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Planned Downtime:


Due to essential maintenance, the SNS website will experience some scheduled downtime. From 20:00 on Thursday 1st April to 17:00 on Monday the 5th April, some major electrical work is being carried out in the computer hall housing the SNS servers and the website may not be available at this time.


Introduction:


The present site (Phase III of the project) was launched in February 2007 and includes significant enhancements over the previous site.


Latest Enhancements:


Automatic Data Downloads -a new Automatic Download function has been added to the Data Download section of the SNS website on Thursday 9 July 2009. The new functionality will allow users to create downloads which can be sent to them automatically via an e-mail address on a regular basis. Full instructions on how to use this new functionality is available on the SNS Forum: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/sns/SNSRef/AutoDL


A new Local Outcome Indicator Standard Report was add on 26 February 2009. Full details can be found in the New Standard Reports below:


A new 'What's New This Week' section was added to the site on 26 February 2009. This will allow users to see at a glance what has been recently added to the SNS website. It is an accumulative table showing details of new and updated data which has been added since the last quarterly data download. The page is accessed from this News Page.


The site is now updated weekly each Thursday morning at 10:00 (see the Move to Weekly Publications section below)


The latest quarterly data download took place on Friday 13 February 2009 (see the Downloads section below)


The Site:


The site currently contains around 2,800 indicators.


The present site supports the following geographies


Key SNS Geographies:


  • Data Zone
  • Intermediate Geography
  • Local Authority

Best-fit SNS Geographies:


  • Scottish Parliamentary Constituency
  • Health Board
  • Multi Member Wards
  • Community Health Partnerships
  • Community Regeneration CPP
  • Community Regeneration Local

Other geography:


  • Ward

Non-Standard Geographies:


  • Deprived Areas
  • Police Forces
  • Regional Transport Partnerships
  • Scottish Parliamentary Regions
  • Urban Regeneration Companies
  • Highland and Islands Enterprise Areas
  • Local Authority Deprived Areas
  • National Parks
  • Strategic Development Plan (SDP) areas
  • UHI Millennium Institute (UHI)
  • Community Justice Authorities
  • Nuts2
  • Nuts3
  • Nuts4 (LAU1)

Move to Weekly Publications:


From Thursday 4 December 2008, SNS has moved to a weekly publication. This move from quarterly publications will ensure that SNS data is as up to date as possible (i.e. loaders can add data to the site in the week that it is published rather than waiting up to three months for the next quarterly publication) and that data on Scotland Performs, the High Level Summary and SNS are all synchronised. Future weekly updates will take place every Thursday morning at around 10:00.



Downloads:


There are no immediate plans to change the frequency of updates to the full and quarterly downloads (i.e. once every three months) The downloads will be run around the middle of February, May, August andNovember



New Standard Reports:


On 26 February 2009 a new Local Outcome Indicators report was added to the site:

This tabular report allows the user to look at data for the most frequently used Local Outcome Indicators which were used in the majority of first phase Local Authority Single Outcome Agreements as recorded by the Improvement Service (IS).


Six of the 26 indicators listed by IS are still to be added to this Report, but will be just as soon as they become available. These are:


A6 - Proportion of pre-school centres receiving positive inspection reports

A7 - Proportion of school centres receiving positive inspection reports

A17 - Rates of suicides per 100,000 population over 5 years

A22 – Incidence of home fires resulting in death and injury

A23 - Proportion of housing stock in social rented sector failing the Scottish Housing Quality Standard

A26 – Council area's ecological footprint


It is hoped to further develop this report over time, in conjunction with the IS and Local Authorities, to best meet their needs. Further information on Local Outcome Indicators is available from the IS website; http://www.improvementservice.org.uk/core-programmes/single-outcome-agreements-/




In June 2008, 2 additional Standard Reports were added to the site. There were:


Specialist Report -


This report shows a table of key statistics for less commonly used geographical areas relevant to people living or working in these areas or those reponsible for related policy or service delivery. It is expected that the number of such geographies will increase over time. A full list of those currently available is given in the report. It should be noted that these additional geographies do not form part of the SNS family of standard geographies and as such are not available for use elsewhere on the site and that the idicators included cannot be displayed thematically.


National Indicators -


A new Standard Report entitled the 'National Indicators' has been added which allows the user to look at all the national indicators at a glance. The individual national indicators are also available for further analysis on the Advanced Reporter.


A total of 52 National Indicators have been selected to represent the Scottish Government's strategic objectives of a Wealthier and Fairer, Healthier, Safer and Stronger, Smarter , Greener Scotland (It should be noted that a given indicator may map to more than one strategic objective). More information is available from the Scotland Performs website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms


The Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics ScotStat User Group Forum:


A new Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics user group forum was launched in December 2007. The site will allow users of SNS to view and add examples of best practice, reference material and respond to the SNS Blog. A FAQs section is also available. The Forum can be viewed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/sns


If you wish to be notified of updates, please join the ScotStat register at (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/scotstat), and include Neighbourhood Statistics in your interests.


Feedback:


If you have any comments on this internet site please email neighbourhood.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.


