Office for National Statistics written evidence to the Lords Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee’s inquiry of the same name

Dear Lord Hodgson,

I write in response to the Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement’s call for evidence.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s National Statistical Institute, and largest producer of official statistics. We aim to provide a firm evidence base for sound decisions, and develop the role of official statistics in democratic debate.

The Committee’s call for evidence posed twelve wide-ranging questions on citizenship and civic engagement in the United Kingdom.

The attached note sets out what official statistics are available to decision-makers, to help them address the questions posed by the Committee. Specifically, the note explores:

• what official data can tell us about the citizenship of the UK’s resident population; both across time, and across the countries and regions of the UK.
• what we know about social capital in the UK. These measures, first published in 2015, include information on civic engagement, as well as personal relationships, social support networks, and trust.
• trends in the value and division of unpaid volunteering; and
• changes in electoral registration and participation.

While we have focused our note on those issues we understand the Committee to be particularly interested in, we have also have also listed a wider range of data sources which may be of assistance to members. Statisticians would of course be happy to provide further analysis, to assist the Committee in its inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Iain Bell Deputy National Statistician and Director General for Population and Public Policy | Office for National Statistics

 

Citizenship and Civic Engagement

1. Executive Summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s National Statistical Institute, and largest producer of official statistics. We aim to provide a firm evidence base to inform decision-making and support democratic debate.

The Office for National Statistics, in partnership with statisticians across the government statistical service, publish a wide range of data on citizenship and civic engagement. Reflecting the Committee’s call for evidence, this note summarises:

• what official data can tell us about the citizenship of the UK’s resident population; both across time, and across the countries and regions of the UK.
• what we know about social capital in the UK. These measures, first published in 2015, include information on civic engagement, as well as personal relationships, social support networks, and trust.
• trends in the value and division of unpaid volunteering; and
• changes in the electoral registration and participation.

While we have focused our note on those issues we understand the Committee to be particularly interested in, we have also have also listed a wider range of data sources which may be of assistance to members, on national well-being and language proficiency.

2. Citizenship, nationality, and country of birth

This section explores what official statistics are available to policy-makers on the citizenship held by UK residents. It explains that official statistics can provide policy-makers with information on how the makeup of the UK’s resident population has changed over time and by region, by both nationality and country of birth.

This section explains that the composition of the UK’s population has changed over time. It also finds that the citizenship of the UK’s residents varies considerably, between countries and regions. Areas such as London have proportionally high numbers of non-UK nationals and foreign-born resident, whereas the North East have proportionally low numbers in comparison.

2.1 The UK’s resident population: the current picture

Drawing from the Annual Population Survey, ONS publishes estimates of the UK’s resident population by country of birth, and nationality.(1)

Latest estimates show that of the UK population, approximately 1 in 7 (or 9.3 million) were born abroad and approximately 1 in 11 (or 6.1 million) held non-British nationality.

In the year ending June 2017, the majority of non-British nationals resident in the UK (60 per cent of the total non-British population) reported that they held an EU nationality.(2) Of the non-British population resident in the UK over this period, Polish, Romanian, Irish, Indian and Italian were the 5 most common nationalities held.

1. The latest estimates, for the period July 2016 to June 2017, were published in November. They are available on the ONS website, here.
2. EU consists of the countries in the EU14 and (from 1 January 2004) the EU8, Malta and Cyprus, and (from 1 January 2007) the EU2, and (from 1 July 2013) Croatia. British nationality is not included in this grouping.

2.2 The UK’s resident population: changes over time

The proportions of British and non-British nationals resident in the UK have changed over time. In 2004, non-British nationals made up 5% of the resident UK population; by 2010 this had increased to 7%. The number of non-British nationals resident in the UK (as a proportion of the total population) continued increasing until 2015 when the proportion of non-British nationals was 9%. It remained at this level in 2016.

The number of EU nationals resident in the UK rose by 1 million between 2012 and 2106 (from 2.6 million to 3.6 million – an increase of 39%), while the number of non-EU (non-British) nationals in the UK remained stable (at 2.4 million at the end of 2016).

From July 2016 to June 2017 there was a statistically significant increase in the non-British national population of the UK, increasing from 5.9 million to 6.1 million. The increase in non-British nationals has been driven by residents holding EU nationality, from 3.4 million to 3.7 million (statistically significant increase).

