To support the UK Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, as well as many other stakeholders involved in VAWG, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are developing a new data dashboard.

Introduction

The aim of the dashboard is to bring together relevant data from a variety of sources which, for the first time, allows the evidence base to be visualised in a single, easy-to-access location.

It is free to use.

The dashboard is being developed as a project within the Integrated Data Service (IDS), a cross-government initiative designed to transform the way de-identified data about our society and economy is made available for vital research and decision-making in the UK.

Prototype

The ONS launched a prototype of the dashboard in September 2022.

It includes ONS data on domestic abuse, partner abuse, sexual assault and harassment, as well as links to support services and related articles and publications.

The prototype demonstrates the type of product the ONS are able to produce and provides an opportunity for early feedback to be collected from users. 

Feedback has been received from national and local government, charities, and the police. Users have described the dashboard as clear, easy to use, valuable, and accessible.

Suggestions for the next phase of development include:

• Adding in all types of crime related to VAWG
• Supplementing the data with additional data sources, especially non-ONS data 
• Changing the charts on the home page
• Making the charts interactive (by adding filters and other functionality)
• Providing definitions for each type of abuse
• Moving partner abuse into the domestic abuse category
• Adding more information about the support line listed on the help page

Some users asked for further breakdowns in the data, for example, splits by age, region, and ethnicity. The ability to do this is restricted by the available data. But, where it is possible, the ONS will add this to future iterations of the dashboard.

Launch date

The ONS aims to officially launch the VAWG data dashboard at the end of 2023. 

There will be several rounds of user testing and feedback throughout the year to ensure the dashboard becomes the most valuable tool it can be to our users.

Contact

If you would like to be involved in reviewing future prototypes, contact the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice by:

• emailing crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk
• writing to ONS Centre for Crime and Justice, Office for National Statistics, Room 2200, Segensworth Road, Titchfield, PO15 5RR, or
• phoning the statistical contact Meghan Elkin on +44(0)20 7592 8695