Office: Marketing Birmingham, Floor 4, Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG.

Enquiries

Telephone 0121 202 5115
Email research@marketingbirmingham.com

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Advantage West Midlands is currently negotiating with their preferred bidder, Marketing Birmingham, on the Observatory’s behalf. The Agency’s Board will make a final decision on the outcome of those negotiations later in the year and no later than 1st September 2011.

In the interim, the Observatory will pause its operations and all staff have been redeployed into closure and transition activities at Advantage West Midlands. As such, you may not receive a reply to emails and phone calls. The website and blog will also not be updated during this period.

What does preferred bidder mean?

That Marketing Birmingham have exclusive rights to negotiate with Advantage West Midlands regarding the assets of the Observatory. There is no commitment on either side to a sale or transfer in advance of those negotiations.

What happens to the Observatory at the moment?

As the Agency is now focused on its closure, the Observatory’s operations have been temporarily paused. As such, we are not able to respond to enquiries and the website will not be updated.

Who do I talk to about this?

From Advantage West Midlands
Pat Jackson, tel 0121 503 3205, email patjackson [at] advantagewm.co.uk

From Marketing Birmingham
Tim Manson, tel 0121 202 5031, email Tim.Manson [at] marketingbirmingham.com

Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council have carried out a sub-regional economic assessment. The draft economic assessment is now available and comments are invited.

The economic assessment and feedback form are available on the Warwickshire County Council website. There are also supporting papers on innovation, future sectoral growth, functional economic geography and business starts and growth.

The Centre for Cities have published Cities Outlook 2011 (pdf, 2.4mb), identifying the UK cities best placed for a private sector-led recovery.

According to the report, five cities to watch are Milton Keynes, Reading, Aberdeen, Leeds and Bristol. These cities have high potential to create private sector jobs and are less vulnerable to public sector job losses and spending cuts.

The report identifies five vulnerable cities that may not gain the benefits of national economic recovery for some time: Sunderland, Liverpool, Birkenhead, Swansea and Newport.

Performance of large cities, including Birmingham, will remain crucial in providing private sector jobs.

Related links

• Download the full report (pdf, 2.4mb)
• Centre for Cities press release
• City by city data

• Bromford & Firs Estate (Birmingham)
• East Coseley (Dudley)
• Horsefair, Broadwaters, Greenhill (Kidderminster)
• Tividale  – Grace Mary to Lion Farm (Sandwell)
• Gobowen, St. Martins, Chell Heath (Shropshire)
• Chell Heath & Fegg Hays (Stoke on Trent)

Thank you

The bulletin highlights new research and statistics on:

• Employment, pay and workforce trends
• Transport
• Housing
• Education and children’s services
• Environment
• Health and social care
• Local government
• Europe
• Population and migration
• Culture, tourism and sport
• Crime and disorder
• Communities and place shaping

The current and previous issues are available on the Local Government Association’s website.

Advantage West Midlands received two expressions of interest to an open bidding process, which closed on 19th November. Marketing Birmingham has been selected as the preferred bidder and Advantage West Midlands is currently negotiating with them. The Agency’s Board is expected to make a final decision on the outcome of those negotiations at its January meeting.

Being the preferred bidder means that Marketing Birmingham have exclusive rights to negotiate with Advantage West Midlands re the assets of the Observatory. There is no commitment on either side to a sale or transfer in advance of those negotiations.

As the Agency is now focused on its closure, the Observatory will continue to operate, but at a greatly reduced capacity. As such, responses to enquiries may take longer than normal and our website (www.wmro.org) will be updated less frequently.

For more info, contact:
From Advantage West Midlands – Iain Neville tel: 0121 380 3563, email: iainnev [at] gmail.com
From Marketing Birmingham – Tim Manson tel: 0121 202 5031, email: Tim.Manson [at] marketingbirmingham.com

Weaknesses in the structure of the West Midlands economy mean that it was hit particularly hard by the recent recession and is likely to see further job losses over the next five years.

Our latest briefing paper (pdf, 408kb), produced as part of our West Midlands Skills Assessment 2010, reveals that the West Midlands has a weaker private sector than other parts of the country. The West Midlands has poorer representation of higher value added activities and high growth firms with the potential to create new, skilled jobs.

As a result the West Midlands has seen its share of jobs in the public sector rise more rapidly than anywhere else in the country. It is particularly vulnerable to job losses from the spending cuts announced by the government.

We forecast that West Midlands Gross Value Added (GVA) will grow by only 8% (£8.8 billion) between 2010 and 2015 and there will be a net fall in employment of more than 38,000 people.

The Local Enterprise Partnerships being established to succeed Advantage West Midlands, the Regional Development Agency, will need to put strategies in place to drive up investment by the private sector in innovation, enterprise, inward investment, transport, sites and premises and in the demand, supply and effective use of skills.

This would attract and support ongoing development of more high growth businesses and firms in high value sectors such as digital media, low carbon and advanced manufacturing. In turn, this will create more and better jobs to provide work for the unemployed, help maintain social cohesion and provide prosperity for all in the West Midlands.