2.3 The UK by Nationality: geographical differences

Official data show that the proportion of British nationals and non-British nationals resident in the UK varies by region. Table 1, below, sets out the UK’s resident population by nationality and region for July 2016 to June 2017.

	All	British		Non-British
	Number (000s)	Number (000s)	Per cent	Number (000s)	Per cent
United Kingdom	64,952	58,798	91	6,133	9
England	54,726	49,187	90	5,521	10
North East	2,607	2,509	96	98	4
North West	7,120	6,643	93	476	7
Yorkshire & the Humber	5,362	4,996	93	364	7
East Midlands	4,657	4,266	92	390	8
West Midlands	5,734	5,234	91	498	9
East	6,076	5,534	91	542	9
London	8,826	6,738	76	2,081	24
South East	8,915	8,185	92	727	8
South West	5,428	5,080	94	345	6
Wales	3,076	2,942	96	133	4
Scotland	5,304	4,947	93	355	7
Northern Ireland	1,846	1,722	93	124	7

For the year 2016, Wales recorded the lowest proportion of resident non-British nationals, and England the highest. However, the picture varied considerably within England.

In London, 24% of the resident population were non-British nationals, while in North East of England, only 4% of residents were non-British nationals.

3 Social capital and civic engagement

Since 2015, ONS has published estimates of Social Capital; that is, information about the connections between and collective attitudes of people in the UK. We measure social capital because the connections between increasing rates of social capital and positively functioning well-being, economic growth and sustainability are extensively noted.

This chapter explores what measures of social capital tell us about civic engagement; personal relationships; social support networks; and, trust. In doing so, it notes that recent data suggest a largely positive picture of trends in social capital in the long term.

3.1 Civic engagement

Within its annual Social Capital release(4), ONS publishes 8 measures of civic engagement (the most recent data are set out at Table 2, below).

Measure	Coverage	Source	Latest Year	Latest Data
Percentage who volunteered more than once in the last 12 months	UK	Understanding Society: UK Household Longitudinal Study	2014 to 2015	19%
Proportion of people who are members of organisations, whether political, voluntary, professional or recreational	UK	Understanding Society: UK Household Longitudinal Study	2014 to 2015	53%
Proportion of people who have been involved in at least one social action project in their local area in the previous 12 months	England	Community Life Survey, Cabinet Office	2015 to 2016	18%
Proportion of people who definitely agree or tend to agree that they can influence decisions affecting their local area	England	Community Life Survey, Cabinet Office	2015 to 2016	36%
Voter turnout in UK General Elections	UK	Electoral Commission	2015	66%
Proportion of people who have been involved in at least one political action in the previous 12 months	UK	Eurofound, European Quality of Life Survey	2011 to 2012	34%
Proportion of people who are very or quite interested in politics	UK	European Social Survey	2014	56%

The proportion of people who participated in unpaid voluntary work has increased between 2010 to 2011 and 2014 to 2015. In 2010 to 2011, 17% of people reported that they had volunteered more than once in the last 12 months. By 2014 to 2015, this figure had risen to 19%.(5)

The percentage of people who took part in a social action(6) between 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016 remained unchanged. Similarly, the percentage of people in the UK who reported membership of organisations whether political, voluntary, professional or recreational also remained unchanged between 2011 to 2012 and 2014 to 2015 (52% and 53% respectively).

While the percentages of people in the UK taking part in social activities showed no overall change over this period, the percentage of people who were engaged with political actions increased from 17% in 2006 to 2007 to 34% in 2011 to 2012.(7)

4 The latest release of Social Capital in the UK was published May 2017 and can be found, here.

5 More information on volunteering is set out at Chapter 4.

6 By ‘social action’ we mean: a community project, event, or activity which local people proactively get together to initiate or support on an unpaid basis. It is distinct from other forms of giving time in that it is driven and led by local people rather than through an existing group (as in formal volunteering) and tends to focus on a community need rather than the needs of an individual (as in informal volunteering). Examples could include organising a street party, preventing the closure of a local post office, helping to run a local playgroup, or improving local road safety’.

7 More information on electoral participation is set out at Chapter 5.

3.2 Personal relationships

The percentage of people saying they feel lonely often or always has not changed significantly between 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016, with the figure staying around 4% on average.

