You asked
We would like to know the total number of disabled people in each country - England, Scotland and Wales and broken down by type of disability.
We would like to obtain this data for the latest year available.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The spreadsheet within the following link may provide some of the requested information: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http:/www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-413865
The information you have requested can be obtained from the customer services team of ONS Social Surveys Division. This team provides an ad hoc analysis service that is subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate. Data collected as part of the Life Opportunities Survey could be used to answer the query. Please note the most recent data available covers the time period 2009-2011, and sample sizes may be small for some disability types and/or country breakdowns so disclosure rules would be applied. Therefore it may not be possible to provide the full breakdown of data requested.
If you would like to enquire about our service then please contact socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk
Because this information is available through that route, we consider that s.21(1) of the Freedom of Information Act applies to this request and the information does not have to be supplied under the Freedom of Information Act. s.21(1) is an absolute exemption and no consideration of the public interest needs to be applied.
If you are able to do your own cross-tabulations you could purchase an anonymised Life Opportunities Survey or Annual Population Survey dataset from the UK Data Service. Details on costs and how to download the data can be found on their website:
Advice for commercial users - http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access/registration.aspx#/tab-commercial-users
Charges - http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access/charges.aspx
Please find attached a link to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability statistics which may be of use: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/disability-prevalence-estimates-200203-to-201112-apr-to-mar
The DWP are the lead department for the publication of disability statistics and so may be able to provide a more up to date source of information. The DWP Family Resources Survey team can be contacted at team.frs@dwp.gsi.gov.uk