What's New Archive

17 April 2009 - A conference report and the presentation slides are now available from the recent MRS CGG conference: How geodemographics is being applied across an ever expanding Europe. It includes presentations from CACI, Demographic Decisions, EuroDirect, Experian, Free University of Berlin, GfK GeoMarketing, Pitney Bowes and UK Data Archive.

8 April 2009 - The latest wave of BHPS data and documentation is now available from the UK Data Archive.

7 April 2009 - INSPIRE aims to make available consistent spatial data sets about the environment and create services for accessing these datasets so that they can to be more easily shared or combined to benefit the development and monitoring of environmental policy and practice.
Defra seeks views on the policy principles that will inform the drafting of Statutory Instruments to transpose the Directive and on the Directive’s impact. The consultation runs for 12 weeks and closes on 26 May 2009.

31 March 2009 -The Third INSPIRE Conference will take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 15-19 June 2009, in conjunction with the Eleventh International Conference of the GSDI Association and the national conference on Dutch SDI: Results and Challenges.

05 February - An international forum for the exchange of research based on longitudinal data. Priority given to papers based on research using the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), the European Household Panel (ECHP), or the European Union Statisticsof Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), but open to those who wish to promote the use of longitudinal data on individuals or households. Papers using cross-national comparisons are especially encouraged. Deadline for submission March 15.

28 January - The programme for the third IDM Data Summit focuses on the key challenges facing organisations looking to ensure that their data management strategies truly create competitive advantage in 2009. (MRS members can book places at the same discounted rate as IDM members by emailing lisaturner@theidm.com.)

20 January -A course specially designed to provide a hands on introduction to organising data and analysis by OAC - the freely available National Statistics UK small area classification - will be held on 24 March 2009 in London. The full day course is ideal for those embarking on work in the public or private sectors where area classification will be used. The course has been arranged by the OAC User Group and will be given by Martin Callingham, Visiting Professor at the School of Geography, Birkbeck College, London University, and Dr Tom Smith, Director, Oxford Consultants on Social Inclusion.

18 December -The online Census Output consultation is back with a new website and blog with the aim to publish results and analysis of the online survey, provide commentary and Census views on the findings and provide specific user feedback to Census views. As well as the blog and forum, users will be able to edit and contribute new content as part of the Census Output wiki.

16 December -The Neighbourhood Statistics service has launched an online guide to analyse change over time and help answer questions such as 'has my area improved since last year?' or 'is the gap between our disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged areas reducing?'

11 December -The 2011 Census of Population and Housing White Paper ' Helping to shape tomorrow' announcing the UK Statistics Authority's proposals for the 2011 Census in England and Wales is published today. Census day will be 27 March 2011 under proposals published in the Government White Paper.

28 October - The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has recently launched Understanding Society, the world's largest ever household longitudinal study. Understanding Society will collect information from 100,000 individuals, across 40,000 households from across the country to enhance the understanding of the long term effects of social and economic change, and will provide tools to study the impact of policy interventions on the well being of the UK population.

29 August - ONS confirms its overriding commitment to ensuring the confidentiality of personal Census data for a period of 100 years, and its use strictly for statistical purposes only.

18 June - New ward travel flows dataset from the 2001 Census can now be viewed and downloaded free of charge. Tables show daily flows of workers from residence to place of work for all local authorities and wards in Great Britain, and parliamentary constituencies and wards in Northern Ireland. They also include breakdowns of the characteristics of the people in the flows.

06 June - The Guardian reports on the Treasury Select Committee report, Counting the Population, and its recommendation that the next census, in March 2011, "be the last census in the UK where the population is counted through the collection of census forms.": It also warns of the shortcoming in national address databases, apparently caused by rivalry over the ownership of intellectual property within government.

28 March - 27 March 2011 has been chosen as the planned date of the next Census in England and Wales. A rehearsal for the 2011 Census will be carried out in 2009, and three rehearsal areas have also been announced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

26 February - New measures to improve the way in which existing population and migration statistics are reported across government are introduced today, with the simultaneous publication of a range of demographic data by the ONS and the Home Office. The new initiative aims to ensure that related demographic data from different government departments are presented in a coordinated manner on a limited number of dates throughout the year.

18 January - Volume II of Written evidence of House of Commons Treasury Committee investigation into Counting the population published. The report includes comments from the Census & Geodemographics Group of the Market Research Society. Click on the link below to download the pdf.

15 January - The Telegraph reports on how following trial runs, a question about earnings has been dropped from the next census after officials concluded that people find the question too intrusive and would not answer it truthfully.

18 December - Travel to work data from the 2001 Census which was previously only available on DVD and required specialist software to use, can now be viewed and downloaded free of charge from the Nomis website. The data is provided in tables that show daily flows of workers from residence to place of work/study for all local authorities in Great Britain and Parliamentary Constituencies in Northern Ireland.

18 November - A Joint LARIA/LGA Seminar to be held in London on Wednesday 10 December 2008 and Manchester on Wednesday 28 January 2009. The seminar will look at the importance of Social Marketing and Segmentation as a way to gain a deeper understanding and insight into the disparate needs of our local communities and population. It includes a session on geodemographics as a tool for health intelligence.

14 October - The meeting will provide a forum for the exchange of information and views between users and producers of the Government Crime and Victimisation Survey datasets. It is aimed primarily at users and potential users of survey microdata.

08 July - The UK Statistics Authority has launched a consultation on a new Code of Practice for Official Statistics alongside a draft Statement of Principles and Procedures for Assessment. The consultation phase will last for 12 weeks, ending on 30 September.

13 November - In the absence of a single authoritative source of national address information, ONS is preparing an address register by matching, where possible, addresses listed in the National Land and Property Gazetteer to those identified in the Ordnance Survey's address product MasterMap Address Layer 2. The resulting register would contain a list of addresses linked to higher level geographic areas for management, reporting and output purposes. ONS have carried out an early assessment of fitness of the two respective sources for the purpose of the census and a copy of the report can be downloaded at:

13 November - ONS's Population Trends investigates the developments of information from the Worker Registration Scheme over the period May 2004-December 2006 in order to better understand geographical patterns of labour migration.

26 February - Help to shape the way that these statistics are reported in the future by responding to the public consultation on improved coherence in the way that population and migration statistics are reported. Responses are invited until 27 May 2008.

5 December - Evidence from the Census and Geodemographics Group of The Market Research Society in response to the Treasury sub-committee inquiry into counting the population.

28 January - In a world where store loyalty cards and mobile phones are continuously capturing customer data and remote sensing technologies are capable of tracking people and objects in real time, where is the future likely to take us? Find out at this one-day conference from the MRS Census and Geodemographics Group, to be held on 6th March 2008 at the Society of Chemical Industry, London.