Centre for Longitudinal Study Information and User Support (CeLSIUS): Research Support Unit for the ONS Longitudinal Study for England & Wales 2018-20

CeLSIUS is a research support unit providing support for analysis of the Office of National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS LS) which is a complete set of census records for individuals, linked between successive censuses, together with data for various events. It relates to a sample of the population of England and Wales. The sample comprises people born on one of four selected dates of birth and therefore makes up about 1% of the total population. The sample was initiated at the time of the 1971 Census, and the five dates were used to update the sample at the 1981,1991 2001 and 2011 Censuses and in vital event registrations and registration of cancer. Thus, the ONS LS represents a continuous sample of the population of England and Wales, rather than a sample taken at one time point only. It currently includes records for over 1,100,000 study members. Census information is also included for all people living in the same household as the ONS LS member. However, it is important to emphasise that the ONS LS does not follow up household members in the same way from census to census. Full ONS LS members enter the study through birth on one of the four dates and immigration and existing members leave through death and emigration. The four dates are known only to a small number of researchers based in ONS and the data is analysed in anonymised form and all results are published so that no one could be identified from them.

What types of analysis does CeLSIUS support?
In the past valuable analysis of births, cancer, deaths, and other census data has been completed with support from the research support unit. This has included various projects.
Linked analysis of census and births, deaths and cancer registration data. For example: studies of associations between employment status and mortality, between economic status and cancer registrations, or between socio-economic factors and fertility; or survival analysis of mortality by area deprivation.
Analysis of successive census data. For example: analysis of patterns of retirement migration, studies of the effects of divorce and remarriage on housing tenure, comparison of changes in education, employment and migration between the 1970s and 1980s, patterns of NEETS in 1971 and 1991.
Analysis of successive event data. For example, studies of changes in birth spacing, associations between fertility and cancer survival.
Cross-sectional analysis of a single census year, especially for studies of ethnic or geographical factors where the 1971 round is a unique resource.
International comparisons. Countries such as Scotland, Northern Ireland, France, Denmark, Finland and the USA have similar programmes to the LS.

This project will continue to provide users with support in using the data and enable research to be carried out between 2018 and 2020.

The major beneficiaries of the England and Wales LS Research Support Unit will continue to be academic and other public sector staff, and researchers and students in higher and further educational institutions across the UK. Immediately this will be those who are already engaged in research projects using the LS, and in the longer term this will be new users in these categories. Similarly, users based at ONS who host the LS who already draw upon the RSU user guides and other materials such as derived syntax will continue to be able to do so. Academic and more general usage has risen with the availability of 2011 Census data and the introduction of synthetic data. The synthetic data project continues to inform wider debates about disclosure control within the Office for National Statistics.

Providing continued access to a time series of linked individuals which spans 5 decades with the introduction of 2011 census data, means that the E&W LS RSU will continue to play a vital role in furthering an important understanding of long term demographic, epidemiological and socio-economic trends.

In maintaining access to one of the largest longitudinal surveys in the UK, the E&W LS RSU will continue to contribute towards the health of social science in the UK through preserving data diversity and assisting in the training of new and established highly skilled researchers in cross-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary areas. This is vital where social science as a discipline and social scientists as individuals will make ongoing contributions to evidence-based policy making and will influence public policies and legislation at local, regional and national levels.

Skills in the analysis of quantitative data are vital for the continuing growth, prosperity and economic competitiveness of the UK. The E&W LS is part of a diverse data infrastructure within the UK which will help fuel the drive to improve quantitative skills and numerical literacy generally. More specifically those working as part of the E&W LS team - both continuing staff and new staff and research students - will continue to develop their own transferable research skills over the funding period which will be of much wider value to the UK research community in the long term.