using tellus data for national and local indicators
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by John Doherty, Young People Analysis, DCSFTRANSCRIPT
Using Tellus data for National and Local IndicatorsJohn Doherty: Young People Analysis, DCSF
DCSF Conference: The Use of Evidence in Policy Development and Delivery, 9 February 2010
Five National Indicators use Tellus data
NI50 – Emotional health of children NI69 – Children who have experienced bullying NI110 – Young People’s participation in positive activities NI115 – substance misuse by Young People NI199 – children and Young People’s satisfaction with parks
and play areas
NI110 – Young People’s participation in positive activities
Matters because:
Evidence suggests structured/supervised activities help develop social and emotional skills
And help prevent engagement in risky behaviours 10 Year Strategy (Aiming High) – substantial activity
and expenditure (e.g. myplace centres)
Measure uses two questions
In last 4 weeks, have you taken part in any group activity led by an adult outside school lessons (e.g. sports, arts, youth group)?
Which of these things have you been to in your free time in the last 4 weeks?
- local park or playground
- sports club or class (not in school lessons and only count when you’ve done sport not just watched)
- a youth centre or club to take part in organised activities run by adults
- a youth centre or club with few or no organised activities
- religious, faith or community group (not services)
- art, craft, dance, drama, film/video making (not in school lessons)
- music group or lesson (not in school lessons)
- given your time to help a charity, a local voluntary group or done something else organised
- something else
The positive activities calculation is simply:(x/y)*100Where:
x = number of young people (Tellus weighted data) in school
year 10 answering “yes” to the first question and/or claiming they
participated in the last 4 weeks in one or more of the following
structured activities: sports club or class youth club or youth group with organised activities run by adults art, craft, dance, drama, film/video making group or class music group or lesson
y = number of young people in year 10 responding to one or more of
the relevant questions (weighted Tellus data).
NI115 – Substance misuse by young people
Matters because – strong evidence base of social and economic costs and personal damage from drug, alcohol and solvent misuse.
Range of (shared) YP-specific programmes and funding to help prevent and treat – Area Based Grant allocations to LAs, campaigns and help – e.g. FRANK
Measure uses a number of Tellus questions Ever had a whole alcoholic drink? If yes, how many times been drunk in last 4
weeks? (None, 1, 2, 3+) Ever taken drugs (not medicine or alcohol)? If yes, how often taken in last 4 weeks –
cannabis or skunk; solvents, glue or gas; others (e.g. cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, heroin, crack, speed, magic mushrooms) (None,1, 2, 3+ times)
The substance misuse calculation is simply:
(x/y)*100
Where:
x = number of young people in years 6, 8
and 10 that the Tellus survey estimates have either used
drugs/ volatile substances and/or been drunk at least
twice in the last 4 weeks or have used drugs/volatile
substances and been drunk once.
y = Tellus estimate of the total number of young people in
years 6, 8 and 10 responding to these questions in the
local population, based on school census data.
Challenges of using Tellus for national indicators Continuity disruptions – changes to the survey (often for good
reasons) that undermine indicator comparisons over time - e.g. changes to questions, question order, timing
Sample and weighting changes – positive activities and, particularly, substance misuse findings are sensitive to the balance of response from years 6, 8 and 10 so weighting needs to compensate for this, but be consistent
Analysis changes – e.g. what population is included in the denominator (e.g. treatment of Not Answered and Prefer Not To Say responses)
Response – needs a decent response rate across all LAs to be disaggregated and it has taken time to build that up
Some findings from Tellus 3Activity Popularity
2008 TellUs3 - Year 6, 8 and 10 response
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Male 0.645405077 0.346725994 0.171018358 0.181382529 0.118480939 0.13233401 0.644169432
Female 0.512707278 0.297325567 0.373725044 0.200806213 0.090730475 0.132554262 0.588128863
Total 0.580377265 0.322322834 0.27259261 0.191043948 0.10472109 0.132443275 0.616715238
Sports club or class (w here I've done sport not
just w atched it)
A youth club or youth group w ith organised activities run by adults
Art, craft, dance, drama, f ilm/video-making group or
class (not in school
Music group or lesson (not in school lessons)
Residential course (e.g. outw ard bound)
Faith or community groupAny group activity led by an adult outside school
lessons (such as sports,
Data tables and contact details:
DCSF Research & Statistics Gateway – January 2009 for Tellus 3 indicators:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d000828/TellusNIStatsRelease-FINAL090108.pdf
John Doherty – 0114 259 3553