Chief statistician’s update: proposed indicators for the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 and feedback survey

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The last Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) was published in 2019. As set out in our index update blog last year, an updated index will be published in late 2025 or early 2026. We are aiming for late 2025 and currently refer to the planned update as WIMD 2025.

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Latest update for StatsWales OData users

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg.

We are working on a new and improved platform for StatsWales to keep up with technological updates and user needs. As a consequence, and as explained in our first blog, our OData service has not been available since the end of August. We provided an update last month covering our plans for the temporary arrangements until the new StatsWales service is in place in 2025.

This post provides a further update on the availability of data files to temporarily replace OData.

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Can AI help find lost woodland?

Post by Evie, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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There are many areas of Wales where woodland clearance has taken place, especially since the 19th century.  We define ‘lost historic woodland’ as areas of woodland that existed on historic maps but no longer exist today. These areas may be suitable for re-planting because the original soil is well suited for tree growth having an established root network and ecosystem. Finding these areas and targeting them could improve success rates of woodland creation or regeneration schemes and support delivery of key government targets, such as the National Forest for Wales. This blog describes how the Data Science Unit is using computer vision (a type of AI that works with images) to do this.

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Further update for StatsWales OData users

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg.

We are working on a new and improved platform for StatsWales to keep up with technological updates and user needs. As a consequence, and as explained in our previous blog, our OData service will not be available from the end of August.

This post provides an update on the temporary arrangements we are putting in place to replace OData until the new StatsWales service is in place in 2025.

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LoRaWAN enables smarter working locally across Wales

Blog by Peter, Digital Infrastructure, Welsh Government

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It’s been over a year since my last blog which covered how LoRaWAN is helping to fight crime and tackle climate change.

Since then, we have seen the Smart Towns programme flourish, with the team undertaking a significant amount of engagement, and hosting what is understood to be the first “Smart” conference focusing on towns, hosted in Wrexham (which ironically is a city!).

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Chief statistician’s update: updating the names for Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in Wales

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What are Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs)?

LSOAs are geographical areas of similar population size used for reporting small area statistics. There are 1,917 LSOAs in Wales. Each LSOA contains between 400 and 1,200 households with a resident population between 1,000 and 3,000 people.

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Developing Data Science Skills

Post by Steven, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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Data science is a key skill to transforming our work in Welsh Government, as we use it to modernise and automate data processes and help us to work efficiently, transparently and accurately. The data science unit has always been keen to help staff learn and improve their data science skills, and we have recently started two new initiatives to support this goal.

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Important update for StatsWales OData users

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg.

We are working on a new and improved platform for StatsWales to keep up with technological updates and user needs. As a consequence, our OData services will not be available from the end of August. This is because Microsoft will stop supporting the technology and our new solution will not be ready until 2025.  
 
This post explains what will happen, how it will affect you and what temporary arrangements we are putting in place.

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Chief statistician’s update: understanding road collision and casualty statistics

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On 6 June 2024 we will be publishing provisional data on police recorded road collisions and casualties for October to December 2023. Since the introduction of the 20mph default speed limit on restricted roads in September 2023 there has been considerable interest in collisions data.

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Cyber Action Plan for Wales – One year on

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It’s a year since we published the Cyber Action Plan for Wales which sets out our vision that Wales prospers through cyber resilience, talent and innovation.

The Plan has four priority areas to help us deliver our vision:

  • growing our cyber ecosystem;
  • building a pipeline of cyber talent;
  • strengthening our cyber resilience; and,  
  • protecting our public services.

You can find out more about why we’re focusing on these priorities on our previous blogs.

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