However, the proportion of people meeting socially with friends, relatives or work colleagues at least once a week has decreased from 69% to 61% between 2010 and 2014.

Although the percentage of people meeting socially has dropped, there has been growth in the percentage of people reporting having at least one close friend and this figure improved between 2011 to 2012 and 2014 to 2015, rising from 95% to 97%. This disparity could be due to the rise in the use of the internet for social networking over the past 3 years. In 2016, there were 63% of us who reported using the internet for this purpose in the last 3 months, compared with 53% in 2013.

Research into the relationship between social networking and social capital is still in its early stages but early research suggests that social networking may help bolster social capital in the form of helping people strengthen relationships and aiding integration within communities (Utz and Muscanell, 2015 ). We have therefore interpreted the increase in social networking as an improvement. The proportion of people who regularly stop and talk to their neighbours has also improved over a 3-year period, rising from 66% in 2011 to 2012 to 68% in 2014 to 2015.

3.3 Social support networks

Between 2010 to 2011 and 2013 to 2014, there has been deterioration in the proportion of people saying that they had a spouse, family member or friend to rely on “a lot” in case of a serious problem.

This fell from 86% in 2010 to 2011 to 84% in 2013 to 2014. Furthermore, reciprocal support between parents and their adult children has decreased. The proportion of parents who regularly receive practical or financial help from a child aged 16 or over not living with them decreased from 42% in 2011 to 2012 to 38% in 2013 to 2014. Furthermore, the proportion of parents saying that they were giving help has also decreased between 2011 to 2012 and 2013 to 2014 (63% and 58% respectively). We have considered these measures from the perspective of the receivers of help and as a result assess this as deterioration.

Despite this, the proportion of people who give special help to at least one sick, disabled or elderly person living or not living with them has risen from 19% to 20% between 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015.

3.4 Trust and cooperative norms

To assess generalised trust, the European Social Survey asks, “Generally speaking would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people?” Respondents are then asked to score their ratings on a scale, from 0 to 10, where 0 means you can’t be too careful and 10 means that most people can be trusted. In 2010, there were 35% of people who rated their general trust as high (7 to 10) and this remained unchanged in 2014.

Another source assessing trust in national government however, over a 3-year period, noted the proportion of people who said they “tend to trust” the national government rose from 24% in the autumn (September to November) of 2013 to 35% in the autumn of 2016.

Further improvements include the proportion of people who agree or strongly agree that they feel they belong to their neighbourhood rose from 63% in 2011 to 2012 to 69% in 2014 to 2015. In addition to this, the proportion of women who felt “fairly” or “very” safe walking alone after dark rose from 57% in 2012 to 2013 to 62% in 2015 to 2016.

4. Volunteering

While ONS’s Social Capital release presents headlines summaries of trends in volunteering, ONS also publishes more detailed analyses of this issue. This chapter summarises these analyses, addressing the allocation of volunteering across households, families and communities. It explains that the proportion of people volunteering over the last 12 months has increased in recent years, while noting that the average time spent volunteering per day has fallen.

4.1 Understanding participation in volunteering activity

In March 2017, ONS published an article on Changes in the value of division of unpaid volunteering the UK: 2000 to 2015.(9) The article, which draws together data from the 2015 Community Life Survey (CLS), the 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey (CS), and the 2000 and 2015 time use surveys(10), aims to provide decision-makers with improved information about participation in volunteer activity.

Between 2000 and 2015, the proportion of people whole had volunteered over the last 12 months increased for both men (from 39% to 41%) and women (from 39% to 42%). At the same time, the average time spent volunteering decreased for both men and women.  However, patterns vary across age groups.

In 2015, 51% of those aged 16 to 24 volunteered for an average of 17.0 minutes per day, over the year. This was the highest of all age groups both in terms of participation and average time spent volunteering. Between 2010 and 2015, those in this age group have increased the time they devote to volunteering while those in the next age category up have decreased their volunteering time.

Those aged 16 to 24 saw the highest increase in volunteering participation with a percentage point increase of 11 percentage points between 2000 and 2015. Participation rate changes were then at lower positive growth levels for age groups 25 to 34, 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 (between 0 and 3 percentage points for each group) while those in the 55 to 64 age group saw their rate of participation fall by over 4 percentage points between 2000 and 2015.

