Data updates

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Community Insight is updated every month with new data. To see a list of all the datasets in Community Insight check out this article on our Help Centre

Here you can find archived links to previous data updates:

Community Insight England Community Insight Scotland Community Insight Wales
2023 – October 2023 – October 2023 – October
2023 – July 2023 – July 2023 – July
2023 – June 2023 – June 2023 – June
2023 – May 2023 – May 2023 – May
2023 – March 2023 – March 2023 – March
2023 – February 2023 – February 2023 – February
2023 – January 2023 – January 2023 – January
2022 – November 2022 – November 2022 – November
2022 – October 2022 – October 2022 – October
2022 – September 2022 – September 2022 – September
2022 – August 2022 – August 2022 – August

A closer look at the newest additions to Community Insight

Participation in Higher Education

One of the newest datasets added to Community Insight is particularly exciting as it gives an insight into participation in Higher Education at a local level. The data is published by the Office for Students at MSOA level (which we have apportioned to other geographies) and shows the percentage of young people that entered higher education aged 18 or 19 as a proportion of all the 18 or 19 year olds in the area.

NB: Although the denominator is a proportion of the 18 or 19 year olds in the area, the calculation is not as straightforward as this. To compensate for the large migration of 18 and 19 year olds that attend university – often moving to concentrated student areas – the calculation is based on a previous cohort. Or in other words, it is based on the total number of young people (15 year olds) who would be 18 or 19 during the 2009-10 to 2014-15 academic years.

Due to this inherent variability involved in the estimation of these rates – some of the participation rates are estimated to be greater than 100%, due to population turnover of any 15 year olds that moved in or out of the area before reaching the age of 18 or 19.

Explore the data for yourself within Community Insight (Tip: you will first need to add the indicator to the map using the Manage Indicators functionality) and use it to better understand:

  • Where to target campaigns and funding on participation in higher education
  • Whether the local jobs market is likely to meet the demands of young people leaving education
  • The local need for training programmes and apprenticeships
  • Any risks for youth unemployment and the impact on economic planning

Headline trends:

  • Local Authorities in and around London have the highest proportion of 18 and 19 year olds participating in higher education, with concentrations across the country focused around the main big university cities.
  • The five Local Authorities with the highest proportion participating in higher education are in London: City of London (110%), Kensington and Chelsea (93%), Richmond upon Thames (85.9%), Westminster (70.4%), Harrow (67.2%). The England average is 37.5%.
  • Lower levels of participation in higher education are evident in coastal authorities, smaller cities and more rural areas across the country
  • The five Local Authorities with the lowest proportion participating in higher education are: Hull (21.6%), Stoke-on-Trent (23.5%), Barnsley (23.6%), Thurrock (24.8%), Nottingham (25.2%)

SME lending debt per person aged 18+

Another addition comes from UK Finance, looking at the total amount of borrowing outstanding on customer accounts for SME (small and medium sized enterprises) lending.

This has been calculated as a ‘debt per person’ figure in order to ensure areas are being compared like for like when looking at the distribution of SME lending.

Although it is interesting to explore the data, and the trends at both a national and local level, caution should be taken when attempting to discern causality.

Without in depth local knowledge and other supporting statistics, it is not possible to tell whether higher levels of lending in a local area is a positive or negative factor. For example; high levels of lending activity could be a positive indicator for local economic health, driven by a thriving small business sector, characterised by a high number of small businesses with outstanding (but manageable) loans to support their growth.

Conversely, it could indicate that small businesses in that local area are struggling, and taking out loans in order to help them survive, in which case, would be a less positive outlook for local economic health.

So, as is the case with all data, this data should not be used in isolation to make decisions – but can provide supplementary information and knowledge to help inform understanding of the local economic picture.

You can explore the data for yourself in Community Insight by adding the indicator to the map using the Manage Indicators functionality.

Small area benefits measures from DWP

There have been a number of changes in the local level benefits measures that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publish on a regular basis. Take a look at our short guide for anybody navigating the changes. This details what the new data shows, what it replaces and what it can be used for.