Administrative areas

This guidance note sets out the recommended standard presentation of statistics for administrative areas at regional and sub-regional levels in the UK.

Introduction

This is a revised version of the guidance published in December 2008 and reflects the local government reorganisation that created nine unitary authorities in England operative from 1 April 2009. At regional level the presentation relates to the current structure of Government Office Regions (GORs) in England existing since 3 August 1998.

The recommended presentation is for use in publications (paper and electronic) and also for statistics disseminated on the web. It should be adopted unless there are valid reasons for not doing so, such as ranking areas according to a significant data item.

Dissemination, display and layout of statistics

In preparing statistical tables, it is recommended that the guidance for display and layout in 'Plain Figures' (Second Edition) (HMSO: ISBN 0-11-702039-7) is followed for both electronic and paper dissemination. This publication includes useful advice on what information to include, structure and style of tables, accuracy, definitions, and footnotes to tables.

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Annexes

There are five annexes attached to this guidance note:

  • Annex A shows the presentation order of all UK administrative areas where there is no requirement to include former/abolished counties and districts in England

  •  Annex B shows the presentation order of all UK administrative areas where there is a requirement to include only the former local authority districts in England that were abolished in 2009

  • Annex C shows the presentation order of all UK administrative areas where there is a requirement to include both the former counties and local authority districts in England, abolished from 1996-1998 and in 2009, for historical or time-series purposes

  • Annex D shows an optional lower level presentation for the London region, and

  • Annex E shows an optional higher level presentation for the London region

A flow chart indicating which annex to use can be found in the Downloads section.

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Order of presentation of statistics - general principles

The general principle is that whenever entities are presented in groupings (for example, districts within county, wards within district) the order of presentation at each level of the grouping hierarchy is alphabetic. This principle applies to all levels, and all geographical breakdown of areas, whether using standard (for example, administrative areas) or other geographies.

Exceptions to this are the order of countries and English Government Office Regions, where a standard geographically-based order is well established, and the geographical order of the unitary authorities in Wales.

Grouping of entities in hierarchical fashion should be adopted as appropriate for the target readership. In many cases for the presentation of statistics based on administrative areas, the local government structure together with government office regions will provide a suitable standard hierarchy. In cases where this does not provide suitable groupings the NUTS classification should be used. NUTS (Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics) is a European hierarchical classification of spatial units, comprising five levels, used for collecting, developing, harmonising and comparing the European Union’s regional statistics.

Non-standard geographical groupings should be developed only after such standard groupings have been considered, and these should be clearly defined and fully described. Maps are recommended (particularly with non-standard geography) to show the allocation of areas within higher level groupings. ONS Geography is able to provide support and guidance on the preparation of maps - please contact us for details.

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Order of presentation for countries and regions

The standard regional sub-division of England for the presentation of statistics is the government office regions. The standard order of presentations for the countries of the UK, and the government office regions within England, is below. This is one of the two exceptions to the principle of alphabetical ordering. The retention of this order of English regional divisions is recommended as it is in current general usage. It broadly follows a north-south basis.

United Kingdom
          Great Britain (optional sub-total)
          England and Wales (optional sub-total)
                    England 
                              North East
                              North West
                              Yorkshire and The Humber
                              East Midlands
                              West Midlands
                              East
                              London
                              South East
                              South West
                    Wales
                    Scotland
                    Northern Ireland

Note the recommended use of 'East' in statistical tables, even though the official name is the 'East of England'.

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Order of presentation below country/regional level

England

As noted earlier, the general principle for presentation is that whenever entities are presented in higher level groupings (for example districts within county, counties within region) the order of presentation of each level of the grouping hierarchy is alphabetic.

The recommended presentation is for unitary authorities to be listed first, in alphabetical order, followed by districts (with counties, if appropriate), also in alphabetical order.

Alphabetical ordering applies whether using the standard administrative (local authority district/county) geography, or other standard or non-standard geographies.

London Region

The City of London and the London boroughs should be listed alphabetically and grouped into Inner and Outer London categories, as defined for NUTS level 2 and shown in Annexes A, B and C. If further sub-division is required, NUTS level 3 is recommended (see Annex D). If required, it is also acceptable for the administrative areas within London to be presented as a single list (see Annex E).