It is important to note an increase in volunteering for 16-24 year olds over the past 15 years could be influenced by a number of factors. These include a general increase in numbers going into higher education, changes to school leaving age and a drive from education establishments to increase employability skills, for example an increase of baccalaureate type qualifications which require a certain number of hours volunteer work and initiatives like employability “passports” which require volunteering experience.

4.2 Exploring patterns in volunteering, across different income groups

The data shows that the higher average time volunteering performed by the women volunteer group  was driven by women volunteers from low income households in 2015. In that year, those women volunteers performed the highest average time volunteering per day, at around 19 minutes per day.

Men from both high income and low income households performed lower amounts of volunteering than women, with the average duration of volunteering at around 7 minutes per day for men volunteers in 2015. Comparatively, women from high income households performed less volunteering than women from low income households but still volunteered for an average of 12 minutes per day.

Data suggests that the distribution of volunteering participation rates across age groups similar across income levels.

Regardless of household income, volunteering participation rates for the 25 to 34 age group are among the lowest (32% for low income households and 44% for high income households) while the participation rates of the 16 to 24 year olds were the highest (47% for low income households and 61% participation for high income households in 2015).

From 2012 to 2015, there have been large increases in volunteering for the 16-24 year old age groups from both low and high incomes. Increases have also been seen in all other age groups in the higher income bands, apart from 45-54 and 55-64 year olds. For low income groups, there has been a marked decrease in volunteering for all age groups, apart from the aforementioned 16-24 year olds.

5. The UK’s Electoral Statistics

ONS publishes a range of measures on elections and electoral participation. The following section considers both the number of registered voters in the UK and the most recent voter turnout figures, for the 2015 General Election. It shows both sets of data have increased.

5.1 Registered voters

ONS published its most recent electoral statistics in March 2017. The data within this release capture those people registered to both in parliamentary and local government elections as recorded in electoral registers on 1 December.

In the year to December 2016 the number of people registered to vote in parliamentary and local government elections across the UK increased by around 1 million. In the previous two years the number of people registered to vote had decreased partly as a consequence of the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER). A key driver of the increase in the size of the electorate in the year to December 2016 was public engagement with the EU referendum in June 2016.

Between December 2015 and December 2016 the number of electors increased in England, Wales and Scotland but decreased by 3% in Northern Ireland. This is the opposite of the pattern observed in the 2 years between 2013 and 2015 where the electorate in Northern Ireland increased but decreased across the other 3 countries of the UK.

5.2 Voter Turnout

In addition to its statistics Electoral statistics release, publishes estimates of voter turnout within its Measuring National Well-Being: Life in the UK, April 2017 release.

These data are derived from administrative data from the Electoral Commission and is not estimated. For the 2015 election, this figure was 66%, a small increase compared to the 2010 election where voter turnout was 65%. When broken down by country, as seen in Table 3, Scotland returned the highest voter turnout (71%) in the 2015 election compared to the other constituent countries of the UK, whilst Northern Ireland had the lowest (58%). In the further breakdown by region in the same table, the South West had the highest voter turnout (70%) in contrast to the North East who had the lowest (62%), a difference of 8%.

Regions	2015
England	66.0
North East	61.8
North West	64.3
Yorkshire and The Humber	63.3
East Midlands	66.5
West Midlands	64.1
East	67.5
London	65.4
South East	68.6
South West	69.5
Wales	65.7
Scotland	71.0
Northern Ireland	58.1

Annex A: Other resources

In addition to the sources set out in this note, Committee members may be interested in the following sources:

Wellbeing:

In November 2010, the Measuring National Well-being programme was established. The aim was to monitor and report “how the UK as a whole is doing” by producing accepted and trusted measures of the well-being of the nation. One question, from the Understanding Society, UK Household Longitudinal Study, asks respondents whether they agree that they “belonged to their neighbourhood”. Respondents are asked to rate their sense of belonging to their neighbourhood from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Data are available here.

English language proficiency:

Two questions on main language and proficiency in spoken English were included for the first time in the 2011 Census following the content consultation for the England and Wales census form. Using this data, ONS published an article in 2013 looking at Language in England and Wales: 2011 available here.