TheLondon Borough of Newhamhas
implemented a statistics system to improve its knowledge of the
area's demographic and enable it to make better policy
decisions.
The council launched the statistics portal, which runs on an
InstantAtlas server provided by Geowise, this month. The system
enables the council to collate information, put it in one place,
and present it in an easily understood way.
Lavinia Irving, neighbourhood information management system
manager, said, "We collect large volumes of data the challenge is
to do more than simply publish it, but rather to make it accessible
and understandable to policy makers so they can make solid
decisions, which improve people's lives."
Borough performance information can be added, allowing
measurement against national targets.
The online database includes information on the economy,
education, crime, health, benefits and population, which officers
have always collected. Information also comes from partners such as
the
London Fire Brigade, the Metropolitan Police and local health
services.
The system allows the council to present data as area profiles
and atlases that make patterns easy to see. There are also plans to
allow the public to enter postcodes and find out about services in
their area.
Irving said there would be no personal data held on the
database, but that each piece of information would be used to build
up a picture.
It means problems in a specific area can be identified quickly
and work can be done to improve them.
"The drive from central government is for local authorities to
build up a more detailed knowledge of their areas on the ground,
and the system will help support performance management," Irving
said.
"We are building towards having a system that is accessible to
as many people as possible. We are doing ongoing work to make it
even easier for people who are not used to the web to search for
information."