You asked
Please provide information in relation to the birth rates for the last 5-6 years for the wards within the East Lancashire area (covering Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale and Hyndburn).
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We calculate different types of birth rates. Crude birth rates are calculated by dividing the number of live births in an area, by the population in the area and multiplying this by 1,000. The general fertility rate is calculated in the same way, but only uses the population of females at childbearing age (aged 15 to 44 years). More information on calculating birth rates is available in section 6 our user guide to births.
Unfortunately, we do not publish birth rates down to ward level. However, we do publish the number of live births by ward from 2013 to 2018 in our explorable tables in nomis. We also publish population estimates by ward, sex and ages. These tables are also available on nomis: Population estimates - small area based by single year of age - England and Wales (2011 to 2018). By combining this data, it is possible to calculate the crude birth rate and the general fertility rate for each ward from 2013 to 2018.
We may be able to create what you have requested, or something similar, as a bespoke analysis. Any such analysis would be outside of the Freedom of Information regime and would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreement of costs where appropriate. If this is something you would be interested in, please contact vsob@ons.gov.uk, for any births related enquiries, so that we may discuss your enquiry further. For more information about the services we offer please visit our website.