The Audit Commission's Quality of Life Indicators
In 2008, the Department for Communities and Local Government introduced a new National Indicator set. Previously, Quality of Life indicators had been a useful tool for local areas to see how they are performing economically, environmentally and socially as they attempt to deliver sustainable communities. This page provides information on the old Quality of Life indicators and links to further information. To learn more about the new National Indicator set please follow the link on this page to the Communities for Local Government (CLG) web site, 'National Indicators for Local Authorities and LA Partnerships'.
In 2005, the Audit Commission published the document ‘Quality of Life Indicators: Supporting local communities to become sustainable’. This document presented a good practice set of local quality of life indicators, which were developed by the Audit Commission, DEFRA and the ODPM. They complemented national indicators which were designed to measure progress against the UK Government's Sustainable Development Strategy. To view the document, and learn more about the quality of life indicators, please follow the links on this page to the Audit Commission website.
Previously, there existed a number of local sets of indicators from several public sector bodies. For the first time, there was one nationally agreed set of indicators that could be used to measure the quality of life in local areas and the effectiveness of local sustainable community strategies.
Forty five key indicators were identified by the Audit Commission, DEFRA and the ODPM for local authorities and Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) to:
- paint a picture of quality of life issues locally
- stimulate debate and raise public awareness
- inform local sustainable community strategies and local area agreements (LAAs)
- support local authorities undergoing Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) by providing valuable context data
- monitor change and evaluate progress over time
Area profiles
The local quality of life indicators linked closely with the UK Government’s national indicators for sustainable development. They also featured prominently in the Audit Commission’s Area Profiles project as a headline set of indicators to provide a “snapshot” of the quality of life and services in a local area. To learn more about area profiles, please follow the links on this page to the Audit Commission Area Profiles website.
The indicators previously relied on local authorities and their partners collecting data, but now information is collected nationally and made available on the Audit Commission’s Area Profiles website. This allows local authorities and their partners the opportunity to:
- paint a comprehensive picture of quality of life in their areas
- compare performance between different areas
- review, justify and set local objectives and priorities
- enhance partnership working, shared ownership and joint action
There was no statutory requirement to use these indicators, but the Audit Commission, DEFRA and the ODPM recommended that local authorities and LSPs use them on a voluntary basis to help monitor the effectiveness of their sustainable community strategies.
Library of Local Performance Indicators
The Audit Commission and the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) jointly produced a Library of Local Performance Indicators, which is a free web based service. The library was set up following demand from local authorities. It is aimed at helping local authorities and local partners to measure how well they were meeting local priorities. To visit the Library of Local Performance Indicators website please follow the link on this page.
Please note that many of the facts and figures available on these pages relate to the administrative area covered by Shropshire Council and, therefore, exclude Telford and Wrekin. For information on Telford and Wrekin please select the link on this page.