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This monthly publication keeps you informed of key issues and developments in research impacting on, or of interest to, local government.
May 2024 Analysis and Research Bulletin
Welcome to the Local Government Association (LGA) Analysis and Research Bulletin.
This comprehensive monthly publication keeps you informed about key issues and developments in research impacting on local government.
The bulletin brings together the work of the LGA and also features relevant publications from the wider research community. The information in this bulletin is grouped under themed areas. This publication is produced by LGA Research and Information and we provide high-quality analysis and research across all aspects of local government.
A new archive providing back-dated copies of this bulletin is now available.
Education and young people
Pupil attendance in schools in England – Academic year 11 September to 19 April 2024
This Department for Education (DfE) data provides information on the levels of attendance and overall, authorised and unauthorised absence in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in England. This release covers the 2023/24 academic year from 11 September to 19 April 2024.
Pupil absence in schools in England: autumn term 2023
These DfE pupil absence in schools statistics provide information on the levels of overall, authorised and unauthorised absence in state-funded schools in the autumn term 2023/24 in England.
Youth Endowment Fund report on education, children, and violence
The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) has published a new guidance report: Education, Children, and Violence. The guidance combines insights from a YEF toolkit, existing studies and new research, offering a practical 'what works' guide for education leaders dedicated to reducing children’s involvement in violence.
Transport
Electric vehicle public charging infrastructure statistics: January to March 2024 - UK
These Department for Transport (DfT) statistics provide information on the number of publicly available electric vehicle charging devices in the UK broken down by local authority for January to March 2024.
Road traffic estimates in Great Britain: 2023
These DfT road traffic estimates for Great Britain in 2023 are broken down by vehicle type and road type for 2023.
Daily domestic transport use by mode from May 2023 – Great Britain
These DfT statistics provide information on the daily usage of selected domestic transport by mode from May 2023 in Great Britain.
Travel trends: 2023
These ONS travel trends statistics provide annual estimates of completed international visits to and from the UK and earnings and expenditure associated with these visits.
Environment
Air quality statistics 1987 to 2023 - UK
These Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) statistics provide an annual update on concentrations of major air pollutants in the UK.
UK and England's carbon footprint to 2021
These Defra statistics provide information on annual greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions relating to UK and England consumption.
Statistical digest of rural England – Energy statistics for rural England
These energy statistics from Defra provide information on fuel poverty, energy costs and energy consumption in rural England. Schemes and their members in the UK between January and March 2023.
Local government
Metrics added to LG Inform this month include:
Mortgage and landlord possession statistics – England and Wales
Updated data is available for this collection, covering the latest statistics on the numbers of mortgage and landlord possession actions in the county courts of England and Wales. The data shows that the rate of possession claims issued by landlords in Q1 2023/24 was 274.7 per 100,000 households an increase from 257.5 in the preceding period.
In Q1 2023/24 there were 7,783 accelerated possession claims issued by landlords in England, an increase of 317 from 7466 in Q4 2022/23. An accelerated possession is quicker than a normal eviction and doesn’t usually need a court hearing. These are separately counted, and the accelerated procedure can be used for either private or social landlord cases.
Available Geographies: Country – County - Region – London borough – Metropolitan District – Unitary
Care amenities - England
Using Care Quality Commission's (CQC) Care Directory quarterly published data the number and rate per 1,000 resident population for 30 categories of care services has been added to LG Inform. For the latest period there were 4,240 nursing homes in England for quarter 2 2024, down from 4,253 in quarter 2 2023. Currently this is a rate of 0.074 nursing homes per 1,000 population. There are 11,525 dental practices according to the latest figures, up from 11,355 a year ago, a rate of 0.2 per 1,000 population. There are currently 980 diagnostic and/or screening services locations in England, up by 4 per cent from 12 months ago.
Available Geographies: Country – Region – London borough – Metropolitan District – Unitary – District
Employment, pay and workforce
Labour market statistics time series: May 2024
This ONS dataset contains the labour market statistics data time series.
Labour market in the regions of the UK: January to March 2024
These ONS labour market statistics provide regional, local authority and parliamentary constituency breakdowns of changes in UK employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity and other related statistics between January and March 2024.
