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Glossary of Terms
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Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI)
A suite of indicators developed for monitoring the performance of local authorities set by the departments in central government.
Back to top ^Benchmarking
A process of measuring processes and performance and systematically comparing them to the performance of others in order to seek ‘best practice’
Back to top ^Buffering
Buffering is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) term describing the creation of a zone of specified width around any feature - eg a zone of 1km radius around a doctor's surgery.
Back to top ^Choropleth Map
Choropleth maps compare the characteristics of different areas by means of shading; areas with similar characteristics are shaded the same colour.
Back to top ^Crime and Drugs Partnership
Crime and Drugs Partnership involves the local authority, police and other relevant groups working together to reduce crime and disorder in their area.
Back to top ^Data Protection Act 1998
A major piece of legislation, governing who can store data and share it and under which circumstances. It embodies the eight basic principles of data processing, and gives guidance on data sharing.
Back to top ^Depersonalised Data
This is information where any reference to or means of identifying a living individual has been removed or “sanitised.”
Back to top ^District
Districts are local administrative units. They are used on NOMAD+ to refer to Local Authority Areas, which could be Unitary Authority areas, District Councils and Borough Councils.
Back to top ^Dwelling
A dwelling is any building or part of building which is being inhabited as a home, and could include a caravan or boat.
Back to top ^Financial year
The twelve month period used for financial accounting purposes. Whilst it can start at any point in the year the government and many organisations use the period from 1st April to 31st March, divided into four quarters: April-June, July-September, October-December and January-March.
Back to top ^Geographic Information System (GIS)
Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer-based systems for managing, analysing and presenting geographically referenced data.
Back to top ^Indices of (Multiple) Deprivation
Government defined measures of deprivation for every ward and local authority area in England. They combine a number of indicators (covering Income, Employment, Health Deprivation and Disability, Education, Skills and Training, Housing and Geographical Access to Services) into a single deprivation score for each area.
Back to top ^LSP
Local Strategic Partnerships. LSPs have been established to deliver the key neighbourhood renewal objectives of crime, jobs, education, health, and housing. They are partnerships of public, private, voluntary, and community sector providing a local framework for the co-ordination of services and plans around agreed objectives, to develop new ways of delivering services, and to engage the community and others in deciding priorities.
Back to top ^Meta Data
This is essentially data about data. This is a process of making the finding of a resource more efficient, by providing a structure of defined elements that describe or catalogue the resource. It should also provide details as to how the elements are used.
Back to top ^Output Area (OA)
A Census Output Area (OA) is the base unit of census output. An Output Area is a subdivision of 2003 Local Authority wards and provides a standard geographic boundary for statistics to be calculated upon. Each output area comprises approximately 125 households and can be used as a building block for constructing larger areas e.g. Super Output Areas. At present this is the lowest level of data available on NOMAD+.
Back to top ^PCT
Primary Care Trust - Bodies created to take over control of primary health services from local health authorities. The trusts are made up of GPs and other healthcare professionals.
Back to top ^Postcode
Postcodes are assigned by Royal Mail to identify postal delivery areas across the UK. They are also a key means of providing locational references for data.
Back to top ^Super Output Area (SOA)
A statistical area built from Output Areas. There are two layers of Super Output Areas currently in use; lower and middle. For the purpose of the information on NOMAD+ SOA refers to Lower level SOA unless otherwise stated. Lower level SOAs contain a minimum population of 1000 with the average being 1500. There are 34,378 areas in England and Wales.
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