16 November 2004
The Census Dissemination Unit (CDU) at MIMAS, based within the University of Manchester is pleased to announce the release of a re-engineered set of the Key Statistics component of the aggregate outputs from the 2001 UK Census for Scotland through its Casweb interface at http://census.ac.uk/casweb.
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The release of this dataset has been delayed due to the original data having been provided in percentage, rather than count form, and at output area level only. This precluded the aggregation of this dataset to higher geographical levels, as had been possible with the Scottish versions of the Standard Tables and Census Aggregate Statistics. The CDU felt it important to make the Key Statistics available in count form for all levels of the standard census geography, in order to provide comparability with other components of the 2001 Census outputs, and to give users the greatest flexibility in the use of the data, such as the ability to aggregate data to non-standard areas. Through negotiation with, and with the assistance of the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), it has been possible to reconstruct the Key Statistics in count form. This has involved considerable effort on the part of the CDU in piecing together the data, constructing new, non-standard table layouts, and quality assuring the resulting dataset. The Key Statistics in count form are available for all levels of the standard Scottish 2001 Census geography, and are supplied complete with unique zone identifiers in formats suitable for large scale comparative analyses. CASWEB IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF THIS UNIQUE DATASET.
### Users please note ###
There is a slight difference between the Key Statistics data available
at Census Aggregate Statistics Postcode Sector (CASPCS) level available from
Casweb, and that available in percentage form from GROS, via SuperTABLE
CD, or from the SCROL website - http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/common/home.jsp.
This difference is due to alternative assignments of output area 60QP002440:
* In all available versions of the Scottish Standard Tables and Census Aggregate Statistics, the GROS Output Area to Higher Area Index, AND THE VERSION
OF THE KEY STATISTICS AVAILABLE FROM CASWEB, output area 60QP002440 is
assigned to CASPCS QPC23 (postcode sector EH14 4).
* In the version of the Key Statistics available from GROS via SuperTABLE
CD, or from the SCROL website, output area 60QP002440 is assigned to
CASPCS
QPC24 (postcode sector EH14 5).
This doesn't cause problems at Standard Tables Postcode Sector (STPCS)
level or above, as CASPCS's QPC23 and QPC24 are both amalgamated to STPCS
QPS22 (postcode sectors EH14 4 and EH14 5). The CDU are awaiting further
information from GROS about the assignment of output area 60QP002440.
It is intended to follow this release with the remaining components of the aggregate outputs from the 2001 Census for UK as quickly as the processing and quality assurance of the data will allow. A release schedule is available at http://cdu.mimas.ac.uk/schedule.htm. Digital boundary data from the 2001 Census will be incorporated into Casweb and made available to users following the release of numerical outputs. Further information on outputs from the 2001 UK Census can be obtained from the census pages of the websites of the national statistical agencies:
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/default.asp
The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosweb/grosweb.nsf/pages/censushm
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census/start.html
Casweb is available using Athens authentication to all members and affiliates of UK Higher and Further Education institutions. It aims to meet their specific requirements by providing:
* An easy-to-use interface that enables users with varying levels of
skill and experience to understand and make selections from the available
census data by guiding them through a series of simple steps.
* Integrated access to census data for the whole UK, and from a series
of recent UK Censuses.
* Updated access to corrected or re-supplied data as soon as it becomes
available.
* Numerical census data combined with corresponding digital boundary
data in a range of standard GIS formats
* The ability to quickly download large subsets of census data, together
with accompanying metadata, in a range of formats suitable for upload
into most kinds of analytical software for further analysis.
This unique combination of facilities is not available from any other currently available online interface to UK Census data.
We have endeavoured to provide access to this data through Casweb as quickly as has been possible. As a result, please note that aspects of the 2001 Census elements of the Casweb interface are still under development, and may be subject to change.
Please direct any comments or queries about Casweb or other aspects of CDU services to:
MIMAS Census Helpdesk
E-mail - census@mimas.ac.uk
Telephone - 0161 275 6109
Details of all Census Dissemination Unit services can be found on the CDU website at http://census.ac.uk/cdu.
Information about the Athens authentication system is available from the Census Registration Service website at http://census.data-archive.ac.uk.
Information about the full range of census-related resources available
as part of the ESRC/JISC 2001 Census of Population Programme can be found
at http://census.ac.uk.
