Image source: ONS
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has launched a service for finding statistics on a local area.
It has also set up the ONS Local analytics advisory service to support local government in accessing local data and filling any gaps.
National Statistician Professor Sir Ian Daimond said the search service, named Explore Local Statistics, has been made available in beta format and can be used by local and central government bodies.
It has been developed in response to an awareness that it is not always easy to find or combine local datasets, especially with changes in administrative boundaries and the devolved nature of policies.
“Despite these challenges, there is still significant demand for subnational statistics, which is why we’ve created the new service,” he said.
Changes and clustering
The service makes it possible to see how indicators for a geographical area have changed over time, how they compare with the rest of the country and – through a local authority clustering analysis feature – how they compare with statistically similar areas.
ONS is looking to expand the range of datasets in the service and further automate the data gathering process, and has invited feedback from users.
“Both ONS Local and the Explore Local Statistics service are part of an ambitious three-year project funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,” Diamond said. “As part of the project, we are also delivering a suite of new granular statistics, analysis, and place based insight.”
