This is the first of our update reports following Real Lives, Real Issues, our main State of the Region Report 2004.
This update aims to:
- Take forward aspects of the discussion raised in the main State of the Region Report 2004
- Report on new and emerging sources of evidence
- Address gaps in the discussion of the original report identified by our partners
We reference a series of fictitious personal anecdotes, expressed as seven named characters, which were used in the State of the Region Report 2004 to indicate the extent to which key issues are inter-connected at the level of the individual lives of citizens in West Midlands.
Pieces of the Jigsaw
The report comprises four main chapters. The first, Pieces of the Jigsaw, links the content of the subsequent chapters with the issues and themes raised in the 2004 Report.
Attitudes and Perceptions
In this chapter we address a major intelligence gap for the West Midlands, making substantial use of newly available data from the West Midlands Regional Lifestyle Survey to explore issues of residential preference, community safey and community satisfaction.
Skills for a Prosperous Region
This chapter draws on work undertaken by our Skills Research Team on behalf of the Regional Skills Partnership.
In this chapter we aim to improve and develop the supply of data and intelligence about skills in the West Midlands.
Rural Lives, Rural Issues
In the third chapter we address comments from some of our partners that the 2004 Report failed to address rural issues directly. We identify a number of key issues for the rural parts of the West Midlands, and use new data and innovative analysis where possible to provide new perspectives on these issues.
Data Annex
The Data Annex (PDF, 2.3MB) continues, updates and extends the set of regional indicators provided in the 2004 Report.
We continually update the data for these indicators. Get the latest data from our 2008 Report.
2005 full report (PDF, 1.5MB)
2005 data annex (PDF, 2.3MB)
Note on the data
We continually update the data for the indicators used to evidence our State of the Region research. The latest data is available to download in Excel format from our 2008 Report.