This information is needed to inform
Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2025 7:10 am
There are, of course, some challenging issues with this approach which are still to be fully worked through.
Importantly, there are some census topics that simply aren’t uk rcs data covered by administrative data, for example journeys to work or household structure, for which the traditional census has been our principal source. many aspects of public policy, although some of the are interestingly also topics that will have been most affected by enumeration during pandemic restrictions.
Some of these concepts, such as travel to work, could potentially be measured very differently from aggregated big data sources such as tracking mobile devices, but would likely need to be augmented with survey data. These approaches offer exciting opportunities but still require substantial development.
We can anticipate a trajectory towards a system with much more timely outputs from administrative data, but which will not be so rich in coverage.
This is almost certainly going to need to be complemented by a more integrated survey system that will not provide all the detail for small areas, but which would effectively allow us to cover topics missing from the admin data, with maybe a periodic large survey or short census to re-establish the demographic baseline.
The Office for National Statistics are working on ambitious plans for a new multi-source population data system.
Importantly, there are some census topics that simply aren’t uk rcs data covered by administrative data, for example journeys to work or household structure, for which the traditional census has been our principal source. many aspects of public policy, although some of the are interestingly also topics that will have been most affected by enumeration during pandemic restrictions.
Some of these concepts, such as travel to work, could potentially be measured very differently from aggregated big data sources such as tracking mobile devices, but would likely need to be augmented with survey data. These approaches offer exciting opportunities but still require substantial development.
We can anticipate a trajectory towards a system with much more timely outputs from administrative data, but which will not be so rich in coverage.
This is almost certainly going to need to be complemented by a more integrated survey system that will not provide all the detail for small areas, but which would effectively allow us to cover topics missing from the admin data, with maybe a periodic large survey or short census to re-establish the demographic baseline.
The Office for National Statistics are working on ambitious plans for a new multi-source population data system.