Our region, our sector

Are you looking for socio-economic data specific to the whole or part of the East of England? Or perhaps you want to know more about the voluntary and community sector in our region? Then you have come to the right place. Below you will find recent documents and reports about our region and our sector.

And if you know of any other report that should be listed here, just let us know by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , your help in populating this section of our website would be much appreciated!

1. Region-wide and regional data and information sources

ERIN survey of VCS infrastructure support in the East of England; Executive summary. FERI and ERIN carried out an online survey in July 2011 to establish an up to date picture of infrastructure support available to voluntary and community groups across the East of England. We were delighted with the level of response as 105 organisations took part.

Does the Big Society exist? The key data mapped for England. This interactive map was posted in June 2011 by The Guardian onto the website and shows civic participation and sense of belonging levels - using data from Place surveys. Click on the relevant local autorities to see data for our region.

Insight East website. Insight East website provides a wealth of economic intelligence and data for the East of England. Resources produced by Insight East include monthly economic outlooks and quarterly briefings.

The Association of Public Health Observatories website publishes Health Profiles Interactive Maps which allows you to select any of the 32 Health Profile indicators and local autority areas for comparison and create maps and graphs which you can use in your own documents.

The East of England Publich Health Observatory (ERPHO) provides monitoring information on the health of the population of the East of England

A Rural Viewpoint (Rural Action East, 2011). Much of the data used in this report is taken from a Rural Evidence Database which uses ONS statistics census data to model results down to ward level or even output level. This means that on a range of themes it is possible to demonstrate accurate rural share and highlight areas of need at a very local level.

State of the Sector survey (COVER, 2011)

COVER State of the Sector Survey (COVER. 2010)

Hard times: The Recession and the Voluntary and Community Sector in the East of England (COVER, 2009)

A Review of Evidence of the Equality Strands in the East of England (VCS Equalities Group 2010)

Survey of the availability of funding advice by third sector and local authority advisors in the East of England (Big Lottery Fund, 2009)

A Fair Deal. Creating an environment for a thriving 3rd sector in the East of England (RISE, 2009)

2. Bedfordshire (incl. Luton)

Results from the 2010 National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises: Ccentral Bedfordshire

Results from the 2010 National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises: Bedford

Results from the 2010 National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises: Luton

Bedford Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

Central Bedfordshire Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)