Corrections:


Benefits Data: Since the last release of benefit National Statistics in November 2008, it has been discovered that a small proportion of claimants have been counted as living in an incorrect parliamentary constituency, ward or smaller geographic breakdown. This error has occurred in the February 2008 and May 2008 statistics (released in August and November 2008 respectively). The corrected numbers will be released in the second half of March 2009. Please note that the national totals plus other geographies including Government Office Regions, Local Authorities and Jobcentre Plus districts are virtually unaffected by this issue. Similarly the latest benefit caseloads for August 2008, published in February 2009, are correct - March 2009.


Teenage pregnancies: Data for the 3-year period 04-06 was found to be incorrectly compiled and was rectified on 12th March 2009


Business sites by sector: Some 2007 data at Local Authority level was found to be incorrect but was rectified on 04 December 2008


A system look-up table was corrupted causing erroneous data for Scottish Parliamentary Constituencies being displayed following the 6 November 2008 publication. The system was brought down on 10/11 November and steps taken to correct the database and the quarterly and full data downloads. The system was returned to normal on Wednesday 12 November 2008.


The recently published 2006 mid-year population estimates and the revised 2003-2005 mid-year population estimates have been reloadedto include estimates for four geographies - Multi Member Ward, Community Health Partnership, Community Regeneration CPP and Community Regeneration Local - that were omitted from the original publication. Historic mid-year population estimates (1996-2000) are now also available at these geographies, 5 December 2007.


Small Area Population Estimates: Population estimates for 2003-2005 have been revised for data zones in six local authorities - Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee, Moray and Perth & Kinross - following revisions in estimates at local authority level, 6 November 2007.


Earnings: The 2006 Earnings data at Local Authority level was found to be incorrect but was rectified on 7 August 2007.


Highest qualification of working age people: Errors in the data for the years 2004-2006 was corrected on 7 August 2007 for this sub topic.


Health Data: The indicators showing estimated number and proportion of people prescribed drugs for anxiety, depression, or psychosis for 2004 were revised on 14th June 2007 in order to bring them in line with data used for the calculation of SIMD2006. Data downloaded from SNS between 6 February and 14 June 2007 will include prescriptions for hypnotics (BNF 4.1.1).


Index of Deprivation: A minor revision was made to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2004 on 19 July 2005. Further details of the revision can be found in a statistical publication notice at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/07/simd2004revisionjuly05


Housing: The 2003 Dwellings data at Local Authority level were inconsistant with the 2003 Dwellings data at data zone level. The total obtained for a Local Authority if built from the data zones that are within that Local Authority was slightly different from the number provided when selecting Local Authority as the relevant geographical level. This was rectified 19 July 2005.


School Education: There have been two changes to the SQL examination data. The first change is the update of the previously available 2003 data to remove compensatory awards from the SCQF analyses. This was done to maintain consistency with the 2003/04 data, when compensatory awards no longer existed. The second change involves the year that all of the SQA data represents. The SQA data has been pushed back a year, so that the SQL data for a specific year represents the same cohort of pupils as the pupil profile data for the same year. This means that the 2003 SQA data has been changed to 2002 SQA data and similarly for the following years. 19 July 2005.


Community Well-being/Social Environment: Data from the 1999-2000 Scottish Household Survey contained in this topic was re-loaded for technical reasons. This may have resulted in minor changes to some of the data. 19 April 2005.


Housing : The Percentage of Dwellings by Council Tax Band were incorrect, this was rectified, 3 February 2005.


Population: The indicators contained in the sub topic Population and the sub topic itself have been removed from the system. Population data is still available under the sub topic 2001 Census, 12 November 2004.


Economic Activity and Benefits Data: The Income Support indicator - percentage of 16+ population claiming IS - contained inconsistencies at Ward level data only, this was rectified 19 October 2004.


Economic Activity and Benefits/Labour Market Data: The residence-based unemployment, employment and economic activity data for 2003 have been revised using the re-weighted Labour Force Survey data and the 2003 mid-year population estimates 19 October 2004.


Business Data: The Businesses in Construction, Manufacturing Services Industries data for 2001 has been revised 19 October 2004.


Education Data: The education indicator - Average tariff scores of all pupils on the S4 roll - was incorrectly displayed on the Area Browser and the Other and Special Interest Reports - Browser Indicators available at Data Zone Geography Report. This was rectified 10 August 2004.


Health Data: The Health - Hospital Admissions, Alcohol Related Conditions and Drugs Misuse indicators were incorrect, this was rectified 1 July 2004.


Health Data: The Health - Hospital Admissions, Hospital Operations and GPs indicators at Health Board level were incorrect, this was rectified on 16 August 2004.


Health Data: All rates at datazone level now use the new small area population estimates produced by GRO in OCtober 2005. This affects the rates for all hospital admissions, hospital operations and teenage pregnancies. Previouislly rates for all years used the 2001 census population. The cancer registrations relate to earlier years, so the latest rates published are based on 2001 census population to be consistent with previous years.


Health Data: Figures for Gerneral Practice Consultations were previously published on SNS by calendar year. This data has now been revised to be shown by financial year, so previous data for year 2003 is now for 1st April 2003 - 31 March 2004 and the most up to date data is for 1st April 2004 - 31st March 2005.


