“There is no such thing as failure, only learning experiences” – Anon.

Today we have launched our webinar programme of events, which aims to inform and inspire.

In our first webinar, “Understanding future skills requirements: data for the green revolution”, our colleague Dan will be talking about his research around the skills demands that are likely to arise with the rapid growth of the green economy. Join us to learn more about the research, the underlying data and to explore some of the key findings.

We’ve published a geography lookup table to help you understand which local authority, ward or local health board a postcode is in. We’ve made this available as a result of demand from users wanting to use this information e.g. vaccination centres, to understand which local authority/local health board a person’s postcode belongs.

The table contains the names, descriptions, and identification codes of Welsh statistical geographies, from postcode through to local health board, and how they relate to each other.

The data is updated quarterly following a release by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The table can be found in our tools OpenDataWales and InfoBaseCymru.

The 2021 update of Thriving Places Wales is now available. The tool provides a measure of the prevelance of the conditions that support well-being across local authority areas.

The scores measure conditions for well-being across Wales at a local authority area level. They are not reflective of the performance of any organisation, or groups of organisations, within these areas.

Developed in conjunction with the Centre for Thriving Places, the tool provides a robust reporting framework to help support decision-makers to understand well-being in their area.

The tool is based on many years of development work in consultation with experts from around the world, academics, practitioners and diverse local communities The conditions included in the framework are what have been shown to be most important for individuals, communities and areas to thrive. They define sustainable well-being as providing equal opportunities to thrive for present and future generations. The tool offers an alternative view of well-being compared to financial and deprivation-based indices.

There is analysis to accompany the scores and users can also create a pdf scorecard for their local authority area.

If you’d like support with the data, if you have questions about the tool or want support to help embed it in your work, please contact Duncan Mackenzie.

CACI have contacted us with an offer of support to Welsh local authorities in these unique times. CACI produce a range of commercial datasets, including Acorn, Household Acorn, Wellbeing Acorn and Vulnerability Indicators, which can be used to better understand your communities at a small geography level.

Normally available on a commercial basis, CACI are now making this data available free to local authorities and public sector organisations in England and Wales, to help you identify vulnerable people in your communities. This offer extends until the end of February 2021 in the first instance and will cover COVID-related work only. Any future agreement will be between yourselves and CACI.

More information about accessing this data is available on CACI’s website, including details on how to register.

Please note: if you are already part of the current consortium agreement we have with CACI, this offer is separate to that agreement and will have no impact on it.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact CACI via their website or Duncan MacKenzie.

We’ve launched the latest release to our tool Profiling Places Wales.

The tool aims to support Welsh local authorities, Public Services Boards and their partners to plan and deliver services, to understand how places are changing over time and to better understand well-being at a community level. The tool contains data on 192 Built-up Area (BUA) geographies with a Census 2011 population of 2,000 or more.

Following the successful launch of the tool in 2019, we’ve continued to review and develop the tool, the latest release includes:

• train station mapping and commuter data;
• linking local health & well-being services to the Dewis Cymru directory and map;
• the addition of 2019 WIMD data;
• improvements to Census metadata; as well as
• other functional updates.

We have an exciting route map planned for the tool, with a long-term focus on its potential to support understanding of the data coming out of the 2021 Census. In the meantime, we’re looking for input from users as we seek to add further data and extend its functionality.

If you have any thoughts or ideas or would like to have a chat about the tool, please contact Tom.Brame@data.cymru.

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) rankings and the indicator data is now available in InfoBaseCymru.

There are 1,909 LSOAs in Wales, across the 22 local authorities. They are ranked from most deprived to least deprived against the eight domains of deprivation (Income, Employment, Health, Education, Access to Services, Community Safety, Physical Environment and Housing) and also for overall deprivation.

Each domain is made up of a number of indicators and the indicator data is also available along with the LSOA rankings.

The data and rankings are a valuable source of information for local authorities, public bodies, policy makers and the general public to understand how deprivation exists across Wales.

To access the data please visit InfoBaseCymru.

Overall, the latest free swimming data shows a 7% increase in the number of free public swims for both younger and older people 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.

Overall, the latest free swimming data shows a 14% increase in the number of free public swims for both younger and older people 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.

We’ve launched the latest release to our tool Profiling Places Wales.

The tool aims to support Welsh local authorities, Public Services Boards and their partners to plan and deliver services, to understand how places are changing over time and to better understand well-being at a community level. The tool contains data on 192 Built-up Area (BUA) geographies with a Census 2011 population of 2,000 or more.

Following the successful launch of our beta tool earlier this year, we’ve continued to receive valuable feedback which has helped us update and develop the tool further, including:

• The addition of health and well-being services data;
• The addition of more LSOA level maps to provide a breakdown for larger areas;
• The ability to export or print charts for reporting purposes; as well as
• More functional updates.

We have an exciting route map planned for the tool, with a long-term focus on its potential to support understanding of the data coming out the 2021 Census. In the meantime, we’ll be looking for input from users as we seek to add further data and extend its functionality.

If you have any thoughts or ideas or would like to have a chat about the tool, please contact Tom.Brame@data.cymru.