Community

The government, through the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), has produced a set of data that aids the assessment of levels of deprivation across England. These data, known as the Indices of Deprivation, provide information at small geographic levels (LSOA level) and are an important tool for identifying the most disadvantaged areas. A report describing the concepts behind the indices, and the indicators used to create them for the ID2010, can be accessed here.

Indices of Deprivation in Wiltshire

While Wiltshire is considered to be relatively prosperous there are pockets of deprivation that are often hidden in official statistics. The Indices of Deprivation go some way in identifying where deprivation exists in Wiltshire and in measuring its severity. The Indices of Deprivation 2010 have been published and an excel file containing the information for Wiltshire can be downloaded below along with a report examining the Indices of Deprivation in Wiltshire.

The Indices of Deprivation also provide two supplementary indices for the proportion of children (those below 15) and individuals over 60 who fall within the income deprived definition. These two supplementary domains are provided below for 2010, 2007 and 2004 in regards to LSOA's within Wiltshire.

Rural Deprivation

Deprivation in rural areas is dispersed and therefore often less visible than in more urban areas. An examination of the rural share of deprivation in Wiltshire was produced in 2009 by the Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion and can be accessed below.

Equality in Wiltshire: A Statistical Profile

Creating stronger and more resilient communities is the vision at the heart of our work in Wiltshire. In order to achieve this, we want to see a range of services of a consistently high quality that meet the needs of all. It is therefore vital that we continue to build understanding of our diverse communities in Wiltshire and the potential barriers they face. Toward this end, a statistical profile has been produced that provides sound evidence to support Wiltshire's Resilient Communities Partnership and others in looking at what creates inequality and disadvantage in the county and how it might be addressed.

Wiltshire's Ethnic Groups

The 2001 Census is currently the only publicly available data source providing statistically reliable information on Wiltshire's ethnic population. However, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) also publish "experimental" ethnic population statistics for local authorities in England, which provide a more up to date picture. A summary of the most recent data for Wiltshire (mid-year 2009), including a time series between 2001 and 2009 can be downloaded below.

A number of lifestyle, or "geo-demographic", classification tools are available which can be used to gain information about the likely characteristics of people who live in an area.  These tools, and the information they provide, can be valuable in a number of ways. For example, different groups of citizens may require different services and are likely to respond to different channels of communication. Improved knowledge of customers lifestyles therefore enables the delivery of relevant, focused and cost-effective services.

In Wiltshire, the lifestyle classification tool used is Experian's Mosaic Public Sector. This uses data from a wide range of public and private sources and provides a classification that covers the whole of the UK, grouping citizens into 15 groups containing 69 types. This classification paints a picture of the most likely characteristics of citizens in terms of their socio-demographic lifestyles, culture and behaviour.   

On the 15th of February (2011) the Wiltshire Intelligence Network hosted a Customer Insight and Behaviour Change seminar and the slides from this event can be accessed here.  These include details of recent developments in customer insight, using customer insight to understand patterns of domestic abuse, turning theory into practice around childhood immunisations and understanding and influencing behaviour.

 

A survey of the facilities available in a number of rural settlements in both the Wiltshire County and Swindon Borough areas has been carried out regularly since 1976, usually every three years, giving a comparative database for around 240 settlements spanning 32 years. The most recent survey was carried out in 2008 and a report outlining the results and trends revealed can be accessed below, along with an update taking into account the changes to the Wiltshire County Community Area boundaries that occurred in April 2009. 

An overview of rural Wiltshire was produced in 2010. The report highlights some of the issues that need to be considered to ensure that rural Wiltshire continues to thrive. The evidence that created this overview came from a number of sources including the Rural Facilities Survey (2008), the Wiltshire Household Survey (2009) and the Commission for Rural Communities’ Rural Data Series (2009). Please note that the data provided in this report is not intended to be a complete, wide ranging assessment.

The military presence is one of the defining characteristics of Wiltshire, with over 30,000 military personnel and their dependants estimated to be living in the county. A number of military changes are taking place are taking place in Wiltshire, including the development of the Salisbury Plain Super Garrison and the closure and potential re-use of RAF Lyneham. These changes are expected to result in a significantly different military population in the county, changes in the use of land and a significant increase in the length of time that army personnel and their families live and work in Wiltshire. The potential impacts of these and other military changes in Wiltshire are explored in the 'Envisioning the Future' report, which can be accessed below.

The services provided to Wiltshire's military communities by statutory agencies, the voluntary and community sector and by the military itself have been analysed in order to identify any gaps or opportunities for further collaboration. The ultimate aim of this work was to help those who commission services to better meet the needs of military families through a good knowledge of all other relevant services available. The outcomes of this work are summarised in the report below.

The economic significance of the military presence in the wider South West region, and the potential economic impacts of a number of expected military changes in the region have also been explored, as described in the report below.

The Plunkett Foundation has produced a Review of Rural Social Enterprise in England report which aims to review the role of social enterprise in rural England to understand the importance of social enterprises to the economy, society and environment of rural areas.

The Improvement Service, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Scottish Government are currently working together on an action research project called 'Improving Local Equality Data'.

The Department for Work and Pensions has produced a Attitudes to age in Britain 2010/11 report which examines data from the ONS Opinions survey and examines seven age constructs.