Proxy Measures

It is also worth exploring the possibility of using other statistics to measure whether there is an impact on the liveability of an area. This comes back to the notion that crime is not the only issue that can affect quality of life, and consequently the fear of crime. Research has suggested that fear is not only a reaction to crime but a reflection of other issues including poor health, environment and additional personal matters specific to the individual.

Health statistics can be useful proxy measure. Mortality rates and injuries from violent crime are an obvious way of measuring the type and frequency of those crimes in a particular area. Looking at other areas which affect people can help to put issues, such as fear of crime into some perspective. It might be that an area of a person’s life can contribute to another. The General Household Survey is available from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ssd/surveys/general_household_survey.asp and is a multi-purpose continuous survey carried out by the Office of National Statistics. They collect a range of information on a variety of topics from people living in private households in Great Britain. The survey started in 1971 and interviews over 13,000 people face to face. Data is collects on subjects such as employment, education, health and use of health services, housing tenure and household accommodation, income and demographic information about household members.

The Office of National Statistics (http://www.statistics.gov.uk) can provide a wealth of demographic information about neighbourhoods, age, ethnicity, gender, health and wealth of wards or local council areas. For the latest Census information visit http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census where you can also find details about the preparations taking place for next Census in 2011.

It can be useful to know when people use public transport or their own vehicles, especially at night. Visit the Department for Transport for more information on the research they have carried out.

There are a number of voluntary across the country which can provide some detail about social cohesion across England and Wales. Visit the Community Service Volunteers at http://www.csv.org.uk for more information.

The Department for Education and Skills can provide details on how well schools are doing in an area, as well as an indication about truancy levels. Visit http://www.dfes.gov.uk/performancetables for details.