UKSA Requirements

Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure

An assessment of the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM) was undertaken by the UK Statistics Authority between April and August 2010. In August 2011 the UK Statistics Authority confirmed the designation of the NIMDM outputs as National Statistics in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs;
• are well explained and readily accessible;
• are produced according to sound methods, and
• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

The results of the assessment were published in December 2010 - Assessment Report 69 - Assessment of Compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics - Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure.

Page 1, Paragraph 1.2.1, Assessment Report 69:
Decision concerning designation as National Statistics

The Statistics Authority judges that the statistics covered by this report are readily accessible, produced according to sound methods and managed impartially and objectively in the public interest, subject to the caveats in this report. The Statistics Authority confirms that the statistics detailed in 1.1.1 are designated as National Statistics, subject to NISRA implementing the enhancements listed in section 1.5 [of the Assessment Report] and reporting them to the Authority by April 2011.

The five enhancements are highlighted below with links to the relevant documents needed to improve users' understanding and correct use of the NIMDM and to meet the UK Statistics Authority requirements.

Click the relevant requirement below to read more:

1. Requirement 1 - Publish more information about how the domain weights are derived
2. Requirement 2 - Publish information about the quality of the domain indices and the overall index
3. Requirement 3 - Publish information about the disclosure control methods used in NIMDM
4. Requirement 4 - Ensure that current supporting documentation is sufficient to enable users to make informed use of the data, and have plans in place to ensure that supporting documentation is available for future publication of NIMDMs
5. Requirement 5 - Review the Statement of Administrative Sources to ensure that it includes all administrative data sources used in the production of official statistics

Requirement 1 - Publish more information about how the domain weights are derived
'Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2010: Domain Weight Analysis' provides a summary of the range of methods that can be employed to inform the weighting of domains within a composite measure and details the methods that prevailed when constructing the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measures in 2001, 2005 and 2010. Also included is a sensitivity analysis to show the impact of changing the domain weights on the final multiple deprivation measure and a Domain Weight Analysis Excel Tool is provided to allow users to easily create and compare alternative domain weight models.

Requirement 2 - Publish information about the quality of the domain indices and the overall index

Requirement 3 - Publish information about the disclosure control methods used in NIMDM
Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2010: Description of Indicators, Domains and the Multiple Deprivation Measure builds on an earlier document that provides a description of each of the 52 component indicators. To meet requirement 3, additional information on the disclosure control method employed has been added to each indicator description.

Additional sections on the quality of each of the seven domains and the multiple deprivation measure were included to meet requirement 2.

Requirement 4 - Ensure that current supporting documentation is sufficient to enable users to make informed use of the data, and have plans in place to ensure that supporting documentation is available for future publication of NIMDMs

Following the series of Deprivation Dissemination Events that took place in Autumn 2010 a suite of short guidance documents have been produced, based on frequently asked questions.

• Contents
• Introduction
• Using Ranks and Scores
• Using NIMDM and Domains
• Using Area Based Measures
• Defining Eligibility Criteria
• Monitoring Progress against Targets
• Choice of Multiple Deprivation Measure 2001, 2005, 2010
• Change over time
• Regression Analysis
• UK Measures of Multiple Deprivation
• Quick Reference

Although a timetable has not been formalised, it is likely that a consultation on the production of future measures will take place after the publication of the small area results of the Census 2011. Should an updated Multiple Deprivation Measure be produced, NISRA will ensure that commentary on the results is released at the same time as the statistical results.

Requirement 5 - Review the Statement of Administrative Sources to ensure that it includes all administrative data sources used in the production of official statistics

The Department of Finance and Personnel’s Statement of Administrative Sources was updated to include all administrative sources that are components of the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2010.

The Statement of Administrative Sources is available on the Department of Finance and Personnel and NISRA websites.