100 delegates attended our fourth National Intelligence Event – ‘How it REALLY is’ – Understanding well-being – a step change in Wales on Thursday 3 March 2016 at Cardiff City Stadium.

Delegates heard from a range of speakers including Christopher Stevens, Head of Planning and Partnership Branch and Claire Germain Head of Local Government Partnerships, Welsh Government.

We also heard from Dr. Alan Netherwood from Netherwood Sustainable Futures who talked about his work with the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) on the Future Generations Act Early Adopter Programme and work on futures governance at Cardiff University to explore how the needs of future generations can be represented in well-being assessments.

There were a number of breakout sessions with speakers from the Wales Audit Office, Public Health Wales, Participation Cymru, Social Services Improvement Agency, Welsh Local Government Association, Welsh Government, Ceredigion County Council, City and County of Swansea and Cwm Taf UHB.

The day was brought to a close with Russell De’Ath, Senior Natural Resource Management Adviser, Natural Resources Wales who talked about how the Environment (Wales) Bill gives NRW a particular focus in communicating both the risks and the opportunities that the management of natural resources offers for human well-being, and how they are approaching this new challenge and how this will inform well-being assessments and well-being plans.

Feedback from the event so far has been very positive. Presentations and video footage are now available.

Fewer people swam for free between October-November 2015!

The latest free swimming data for October - November 2015 is now available. Overall, it shows a 12% decrease in the number of free public swims compared to the same period last year.

Want to see more? Check out our Free Swimming interactive tool for Wales.

For more information on Free Swimming data please contact Adrian Smith.

A data catalogue in support of the SSIA Population Assessment Toolkit is now available.

The Data Unit, on behalf of the Social Services Improvement Agency (SSIA), have released a data catalogue as part of the Population Assessment Toolkit being developed to assist local authorities and local health boards with their statutory requirements under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.

The catalogue offers users a range of available data that may be useful in developing their population assessments, whilst recognising that needs will vary between areas.

The catalogue has been developed in conjunction with partners in local authorities and local health boards. Wider stakeholders were also given an opportunity to feedback on the data catalogue, and this feedback has been taken into consideration.

SSIA plan to release the Toolkit by April 2016.

Get the latest analysis from the Children’s National Service Framework (NSF) key actions report

We’ve been commissioned by Welsh Government to collate, analyse and report on the Self Assessment Audit Tool (SAAT) data for the Children’s National Service Framework (NSF) in Wales.

The report aims to assess progress made against the Children’s NSF key actions between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

The report is available here.

For more information on NSF SAAT data please contact SAATEnquiries@dataunitwales.gov.uk.

The latest analysis report on local funding of the third sector in Wales in now available

We were commissioned by Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) to collect, analyse and report on local funding of the third sector in Wales.

The aim of this study was to provide a detailed understanding of the level and composition of funding local government provided the third sector during 2013-14. This work builds on the previous work we have undertaken on funding of the third sector, the last being in 2009-10.

To view the 2013-14 report please click the image below.

The data on third sector funding can be found here.

Further information can be found on the WCVA website.

Get the latest analysis report on Free Swimming data showing trends for Wales

We work in partnership with Sport Wales to collect, analyse and report on Free Swimming data from local authorities in Wales.

The aim of this work is to evaluate the impact of the Free Swimming Initiative in Wales by using the data effectively.

Here are some of the key points from the 2014-15 data:

• There has been a 26% decrease in the number of free public swims for young people, compared to 2013-14.
• The 60 and over age group has also seen a 9% decrease in free public swimming participation, compared to 2013-14.

Find out more and see what participation is like in your authority by visiting our Free Swimming tool.

To view the 2014-15 report please click the image below.

For more information on Free Swimming data please contact Adrian Smith.

Local authority performance continues to improve

Data for 2014-15 shows that LA performance has improved for 63% of indicators.

A report published On Wednesday 2 September shows that performance has improved for 63% of comparable performance indicators compared to 2013-14. The gap in performance (between the best and worst performing authorities) has also narrowed for over half of the indicators.

An easy way to see how MyLocalCouncil is performing

MyLocalCouncil website which is designed to help you understand how your local council is performing has been updated with the latest local authority performance data for 2014-15.

The site allows you to see how your council compares to others across Wales, how it compares to the Wales average, and how its performance has varied over recent years.

To coincide with the publication of the 2014-15 performance data, some new functionality has been added to the site. You can now:

• View a ‘National performance’ report which provides a summary of Wales’ performance across the national indicators and how it compares to previous years.
• View information about the population of your council  to help put your local council’s performance into context.
• View a ‘Summary performance’ report which shows how your council’s performance compares to previous years and how it compares to other councils’ performance. It also shows how people living in your local area feel about the council.
• View other reports relating to the performance of your chosen council, including those produced by the council and those produced by its regulators.
• Contact the performance team within your chosen council with a simple click of a button.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the 2014 mid-year estimates of population on 25 June 2015.

The estimates are available at single year of age and at local authority level. We have included them in InfoBaseCymru as broad age bands for easier use. If you need data for different age bands please contact us.

We have also produced an infographic to give you some of the highlights.

For more information on population data please contact Jenny Murphy.