Health Data: Low Birth Weight is no longer by single year, but for 3 year totals.


Health Data: The indicator showing Prescribed Drugs for Anxiety, Depression, or Psychosis has not been updated. These figures published at present were calculated for use in the Scottish Index for multiple deprivation 2004 (SIMD 20004). The figures will be updated on SNS with the data used in the calculation of SIMD 2006.


Health Data: The indicator Drugs Misuse Data is not being updated with data for the year ending 31st March 2004, as the final data for this period was not published in time to be uploaded for this release.


Health Data: Cataract surgery was previously classified as a discharge with an operation code of (C71:C75) as defined by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Classification of Surgical Operations and Procedures Volume 4 (OPCS4). This definition has now been refined to additionally require a diagnostic code of (H25:H26, H28.0:H28.2), defined by the International Classification of Diseases Volume 10 (ICD10).


Education Data: Attendance rates figures from 2003, 2004 and 2005 and Exclusions figures from 2004 and 2005 were revised on 10 May 2007.


Other Notes:


1. 2006 Child Benefit data at Scottish Parliamentary Constituency, Scotland and Intermediate Geography level will not be available on SNS until November 2007. Please beware if aggregating data zone level data up to Intermediate Geography, Scottish Parliamentary Constituency or Scotland level, that figures will not be as accurate as the data due to be published in November due to rounding at data zone level.


If 2006 Child Benefit data, at Intermediate Geography, Scottish Parliamentary Constituency or Scotland level, is required urgently then please contact Niamh Laffan on 0131 244 3331 or email: niamh.laffan@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.


2. Work is in progress to produce standardised rates for some of these health indicators.


3. For indicators loaded at datazone level, the figures are aggregated to each of the higher geographies. Due to disclosure control methods which have been applied to the small area data, figures at the higher geography levels may not match figures published elsewhere.


4. Withdrawal of PTI indicators from SNS:


Indicators relating to general practice consultations and estimated numbers of patients for specific conditions (e.g. asthma, CHD, depression & anxiety, diabetes and hypertension) have been removed from the SNS site in May 2007. Following a major review of the Practice Team Information (PTI) dataset during 2006/07 the consistent use and quality of PTI analysis has also been examined, to ensure that data is used to produce appropriate analysis.


National consultation and patient rates for general practice are calculated from Practice Team Information (PTI) data routinely collected from a sample of practices across Scotland, with a combined population of around 5% of the Scottish practice population.


To estimate number of patients with a specific condition, patients are counted in the sample if they have had a contact for the condition with a member of the practice team in the year and each patient is counted just once.


Patient and consultation estimates for Scotland are derived by applying age-sex-deprivation specific national rates to the Scottish population. Although these are important factors that account for a major part of the variation in general practice consultation and patient rates at national level, there are many factors that are of particular importance at local level such as the geographical location of practices, availability of practice team members or general morbidity of the local population. Therefore estimates for geographical areas smaller than Scotland are unlikely to be accurate.


Estimates at Scotland level are available at: www.isdscotland.org/pti


Known differences with data published elsewhere:


Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) data published by the DWP was revised in May 2008 following investigations into the differences between DWP JSA statistics and Office for National Statistics (ONS) statistics on JSA ('Claimant Count', published monthly via NOMIS). The result of this revision is a downward revision in historical estimates of the JSA caseload, released via the DWP Tabulation Tool. On average the number of JSA claimants has been revised downward by 3 per cent. In addition, small revisions have been made to historical data on DWP statistics for Client Group Analysis of all ages, and Client Group Analysis of Working Age. DWP JSA statistics now follow the trend in ONS Claimant Count statistics very closely. Existing differences are now due to known definitional differences between the two series. Full details of the revisions are available here: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/improvements_to_JSA.pdf



As a result of these changes the figures presented on SNS no longer correspond with those published by the DWP. The Scottish Government are working to update the relevant datasets and until this is completed it is recommended that JSA and Working Age Client Group data be downloaded from the DWP Tabulation Tool. http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html










Congestion data at a Local Authority level is currently based on a combination of area of residence and area of destination. As from the November 2008 publication the data will be based only on area of residence to be in line with the National Indicator.


Known Faults


There are known errors in the following datasets:


Highest Qualification: Time Series Highest Qualification: Most Recent Data


Data for degree level qualifications for 1999 to 2002 are erroneous as these are based on a wider definition of degree level which includes SVQ level 4 qualifications such as HNC and HND, this therefore has inflated the results for 1999 to 2002.


Data for no qualifications for 2003 and 2004 are incorrect.


Median Earnings: Time Series Median Earnings: Most Recent Data


The 'Median earnings as a % of Scotland's median earnings' indicator is incorrect for all areas in 2004 and 2005.


Please contact Labour Market Statistics for the corrected data:


Labour Market Statistics Branch, Analytical Services Division, Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department, Scottish Government, 5 Cadogan Street, Glasgow, G2 6AT. Tel: 0141 242 5446, Email: labour-market.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk