Government Social Research
8 May 2006: Office for National Statistics (ONS) release 2 local crime datasets on Neighbourhood Statistics:
Local Crime Data (Selected Offences): Information from Individual
Police Forces, 2003/2004
Local Crime Data (Selected Offences): Information from Crime
Partnerships, 2003/2004
Both of these datasets are classified as 'Experimental Statistics' and have been supplied by the Home Office.
The data are available for Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs).
The datasets share the same categories but the statistics were obtained using different methods of data collection and validation. ONS therefore have advised users that comparisons should not be drawn between areas from each source.
Data held on the Neighbourhood Statistics website can be accessed in a variety of ways.
Access via Topics - View
Accessing the data through the 'Topics' route and opting to 'View 'the
data on-line, can give the impression that the tables are blank. The reason
underlying this, is that for each of these datasets, ONS only have the data
at the MSOA level, and only have partial coverage (i.e.
each dataset does not have data for every MSOA).
In this case the user is presented with a table on a topic for all areas, and has to navigate to their particular area(s) of interest. This is done in a hierarchical way, so that the user is presented first with a table containing 'countries' and regions, then clicks on one of these e.g. 'North East', in order to see the next level down and so on.. Users need to drill down to MSOA level. The 'drilling-down' is performed by clicking on the area name.
Given there is only partial coverage, ONS are not able to include figures for the higher geographical areas (so the users has to drill-down through blanks to get to data), and also in many situations there will not be data at the MSOA level, even after drilling-down.
Access via Topic - Download
Choosing to download the data does not give such a problem as all the data
available in that dataset is presented to the user (i.e. there are not the
same navigation problems with the view route).
Access via Customised Tables
There are alternative routes on the site, where a user can first select
specific areas and then go and choose data (i.e. they create a table for
specific areas rather than the complete table), which alleviates the
navigation problem, but not the issue that data may not be available for
any particular MSOA.
An ONS release note identifies which areas are covered in which dataset
The metadata that accompanies each dataset (accessed through the 'i'
button next to the dataset title) provides users with information about
the
scope and purpose of the dataset. In the case of these Local Crime
datasets, it includes an Annex showing which areas are covered by which
datasets (where appropriate).