Data dissemination – UK experiences

Iain MacLeay, Head of Energy Balances, Prices and PublicationsDepartment of Energy and Climate ChangeUnited Kingdom

26/10/12

Overview

• Why dissemination is important

• UK practice

• Recent examples from the UK – Local Authority analytical tool– Interactive maps

Why is dissemination important

• What are quality data

• “Official statistics are fundamental to good government, to the delivery of public services and to decision-making in all sectors of society” – preamble to UK Code of Practise for Official statistics

Why is dissemination important

• What are quality data

• “Official statistics are fundamental to good government, to the delivery of public services and to decision-making in all sectors of society” – preamble to UK Code of Practise for Official statistics

Quality data – data produced to good and open methodology that are used and make an impact

UK Practice

• National Statistician’s Guidance is published• http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/ns-reports--revie

ws-and-guidance/national-statistician-s-guidance/index.html

• A document that provides guidance to all producers of official statistics

• Compliance with code of practice ensures statistical reports released into public domain in orderly manner that promotes public confidence, gives equal access to all, subject to relevant legislation

UK Practice continued

• Responsibility resides with the Statistics Head of Profession• Presentation and commentary

– Impartial; clear; balanced; made available to widest possible audience; content reviewed regularly

• Accessibility– Take account of user needs; provide underlying data (subject to

confidentiality)• Pre-release access

– Restrict access to data prior to publication; report breaches– DECC Ministers (3), special advisors (2), senior officials (2), press officer (1)– http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/stats/governance/5494-decc-statemnt-compliance-prerelease-stats.pdf

• Publication– Follow published timetable; 12 months in advance– http://www.decc.gov.uk/media/viewfile.ashx?filepath=Statistics/publications/37-decc12monthstatscalendar.pdf&filetype=4&minwidth=true

– Make metadata available

Dissemination modes

• Printed outputs of key annual and quarterly data– Pressure on costs– Print runs down to100s for main annual reports– Cover marginal costs – not full recovery

• Web – Main method of dissemination– Feedback on access levels – 450,000 hits last year

User engagement

• Check audience for what’s produced• Seek views on new requirements

• Two years ago DECC ran survey

– Feedback positive– More demand for renewables information– More demand for regional data

Scope of data presented

• National data• Regional breakdowns• Sector breakdowns

• Principle – once we produce analysis – aim to make results available to all

• Tables, charts, commentary• PDFs, excel files

New media

• Twitter• DECC @DECCgovuk • See where all our energy comes from and how it gets used, http://bit.ly/LQy0Fz  #energystats

• DECC @DECCgovuk • Latest DECC #energy production, consumption and price #statistics published

http://tinyurl.com/cfcg257 

Commenting on today’s Energy Statistics, Energy Minister Charles Hendry said:

"Today’s statistics show a clear increase on the first quarter of last year across all renewables – with rises in wind, hydro, solar and bioenergy generation.

“Alongside a 36% increase in renewables capacity in the last 12 months, this shows that the UK is powering forward on clean and secure energy and is clearly a very attractive place to invest.”

View “Quarterly energy statistics: Energy trends and quarterly energy prices” on the DECC website.

Dissemination of Statistics

• Keep it simple but factual

• Who is audience, what level of numerical skill

• Charts must make point easier to understand – they are the hook

• Should raise a “why” question

ChartsEveryone can understand a good chart!

UK Final Energy Consumption 2001 - 2011

180

190

200

210

220

230

240

2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011

Mto

e

Has been on the decline since 2005

Record decline in 2011,a fall of 7%.

Cold year

A good picture is worth a thousand words

Developing new uses of statistics

Mapping energy statistics• MapInfo Professional 10

• Create maps using postcode level or various geographical level data e.g. at local authority or output area level

• Capability to layer different types of maps. For example, it is possible to super-impose a map of the national gas network to the map on the right.

Developments

• Good presentation of data is key

• Need to get data noticed and used

• Visualisation – a moving story – engages users

• Examples from the UK – Local Authority analytical tool– Interactive maps

Demonstration

UK Local Authority analytical tool

Sub-national gas and electricity analytical tool

Overview• This tool forms part of a wider project that started in 2003 to meet user’s energy needs

at lower geographies.

• The tool is targeting local authority councils to help develop and monitor policies whilst also enabling comparisons to be made with other local authorities.

• It is universally available.

• Currently, the fuels available for comparison in the tool are gas and electricity. New fuels will be become available for comparison in the upcoming months. These include, road transport and residual fuels. Residual fuels being non-gas, non-electricity and non-transport uses of fuels.

• It is in a ready to use Excel format and can be downloaded from the internet on the DECC statistics website.

Sub-national gas and electricity analytical tool

Front Page

Introduction Page

Individual Local Authority Analysis

Comparisons between local authorities

Local Authority Ranking

Data section

Information pages

Notes and definitions Links

Demonstration

Interactive Mapping tool

Using the tool

Visualising changes in datasets

Visualising changes overtime

Using the tool

Mapping tool

Any Questions?