We estimate that if workforce skill levels across the West Midlands and the share of jobs accounted for by fast growing, higher value added private sector industries increased to match the national average by 2015, GVA would grow by some 23% across the West Midlands.

Even factoring in the impact of the public sector cuts, more than 160,000 net new jobs would be created across the West Midlands and the economies of many areas would be revitalised.

Downloaded the briefing paper

West Midlands Skills Assessment 2010 briefing paper two: achieving transformational change – implications for the economy, jobs and skills (pdf, 408kb)

Up-skilling and diversification scenario – potential for net new job creation

Watch on viddler

If so you may be interested in a seminar organised by the Herefordshire Information & Research Network (HIRN) looking at The State of Herefordshire Report 2010 .

The report pulls together contextual information alongside performance indicators to give an overall picture of what is happening in Herefordshire under the broad themes:

• Population
• Economic Development and Enterprise (Local Economic Assessment)
• Health and Wellbeing
• Children and Young People
• Environment
• Safer Communities
• Stronger Communities

Max Bassett and Clem Attwood (Herefordshire Partnership Research Team) will be presenting on the on the report on Tuesday 14th December (9.30am) at the Town Hall, Hereford.

If you would like to attend please contact Clement Attwood on 01432 260893 or cattwood@herefordshire.gov.uk

The research, Understanding the value of engagement in culture and sport (pdf, 291kb), which is based on a statistical analysis of the British Household Panel Survey, estimates the equivalent boost in household income required to achieve the same boost in wellbeing generated by cultural participation.

The work is something of a departure from previous estimates (such as those which calculate the monetary value of sport by referring to the cost of physical inactivity to the NHS) in that it factors in other influences on wellbeing such as socioeconomic status, thereby isolating the effect of culture.

As the authors note, the findings have the potential to guide policymakers, indicating the level of investment that may be warranted in interventions aimed at increasing participation in culture and sport.

Related links

• Understanding the value of engagement in culture and sport – full report (pdf, 291kb)
• Technical report (pdf, 1.11mb)
• DCMS ‘drivers, impacts and value’ research web page

For info, visit the open data day website.

Questions/comments to bodaceacat at yahoo.co.uk

The website, produced by Research Sandwell, provides:

• A data warehouse which stores detailed data that you can interrogate.
• Mapping and charting tools.
• Topic pages on specific data topics.
• Briefings on various topics, including research methodology.
• Tools to compares with each other.

Home page: www.sandwelltrends.info

Place Survey themed page

• Economic impact (xls, 6.7mb) – employment, turnover etc. within cultural organisations.
• Investment data – levels of public/private investment in capital (xls, 1.8mb) and non-capital (xls, 7.9mb) cultural projects.
• Tourism data (xls, 613kb) – overnight visits by domestic tourists, visits to visitor attractions etc.
• Education data (xls, 4.9mb) – number of Higher Education students for cultural subjects etc.
• Engagement data (xls, 915kb) – levels of participation in cultural activity.
• Physical assets data (xls, 1.3mb) – count, percentage and density of cultural assets.

Notably, some of the spreadsheets also contain wider demographic data that gives a useful hint as to the kind of analyses users could undertake.

For example, the working age population data for each local authority and region (contained in the investment spreadsheets) allows users to calculate investment per head of working age population (or per 10,000 of working age population as in the summary reports) without having to hunt high and low for the population data separately!

For further advice on how to use the data contact CASE (case [at] culture.gsi.gov.uk). Alternatively, feel free to contact us here at the Cultural Observatory (lauren.amery [at] artscouncil.org.uk / tel 0121 631 5705).

Related links

• CASE regional insights webpage
• West Midlands summary report (pdf, 299kb)

Notes

‘CASE’ is a joint DCMS research programme involving Sport England, Arts Council England, English Heritage and Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA).

The definition of ‘culture’ used in the research focuses on those sectors most relevant to the CASE partnership, consisting of Arts Council England, English Heritage, Museums, Librarires and Archives Council and Sport England. So, for example, while data on tourism can be downloaded separately, tourism sector organisations such as hotels and restaurants have not been factored into ‘CASE sector’ analyses.

The newsletter contains information on statistical consultations together with recent and planned ONS publications that might be of interest to you.

Current consultations

Public consultation on potential changes to outputs from the International Trade in Services surveys

Users of International Trade in Services data are being given the opportunity to comment on the extent to which existing outputs meet their current and future requirements, along with suggestions on what changes could be made to better meet their needs.

Find out how to submit your comments

General ONS and statistical articles of interest (to October 2010)

Estimating regional exports of services trade for the UK

Issued October 2010

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) undertakes an annual analysis of regional exports of services. Coverage is limited to about 30% of the value of the UK’s exports of services and includes communication, computer and information and parts of royalties and license fees and other business services. This paper (pdf, 231kb) describes the methodology used, the available results and the limitations of the analysis.

