Description: Broad Rental Market Area (or BRMA) boundaries are used to determine Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. Empowered by the Welfare Reform Act (2007), the Rent Officer has defined the current boundaries in accordance with the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) (Amendment) Order 2008, which came into force on January 5th, 2009. The Order defines a BRMA as an area (a) comprising two or more distinct areas of residential accommodation, each distinct area of residential accommodation adjoining at least one other in the area; (b) within which a person could reasonably be expected to live having regard to facilities and services for the purposes of health, education, recreation, personal banking and shopping, taking account of the distance of travel, by public and private transport, to and from facilities and services of the same type and similar standard; and (c) containing residential premises of a variety of types and including such premises held on a variety of tenancies. This dataset covers all of Scotland, and there are currently 18 active BRMAs.
Description: Data zones are the core geography for dissemination of results from Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS). The data zone geography covers the whole of Scotland and nests within local authority boundaries. Data zones are groups of Census output areas which have populations of between 500 and 1,000 household residents, and some effort has been made to respect physical boundaries. In addition, they have compact shape and contain households with similar social characteristics. Data zones are a stable geography and can be used to analyse change over time. There are 6,505 data zones across Scotland, and each have been assigned an individual code that follows the Scottish Government's standard naming and coding convention. The code prefix is S01, which has been assigned to designate data zones. In some cases, data zones have also been assigned a name. To date, Local Authorities that have named their data zones include Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Falkirk, Fife, Highland, Moray, Shetland, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian.
Description: Data zones are the key geography for the dissemination of small area statistics in Scotland and are widely used across the public and private sector. Composed of aggregates of Census Output Areas, data zones are large enough that statistics can be presented accurately without fear of disclosure and yet small enough that they can be used to represent communities. They are designed to have roughly standard populations of 500 to 1,000 household residents, nest within Local Authorities, have compact shapes that respect physical boundaries where possible, and to contain households with similar social characteristics. Aggregations of data zones are often used to approximate a larger area of interest or a higher level geography that statistics wouldn’t normally be available for. Data zones also represent a relatively stable geography that can be used to analyse change over time, with changes only occurring after a Census. Following the update to data zones using 2011 Census data, there are now 6,976 data zones covering the whole of Scotland.
Description: Data zone centroids are point features that represent the population weighted centre of data zones - the core geography used for the dissemination of results from Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS). Centroids were calculated from a population weighted sum of Census Output Area centroids that fall within a data zone. Eastings and northings for each Output Area were multiplied by their population, summed based upon the data zone in which they fell, and then divided by the total population of the data zone. These centroids are in turn used to link data zones to other (higher) geographies via a spatial join, producing a 'best-fit' match between data zones and other SNS geographies. This is Version 2 of the dataset, as the original version was shown to produce bias to the north and east. There are 6,505 data zones across Scotland, and each have been assigned an individual code that follows the Scottish Government's standard naming and coding convention. The code prefix is S01, which has been assigned to designate data zones. In some cases, data zones have also been assigned a name. To date, Local Authorities that have named their data zones include Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Falkirk, Fife, Highland, Moray, Shetland, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian.
Description: Data zone centroids are point features that represent the population weighted centre of data zones – the key geography for the dissemination of small area statistics in Scotland. These centroids are used to link data zones to other (higher level) geographies and produce a 'best-fit' match. Data zones can then be aggregated to approximate this larger area of interest or higher level geography that statistics wouldn’t normally be available for. Data zones also represent a relatively stable geography that can be used to analyse change over time, with changes only occurring after a Census. Following the update to data zones using 2011 Census data, there are now 6,976 data zones covering the whole of Scotland.