Working and workless households in the UK: January to March 2024
This ONS data provides information on the economic status of households in the UK and the people living in them, where at least one person was aged 16 to 64 years between January and March 2024.
Apprenticeships: August 2023 to January 2024 - England
These DfE statistics provide information on apprenticeships in England from August 2023 to January 2024.
Economy
Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 2 May 2024
This ONS early data provides information on the UK economy and society. These faster indicators are created using rapid response surveys, novel data sources and innovative methods. These are official statistics in development.
Retail Sales - Great Britain: April 2024
These ONS statistics provide a first estimate of retail sales in volume and value terms, seasonally and non-seasonally adjusted in Great Britain during April 2024.
Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 23 May 2024
This ONS economic activity data provides early information on the UK economy and society.
UK trade – March 2024
These ONS UK trade statistics provide information on the total value of UK exports and imports of goods and services by current price, chained volume measures and implied deflators during March 2024.
Housing
Statutory homelessness in England: October to December 2023
These DLUHC statistics provide information on statutory homelessness applications, duties, and outcomes for local authorities in England between October and December 2023. They also report on households in temporary accommodation.
Families and households in the UK: 2023
This ONS families and households data provides information on trends in living arrangements including families (with and without dependent children), people living alone and people in shared accommodation in the UK in 2023, broken down by size and type of household.
Housing statistics 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 - England
These housing statistics from Homes England provide information about housing starts on site and housing completions delivered by Homes England.
Leasehold dwellings, 2022 to 2023 - England
These DLUHC official statistics provide an estimate of the number of leasehold dwellings in England between 2022 and 2023, by tenure, dwelling type and region.
Crime
Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey – England and Wales
These Home Office statistics provide estimates from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey, which looks at crime against businesses in England and Wales.
Knife and offensive weapon sentencing statistics: October to December 2023
These MoJ statistics provide information on trends in cautioning and sentencing of knife and offensive weapon offences between October and December 2023 in England and Wales.
Criminal justice statistics quarterly: December 2023
These MoJ criminal justice statistics provide an overview of trends in the use of out of court disposals, defendants prosecuted, offenders convicted, remand and sentencing decisions in England and Wales during December 2023.
Regular publications and events
The NIHR Policy Research Unit In Older People and Frailty/Healthy Ageing
June webinar will take place during Carers Week and will focus on work they have undertaken related to unpaid caring.
Caring as a social determinant of health: who experiences the greatest impact and what works to support older carers.
Date: Wednesday 12 June
Time: 12pm to 1pm
This session includes:
- The impact of unpaid caring on carers health, quality of life, social and financial wellbeing
- How do characteristics of carers and outcomes for carers differ for those materially disadvantaged
- What works to support carers of older people and older carers – where are the gaps
- Key priorities for future research for older carers and carers of older people.
Register here. If you have any access requirements, please contact [email protected]
Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams (PHIRST) Local Authority Evaluation of Interventions EoI - National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Local Government Expressions of Interest
The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme is accepting Expressions of Interest from local government for evaluations of interventions by the NIHR’s Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams (PHIRST).
NIHR invite local authorities in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland to submit an expression of interest to identify specific initiatives within their Local Authorities that would benefit from evaluation. The PHR Programme has appointed academic teams (the ‘PHIRST teams’) that are ready to work with local authorities on evaluation of interventions being conducted by local authorities.
The purpose of this funding opportunity is to identify and prioritise local authority initiatives which have the potential to impact on health, and which require evaluation.
The academic teams (but not the initiative itself) are fully funded to co-design and undertake robust and independent evaluations in partnership with local authorities and their partners.
- Expression of Interest deadline: 1pm, 24 September 2024
- notification of outcome: November 2024
More information is available on the NIHR website.
NIHR's Public Health Hub
There is a need to better organise and co-ordinate the NIHR’s public health research offer. The Public Health Hub aims to create a single-entry point that collates and clearly communicates this offer.
The Public Health Hub team will support the development and delivery of a ‘One NIHR’ public health research strategy, identifying priorities and opportunities to guide future investment and the development of new capacity and partnerships. This strategy will be enabled through a newly established Strategic Public Health Oversight Group (S-PHOG).
