Output geography
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) staff from Census, Neighbourhood Statistics and Geography have been working together to establish the high level principles within which the 2011 Census output geography for England and Wales will be developed. Three key options have been identified:
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define new geographies for 2011 Census outputs
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keep 2001 geographies largely unchanged - output areas (OAs), super output areas (SOAs)
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keep 2001 geographies at some level (for example, super output areas (SOAs)) and redraw OAs within this constraint
The current ONS recommendation for England and Wales is to maintain existing geographies for 2011 Census outputs. Some modification of the current OA geography will be required to take account of any significant population changes that will have occurred since the last census.
A consultation on users’ views on the value of Output Areas (OAs) and Super Output Areas (SOAs) was carried out between November 2006 and February 2007. This review is to be used to inform the National Statistics policy on geography and particularly the Output Areas for which data are to be released for the 2011 Census.
The consultation has revealed a great deal of support for the key principles currently being suggested - of stability and continuity. Some 90 per cent of respondents agree that this is worth pursuing. Although there remain areas requiring further discussion on the detail of the policy - some respondents call for radical change at the OA level while others plea for no change at all.
There remains work to do on analysing the results of the consultation but the results will be published, together with an initial view on what this means for Census policy, later in the summer.
Some issues are still open to discussion, and there are several key decisions to make including those on:
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dealing with communal establishments
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names for SOAs
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whether or not boundaries should better align the with real world features
ONS also needs to do further work on how it takes account of change in population. The aim is for a maintenance policy which reflects population shift where essential - but minimises change. Again the results of the consultation and further discussion with users will help inform decisions.
ONS would like to thank the user community for the quality of input to date and, no doubt, over the coming months as it refines the way in which principles are developed and applied.
Geography in Scotland
In Scotland decisions have not yet been taken on high level geography principles, though it seems likely that they will be largely similar to those employed in recent censuses.
Geography in Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, such decisions have yet to be taken and will need to be viewed in the context of the ongoing Review of Public Administration which is expected to result in the number of Local Government Districts being reduced from 26 to seven.
