You asked
The Local Authority of Knowsley has recently changed the number of Local Electoral Wards from 21 to 15.
Now that the ward boundaries have changed, would it be possible to reclassify the previously published data to take into account the new boundaries?
We said
You made a freedom of information request to question whether there would be a reclassification of data in 2011 Census tables to cater for the recent change in the number of Local Electoral Wards (from 21 to 15) in the Local Authority of Knowsley.
2011 Census data for the tables you have requested (QS201EW, LC3302EW, QS208EW) is available at a number of geographies, including 2011 Wards, from the Nomis website (www.nomisweb.co.uk). We have no plans to offer this information at geographies where wards have changed since 2011.
You can, however, use 2011 Census data at Output Area (OA) level and allocate them to 2016 wards on a ‘best-fit’ basis. This approach, which is part of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Geography Policy, underpins the majority of 2011 Census outputs, including ward-level data. For an overview of best-fitting process follow this link - http://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets?q=Building%202011%20Census%20estimates.
ONS Geography have published a lookup for 2011 OA (output area) to 2016 Wards in England and Wales: http://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/output-area-to-ward-to-local-authority-district-december-2016-lookup-in-england-and-wales
The associated download shows an example of how this works for the table ‘QS208EW - Religion’ for 2011 OAs and the new (2016) wards in Knowsley.
If you would like any further information, please contact Census Customer Services directly if you have any similar questions in the future, rather than using the Freedom of Information route, they will be glad to deal with any census related queries.
Web: https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censuscustomerservices
Email: census.customerservices@ons.gov.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1329 444972
Census Customer Services: ONS, Titchfield, Fareham, Hants, PO15 5RR