Wales

Unitary authorities in Wales should be ordered geographically on a north-south basis for both bi-lingual and single language publications. This represents a change from earlier guidance that stated alphabetical ordering should be used in single language publications, and geographical ordering in bi-lingual publications. This approach is favoured by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Scotland

In Scotland the recommended order for the unitary authorities (council areas) is alphabetic, following both the general principle and usual practice by the Scottish Executive. The recommended listing is shown in Annexes A, B and C but please see the Nomenclature and definitions section regarding naming standards.

Northern Ireland

Again, the order should be alphabetic see Annexes A, B and C. Note that there are no counties listed for Northern Ireland as they have no official status and should therefore not be included as a hierarchy.

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Table headings, footnotes and sub-totals for tables of regional statistics

Heading Criterion notes
UK by countries and, within England, Government Office Regions This is the recommended heading for tables. Sub-totals for Great Britain/England and Wales are optional, as noted on the list in the Order of Presentation for countries and regions. Information on name changes and reorganisation of administrative areas, which can occur over time, can be included in footnotes but these should be kept to a minimum
UK by countries and, within England, Government Office Regions, counties, London boroughs, metropolitan districts, unitary authorities and non-metropolitan districts; unitary authorities within Wales; council areas within Scotland; and district council areas within Northern Ireland If presenting data for those areas included in Annexes A, B and C this extended heading can be used. It provides useful information about the area levels for which data are being provided
UK by countries and, within England, Government Office Regions, counties, London boroughs, metropolitan districts and unitary authorities; unitary authorities within Wales; council areas within Scotland; and district council areas within Northern Ireland This heading should be used if the data being presented are limited to those areas where only a single tier of local government exists or only the higher tier of local government where a two-tier structure exists

 

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Nomenclature and definitions

The lists of areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in all annexes show the correct statutory names currently in force for administrative areas down to local authority district and equivalent levels. The use of statutory names leads to inconsistencies in the use of ampersands versus 'and' (for example, 'Crewe and Nantwich'; 'Ellesmere Port & Neston'); also in the abbreviation of Saint (for example, 'St. Helens; 'St Albans') in some names.

The names in the Scottish lists are those preferred by the Scottish Executive for inclusion in publications and vary from the standard applied elsewhere in the UK through use of ampersands rather than 'and' in three unitary authorities (council areas).

It should be noted that in Northern Ireland the term 'Derry' should be used in preference to 'Derry City'. This has been confirmed by the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency (NISRA).

Name changes and geographical changes affecting the presentation order will be notified through the GSS Regional & Geography Committee (RGC) network.

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Non-standard geographies

The principle described earlier, and illustrated in Annexes A, B and C with counties and local authority districts, is for alphabetical ordering at each level of the hierarchy. This principle should be applied to the presentation of statistics for other entities or groups (for example, planning authorities such as national parks, where these differ from the local authority districts). Any statistical publication using non-standard geographical areas should define those areas clearly, referencing where possible to standard geography, and using maps to enable users to establish location and boundaries.

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Former/abolished areas

Availability of sub-totals for former/abolished counties and districts

Annex B shows the presentation order to use when including sub-totals for the former local authority districts that were abolished on 1 April 2009. The RGC recommends that these sub-totals are included until the 2011 Census results are released in 2013.

Annex C shows the former local authority districts, as in Annex B, but also includes former counties abolished in 2009 and former counties abolished from 1996-1998 that have not been affected by subsequent changes.

In exceptional cases, where there is a known requirement for historical or time-series purposes, sub-totals for the former counties, abolished between 1996 and 1998, should be included at the base of each relevant region with an accompanying footnote. These sub-totals should not be included as a matter of course but only when there is a known requirement; the information could be made available on request rather than including them in published tables.

In most cases users can calculate totals for former/abolished counties when information is presented at local authority district level.

Annex A shows the presentation where sub-totals for former/abolished counties are not required.

