News and publications

Public organisations increasingly need to understand local-level economic trends and drivers. To address this need, OCSI in partnership with GeoWise have developed the Local Economic Monitor (www.local-economic-monitor.org) to:

monitor key economic indicators for all English local authorities, showing the impact of recent trends;

visualise time series data, including change over recent periods;

present fully updated datasets, showing the [...]

Methodology
For information on the methodology we used, please see the Technical report.
Datasets
Follow the links below to download the deprivation datasets modeled to Output Area level. Files are in zipped Excel format, and may take some time to download on slow connections.
All Areas (This text file contains all data for Output Areas in England. Users with [...]

OCSI have been commissioned by the Department of Communities and Local Government to carry out a review of the many approaches to visualising data. The project will seek to understand the potential for visualisations in the analysis and communication of data, and provide guidance for national and local analysts on making best use of visualisation.
Work [...]

We are carrying out a review of data visualisation - how data is presented and brought to life using charts, graphs, maps, timelines, animations etc - for public sector decision-makers and researchers. The work will identify good practice in visualising data, particularly for:

analysing and presenting small area data (eg, below District level)
understanding and communicating trends [...]

The Social Exclusion Task Force (SETF) at the Cabinet Office has commissioned OCSI to carry out needs analysis as part of the SETF “Services to older people in rural areas” project (project details and the call for evidence are here). This analysis brings together two of OCSI’s major programmes of work:

Identifying rural exclusion: We are working [...]

Recently, I’ve mostly been … talking with different groups about gaps in their evidence-base for decision-making. There were many recurring themes, but two stuck out for me: the lack of good data on equalities groups. And also, that people weren’t always aware of the information that’s already out there.
 
So, in the spirit of joining these [...]

In work OCSI have led for the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG), Audit Commission and Local Government Association, we have identified how national and regional partners can more effectively support local partner research and analysis for decision-making. The report includes recommendations for national, regional, and local organisations for strengthening support for local partners.
In [...]

Early reports suggest that some areas may face difficulty in using the Place Survey for assessing progress against National Indicator targets. And at least one LA is reportedly in discussions with their Government Office over not setting improvement targets for National Indicators based on surveys.
Quite apart from the debate over whether the survey questions are [...]

OCSI Director Tom Smith has been appointed as a Local Improvement Advisor, specialising in helping local partners build analytical capability and strengthen performance management.
The Local Improvement Advisors are a panel available to support Local Authorities and Local Strategic Partnerships improve delivery of public services, and have been setup as part of the government’s National Improvement [...]

OCSI’s work on Data for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration (Data4nr) and the South-East Equalities and Diversity Tool was highlighted at the recent Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) session on Equality data mapping.

The Data for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration (Data4nr) service identifies and signposts datasets for targeting, monitoring, priority setting, performance management etc. Indicators are available by theme [...]