The four nations of the UK

The four nations of the UK

The United Kingdom consists of four nations: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The Welsh Government, Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive have responsibility for a number of policy areas in their respective nations. The main policy areas which are devolved are health, education, social care, the environment, agriculture and transport. In Scotland there is also a separate legal and criminal justice system.

As a result of the devolved system of government in the UK, statistical data covering many of the devolved policy areas are published separately by the statistical offices of the respective administrations. Where policies differ (for example in the area of health care), statistics are sometimes collected and published according to different definitions, and may not be comparable throughout the UK.

Additionally there are a number of instances where data are available for one or more countries of the UK, but not for all of them, because it is not collected by all of them.

Meta Information and quality aspects of variables

Code of Practice for Official Statistics

This report highlights where Urban Audit data for the UK has been sourced from datasets that have been designated as a National Statistic. This is a mark of quality which is underpinned by the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The code contains eight principles and, in relation to each, a statement of associated practices. It also contains three more detailed protocols. Official statistics assessed as compliant with the code are designated as National Statistics. Bodies that produce National Statistics are required to ensure that the code continues to be observed. For other official statistics compliance with the code is not a formal requirement.

The code is consistent with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Principles

Principle 1: Meeting user needs

The production, management and dissemination of official statistics should meet the requirements of informed decision-making by government, public services, business, researchers and the public.

Official statistics, and information about statistical processes, should be managed impartially and objectively.

At all stages in the production, management and dissemination of official statistics, the public interest should prevail over organisational, political or personal interests.

Statistical methods should be consistent with scientific principles and internationally recognised best practices, and be fully documented. Quality should be monitored and assured taking account of internationally agreed practices.

Private information about individual persons (including bodies corporate) compiled in the production of official statistics is confidential, and should be used for statistical purposes only.

The cost burden on data suppliers should not be excessive and should be assessed relative to the benefits arising from the use of the statistics.

The resources made available for statistical activities should be sufficient to meet the requirements of this Code and should be used efficiently and effectively.

Official statistics, accompanied by full and frank commentary, should be readily accessible to users.

Effective user engagement is fundamental both to trust in statistics and securing maximum public value. This protocol draws together the relevant practices set out elsewhere in the Code and expands on the requirements in relation to consultation.

Statistical reports should be released into the public domain in an orderly manner that promotes public confidence and gives equal access to all, subject to relevant legislation.

Administrative sources should be fully exploited for statistical purposes, subject to adherence to appropriate safeguards.

Missing Data

The reasons why data is missing fall into the following categories:

• 
  No organisation within the UK has collected the variable
  
• 
  The data is only partly available because they have been collected in local or regional surveys.
  
• 
  The data available was not considered to be of a high enough quality and therefore discounted
  
• 
  The data available contained small counts and was therefore suppressed to prevent disclosure
  
• 
  The organisation holding the data has insufficient resource with which to comply with the request
  

More detailed information will accompany each individual variable within the body of this report.

Deviating Definitions

The reasons why some data deviates from the definitions given by Eurostat fall into the following categories:

• 
  Data available for the given reference year, but differing reference period within the year.
  
• 
  General differences in the data collected, for example, not all age groups included in the data collection or a different definition of a given unit such as ‘dwelling’ or ‘household’
  

More detailed information will accompany each individual variable within the body of this report.

Description of Estimation Methods Used

The Urban Audit team have not carried out any data estimation, however, a number of the data providers produce their data using various estimation methods. The following information describes data sources, the variables produced and the estimation methods used. Please note where the method descriptions are too large for this report a link to the methodology document has been provided.

Directory: eurostat -> cache -> metadata -> Annexes
eurostat -> Anomaly Detection for Streaming Sensor Data
eurostat -> Conversion of us supply and Use Tables using the European classifications – a first analysis for the years 2008 and 20091
eurostat -> Review of current activities
eurostat -> Review of current activities
eurostat -> Theme: Design of data collection (part 1) 0 General information

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