Total public service output, inputs and productivity

Issued October 2010

In 2008, public service accounted for approximately 22% of the expenditure measure of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the UK. The Office for National Statistics has published periodic assessments of the productivity performance of key public services. This article (pdf, 179kb) updates the experimental estimates for all public services which were produced in 2009.

Painting a Picture of Place Series – a profile of business

Issued October 2010

The topic profile from the ONS paints a picture of business using Official Statistics and other data sources. It also highlights interesting data for further analyses and explains what needs to be considered when using these sources.

Noteworthy official statistics data releases (to October 2010)

Work and worklessness among households – 2010 release

Issued September 2010

Provides information about working age households, and about the adults and children living in them, by household economic activity status. Read more »

Sub-regional public and private employee job estimates

Issued September 2010

This data provides the level of public and private sector employee jobs by Local Authority and Travel to Work Area from 2003 to 2008. Read more »

UK regional trade in goods estimates – Q2 2010

Issued September 2010

Statistics of international trade in goods for the English regions, published by HM Revenues & Customs. Read more »

Updated local profile data CD

Issued 30 September 2010

ONS have released an updated version of a free CD with local data for a range of social, economic and environmental indicators. The ONS Centre for Regional and Local Statistics developed these profiles, which represent a significant milestone in providing local authorities with the means to gain value from official statistics – and are intended to facilitate Local Economic Assessments. Read more »

Child poverty local profile data tool

Issued September 2010

The West Midlands & East Midlands ONS Statisticians were responsible for producing the child poverty local profile data tool (xls, 5.23mb), intended to facilitate local authorities in producing their Child Poverty Needs Assessments. The data tool automatically generates tables, charts and texts for a range of national indicators relating to child poverty at local authority level.

Births by usual residence of mother – 2009

Issued September 2010

Data on birth registrations in England and Wales by area of usual residence of mother. The tables contain summary data for live births for local authorities and health areas including figures by age of mother. Read more »

Labour market statistics

Issued October 2010

The data (zip, 2.9mb) released 13 October 2010 covers the three months to August 2010 and includes the claimant data for September 2010. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the West Midlands was 8.0%, down 2.4 percentage points year-on-year and down 0.6 percentage points quarter on quarter (UK=7.7%), and equates to 216,000 people unemployed in the West Midlands.

The claimant count rate in the West Midlands stands at 5.8% (UK=4.5%), which equates to 159,100 claimants in the West Midlands.

Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 by local authority in the UK

Issued October 2010

Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 results for health and local authorities in the UK. Read more »

Small and medium sized enterprise statistics (SME) – 2008 edition

Issued 13 October 2010

Presents the number of enterprises (businesses) in the UK along with turnover and employment in these enterprises. Read more »

Latest news on the 2011 Census

The latest newsletter, Census Talk Summer 2011, focuses on the findings and the resultant actions implemented now as a result of the Census rehearsal, which took place in 2009.

Looking ahead (November/December 2010)

Population estimates by ethnic group (experimental) – mid 2008

To be released in October 2010

Population estimates by ethnic group for English and Welsh local authorities, by age and sex. Read more »

Civil service employment statistics 2010

Issued 19 November 2010

Presents the latest civil service employment statistics. Read more »

Annual survey of hours and earnings – 2010 results

To be released November 2010

The annual survey of hours and earnings provides information about the levels and distribution of earnings and hours paid for employees within industries, occupations and regions.

Long term international migration 2010

To be released 25 November 2010

Annual statistics on flows of international migrants to and from the UK and England and Wales. Read more »

Family spending – a report on the 2009 living costs and food survey

To be released 30 November 2010

Results of the 2009 living costs and food survey (formerly the expenditure and food survey). Read more »

NEET statistics – quarterly brief – quarter 3 2010

To be released 23 November 2010

This brief sets out the latest statistics available on NEET in England from DfE 16-18 participation SFR, the Labour Force Survey, and regional NEET figures and a segmentation using Connexions data. Read more »

Regional economic activity (GVA) – December 2010

To be released 8 December 2010

Shows economic activity as measured by Gross Value Added (GVA) for English regions including component tables and industry group totals. Read more »

Life opportunities survey interim wave one results 2010

To be released 9 December 2010

Statistics on the life opportunities people in Great Britain have and how these vary by social and demographic characteristics.  Read more »

Electricity consumption at local authority level during 2009

To be released 9 December 2010

Release includes statistics on domestic/commercial consumption in the local authorities of Great Britain. Read more »

Other news

ONS regional statistics bulletin – September 2010

The bi-monthly bulletin provides the wider statistical community with examples of work being undertaken by the ONS Regional Statisticians across the English regions. This month’s edition (pdf, 211kb) includes:

• Impact of changing demography on industrial employment patterns in the East of England.
• Regional trends portrait of the North East.
• Urban Audit IV

Goodbye from the ONS in the West Midlands!

Stuart Onyeche has since taken up a new role in the ONS Public Services Division as part of the Central Government Team at Newport. In the current financial climate ONS are unable to continue the regional statistician service, hence the service ceased in the West Midlands as of 21 October 2010.