The NIHR’s Public Health Hub is accompanied by the new Public Health Hub webpages. In line with a commitment to providing accessible and reliable information on the NIHR’s public health research offer, here is some of what you can expect from the Public Health Hub webpages:
- Where to apply for NIHR public health research funding
- Where to get help to deliver research projects
- Where to access information on developing your public health research career
- Where to find public health research evidence
- Where to access the NIHR’s curated public health research portfolio
You can explore the new Public Health Hub webpages and provide your feedback and suggestions at [email protected]
LG Inform and LG Inform Plus webinar programme 2024
The LG Inform and LG Inform Plus programme of free webinars for spring 2024 are available.
To book a place and discover more about the data, report writing and the various modules on offer visit the online training page for more details and how to book. If you would like something more tailored to your needs, contact [email protected]
Social Research Association (SRA) training courses
The SRA are currently offering a range of online training courses using Zoom.
SRA - Social Research Practice journal
The latest issue of the SRA's free e-journal is now available.
The Rees Centre newsletter
The Rees Centre newsletter is published every two months giving an update on their fostering related research activities and events along with a book review and a section on young voices.
Changing Populations newsletter
The latest newsletter from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Population Change is now available.
Child Welfare Inequalities Project (CWIP) news
The CWIP at Coventry University studies the links between deprivation and children’s chances of being unable to live safely within their birth families and also aims to establish child welfare inequalities as a core concept in policy making, practice and research. Information about current CWIP projects is available on the website.
NIHR School for Public Health Research
Sign-up to receive the latest news and updates from the NIHR School for Public Research including publications, funding opportunities, upcoming events and more. Sign-up here. Read the latest newsletter here.
NIHR Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST) newsletter
The NIHR PHIRST newsletter includes information on seminars, evaluations and publications. Visit the website to sign-up for the newsletter.
Centre for Evaluation newsletter
The Centre for Evaluation develops interventions, systems and strategies to improve public health using rigorous evaluation methods. Visit the website to sign up for the Centre for Evaluation newsletter.
What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth newsletter
This regular newsletter from the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth provides the latest resources and evidence. Visit the website to sign up for the newsletter.
The Centre for Youth Impact newsletter
The Centre for Youth Impact is a community of organisations that work together to progress thinking and practice around impact measurement in youth work and services for young people. The latest Centre for Youth Impact newsletter is now available.
Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Newsletter
The CSA newsletter brings together the most up-to-date research into an accessible overview for frontline professionals and commissioners. Visit the website to sign up for the CSA newsletter.
National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) Direct
This regular NFER newsletter provides research, industry insights and free resources and events. Sign up for the newsletter here.
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Centre for Evaluation
The Centre for Evaluation aims to improve the design and conduct of evaluations of complex public health interventions through the development, application and dissemination of rigorous methods, and facilitate the use of robust evidence to inform policy and practice decisions. The Centre produce a termly newsletter.
Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) newsletter
WCPP works to address key economic and societal challenges through the use of evidence and produce a regular newsletter.
Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) news alert
EEF news alerts provide information about teaching and learning toolkits, project evaluation reports, grant funding rounds and news and events.
NESTA
NESTA is an innovation foundation which aims to tackle society’s big challenges. They produce a regular newsletter.
Research and Economic Analysis for the Long Term (REAL) Centre
The Health Foundation’s REAL Centre was set up to support long-term decision making in health and social care. Visit the website to sign up for regular updates.
Policy Bristol Newsletter
The Policy Bristol Newsletter provides regular policy updates and the latest policy research and events news.
ActEarly monthly bulletin
The AntennAE monthly e-bulletin provides the latest news and developments from Act Early.
The Health Foundation newsletter
This monthly newsletter from The Health Foundation provides details about funding opportunities, latest publications and blogs, and the latest news from the world of UK health care.
The Learning and Work Institute newsletter
This monthly newsletter from the Learning and Work Institute provides news updates, latest publications and blogs.
The Resolution Foundation Housing Outlook
This quarterly publication from The Resolution Foundation covers housing issues including quality and affordability.