Abolished counties and districts from 1 April 2009

Former counties and districts should not normally appear in tables presenting statistics for dates subsequent to their abolition. However, there may be exceptional requirements to present data for recently abolished areas for a short period of time. The following paragraphs detail the former areas that were abolished most recently.

The former county of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly and the six former districts within Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, were abolished and replaced by Cornwall unitary authority on 1 April 2009.

The Isles of Scilly is separately administered by a unitary council and has been allocated a unitary authority code (00HF) after the government reorganisation operative from 1 April 2009. For statistical presentation purposes the Isles of Scilly should be included in the list of unitary authorities under South West GOR. For the purposes of the presentation of statistical data the Isles of Scilly are often combined with Cornwall unitary authority.

The former county of Durham and the seven former districts within Durham were abolished and replaced by County Durham unitary authority on 1 April 2009.

The former county of Northumberland and the six former districts within Northumberland were abolished and replaced by Northumberland unitary authority on 1 April 2009.

The former county of Shropshire and the five former districts within Shropshire were abolished and replaced by Shropshire unitary authority on 1 April 2009.

The former county of Wiltshire and the four former districts within Wiltshire were abolished and replaced by Wiltshire unitary authority on 1 April 2009.

The former county of Cheshire and the six former districts within Cheshire were abolished and split across Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester unitary authorities on 1 April 2009.

The former county of Bedfordshire and the three former districts within Bedfordshire were abolished and split across Bedford and Central Bedfordshire unitary authorities on 1 April 2009.

Footnotes for former counties and districts

Where county and district borders in England have changed due to local government reorganisation, any footnote for the former county/district should identify the current authorities it covered, and the date of the change.

Sub-totals for other groupings

The area described as Tees Valley is covered by the five unitary authorities of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. It is preferable to use this group of unitary authorities, wherever possible, if statistics are required at a level above the individual authorities. It should be made clear in the footnotes which authorities are included if Tees Valley is not defined elsewhere. In cases where comparison with previous data is essential, 'Tees Valley less Darlington', is equivalent to the abolished county of Cleveland.

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Practical presentation

In drawing up the annexes, some basic presentation rules have been adopted:

  • the metropolitan counties, which were abolished on 1 April 1986 as administrative areas but remain as ceremonial entities, are identified by '(Met County)' after the name

  • 'Isles of Scilly' is presented separately because it does not form part of Cornwall unitary authority; the Isles of Scilly are administered by a separate council but are usually associated with Cornwall, and

  • 'City of' (as in 'Bristol', 'Edinburgh' and 'Kingston upon Hull' - but not 'London') and 'County of' (as in 'Herefordshire') are ignored in identifying alphabetical ordering but should be written as 'City/County of .....' in any text and on any maps

The following presentation rule has also been adopted:

  • 'St.' or 'St' as an abbreviation for Saint is presented alphabetically based on its abbreviated form (for example, St. Helens should be ordered after Sefton)

This change has been prompted by the increasing trend towards presentation of data in electronic format using software which automatically sorts data. Users have requested that the presentation order reflects the automatic ordering to ensure consistency between data presented in electronic and more traditional outputs. This presentation rule is also being used in the guidance note for health areas.

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Area codes

It is recommended that the appropriate area codes are presented when disseminating tables electronically. The inclusion of area codes with tables disseminated on paper should be avoided if possible. If circumstances dictate that codes must be included within a paper publication, then they should be presented in full format without any corruption or shorthand adjustments.

The area codes provided in the annexes are the current standard codes used by the Office for National Statistics. Further information on the standard naming and coding can be found in the Related links section.

Standard codes are not currently available for metropolitan counties, former counties abolished between 1996 and 1998, other area groupings and sub-divisions of London. In these cases the 'publication codes' used for Census outputs have been given in the annexes.

The Office for National Statistics will implement a new National Statistics coding and naming policy for statistical geographies on 1 January 2011. Please see the finalised policy paper on the Best Practice Guidance page in the Related links section.

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Contact ONS Geography

If further guidance or support is required on any aspect of the presentation order for statistics, including the presentation of statistics for other geographies, please contact ONS Geography. Full contact details can be found in the Related links section.

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Related links

Downloads