing and interpreting data for national, regional and local public sector agencies. Benefit from our experience and the Data Packs to make better use of your resources.

For more information, see the articles on this Data and Report Packs blog, download an information pack, or contact us for a demonstration of how the OCSI Data and Report Packs can help you efficiently deliver the information your communities and partners need.