Description: Intermediate zones are a statistical geography that sit between data zones and local authorities, created for use with the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) programme. Intermediate zones are used for the dissemination of statistics that are not suitable for release at the data zone level because of the sensitive nature of the statistics, or for reasons of reliability. Intermediate Zones were designed to meet constraints on population thresholds (2,500 - 6,000 household residents), to nest within local authorities (as they were in 2001), and to be built up from data zones. The aim was also to build intermediate zones by grouping together data zones with similar social characteristics, to have fairly compact shape and to take into account physical boundaries. Intermediate zones are a stable geography and can be used to analyse change over time. There are 1,235 intermediate zones across Scotland, and each have been assigned an individual code that follows the Scottish Government's standard naming and coding convention. The code prefix is S02, which has been assigned to designate intermediate zones. In most cases, intermediate zones were also been assigned a name by the relevant Community Planning Partnership. From time to time Local Authorities may choose to update these names, and this dataset will be updated to reflect these changes.
Description: Intermediate zones are a statistical geography that sit between data zones and local authorities, created for use with the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) programme and the wider public sector. Intermediate zones are used for the dissemination of statistics that are not suitable for release at the data zone level because of the sensitive nature of the statistic, or for reasons of reliability. Intermediate Zones were designed to meet constraints on population thresholds (2,500 - 6,000 household residents), to nest within local authorities, and to be built up from aggregates of data zones. Intermediate zones also represent a relatively stable geography that can be used to analyse change over time, with changes only occurring after a Census. Following the update to intermediate zones using 2011 Census data, there are now 1,279 Intermediate Zones covering the whole of Scotland.
Description: Intermediate zone centroids are point features that represent the population weighted centre of intermediate zones - the geography used for the dissemination of results from Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) that unsuitable for release at data zone level. Centroids were calculated from a population weighted sum of data zone centroids that fall within an intermediate zone. Eastings and northings for each data zone were multiplied by their population, summed based upon the intermediate zone in which they fell, and then divided by the total population of the intermediate zone. These centroids are in turn used to link intermediate zones to other (higher) geographies via a spatial join, producing a 'best-fit' match between intermediate zones and other SNS geographies. There are 1,235 intermediate zones across Scotland, and each have been assigned an individual code that follows the Scottish Government's standard naming and coding convention. The code prefix is S02, which has been assigned to designate intermediate zones. In most cases, intermediate zones were also been assigned a name by the relevant Community Planning Partnership. From time to time Local Authorities may choose to update these names, and this dataset will be updated to reflect these changes.
Description: Intermediate zone centroids are point features that represent the population weighted centre of intermediate zones – the geography used for the dissemination of small area statistics in Scotland when results are unsuitable for release at data zone level. These centroids are used to link intermediate zones to other (higher level) geographies and produce a 'best-fit' match. Intermediate zones can then be aggregated to approximate this larger area of interest or higher level geography that statistics wouldn’t normally be available for. Intermediate zones also represent a relatively stable geography that can be used to analyse change over time, with changes only occurring after a Census. Following the update to intermediate zones using 2011 Census data, there are now 1,279 intermediate zones covering the whole of Scotland.
Description: The Scottish Island Regions geography was first released in 2023 and is used for grouping Scotland’s islands into nine different island regions. The geography is based on the Scottish Island Regions Framework (2020) initially developed by the James Hutton Institute and used as the basis for the National Islands Plan Survey (2020). Further details are published on http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805259657. The geography is created by allocating eligible islands from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) Island geography, which currently have or have previously had at least one Royal Mail Delivery Point assigned to them, into one of the nine regions. There are a total of 179 currently or previously inhabited islands (excluding the Scottish mainland), which have each been given a unique 3-digit code by NRS. The geography follows the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 by including islands within six Council Areas, and excluding those within inland lochs. The six Council Areas, as defined by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, are Argyll and Bute, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Highland, North Ayrshire, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands. A lookup is available which shows the allocation of the 179 NRS Islands to the Scottish Island Regions. A data zone lookup is also available which provides a suggested allocation of data zones to the Scottish Island Regions. Further details on best-fitting data zones are published on http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805259664.