This working group has been set up to develop a set of indicators that will measure social inclusion and exclusion.
No official set of indicators currently exists at regional or national levels. Previously, the Regional Social Inclusion Officers Group began to develop indicators to measure social inclusion. This group exists in support of the West Midlands Regional Assembly Social Inclusion Partnership. One of the key objectives of this partnership is to develop a regional social inclusion framework to ensure a consistent approach across all key regional strategies.
However, due to limited availability of resources to undertake a scoping exercise for the work, it was halted until the Society, Demography and Health Topic Group coordinated by the Observatory identified a need for such a set of indicators.
What does the working group do?
After adopting work previously carried out by the Regional Social Inclusion Officers Group and input from all RDIN Topic Group members, the Working Group has set itself the following practical objective:
To deliver a toolkit consisting of a set of indicators and supporting materials that will allow individuals to measure social inclusion in the West Midlands.
The toolkit will do the following:
- Provide an agreed, universal and clear set of indicators that can be adopted by parties to deal with measuring social inclusion. It is not intended to be a 'blanket fit' for all elements of inclusion. It will attempt to use the government's definition of social inclusion when deciding on indicators for inclusion.
- Signpost practitioners to sources and definitions of each indicator as well as to highlight the issues and constraints with using each indicator.
- Include a combination of indicators to include economic, environmental and social factors, which can be determinants of social inclusion and support the Social Exclusion Unit's holistic definition of social exclusion.
- An indication of level of geography and availability of data.
What is social exclusion?
'...Social Exclusion is a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown...'1
Social Exclusion Unit, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Indicators provide a means by which to judge the kinds of impact certain actions, involvements, circumstances or experiences may have upon specified social groups. Social indicators tend to be of two types:
- Process measures which help to diagnose how a problem occurs and how it might be prevented.
- Outcome measures for examination of the extent to which an intervention influences particular social experiences or outcomes.2
The indicators and data sources utilised within the social indicators toolkit are designed to help to inform observations about the extent to which regional practice, policy and strategy outcomes combat social exclusion for different social groups.
[1] See Giddens, A., 1998. The Third Way. Cambridge : Polity Press.
[2] Lessof, C. & Jowell, R. 2000. Measuring Social Exclusion. Oxford : CREST.