Sustainable Development Goals

James Evans
James.Evans@ons.gov.uk
SustainableDevelopment@ons.gov.uk
What are the Sustainable Development
Goals?
The sustainable development goals are a ‘to do list
for the planet that will transform the world’.

– Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United

Nations
The Goals
The role of ONS

Geography
Ethnicity Sex
Migratory status
To Age Income

• Inform global reporting Disability

• Indentify UK-focused indicators

• Explore and develop new data sources
Engagement Activities

In order to help ONS meet the

challenge of measuring and
reporting UK progress toward
the SDGs, we have actively
engaged with policy making
departments, businesses, civil
society and international NSIs
and organisations. 
 National and International Engagement

Draft set of nationally

relevant indicators
developed for
Autumn Consultation
2016

Nationally
Relevant
*would only apply to the development of Indicators
temporary/proxy measures
Preparations for Autumn consultation

Independently assess all Put forward indicator

suggested UK indicators. recommendations for
consultation.

Liaise across ONS to

inform Social, Economic Partner with RSS to launch
and Environmental consultation and hold series
indicators. of events.
How will ONS fulfil its role?

We intend to measure UK progress on

SDGs by utilising existing corporate
programmes and projects, namely:
•Data collection and transformation
•Big and admin data
•Data Science
 How will we harness these developing
capabilities?
Data collection, validation and
dissemination mechanism

• Data visual & analytical development

• Web scraping
• PDF reading
• Format
• Cloud storage and security
Data implementation Filling data gaps

• Web downloads • Company reports

• Excel • Internet sites
• CSV Files • Admin data sources
• SAS Outputs
Feasibility Study
The SDG Branch will work with a team of Data
Scientists addressing three main challenges:

•How to utilise existing but varied data sources.

•How to fill data gaps where no known data
sources exist.
•How to collect, validate and disseminate data.
Existing data sources
• ONS survey data
• Administrative data
• Other government department data
• Civil society data
• Trade organisation data
• Many more
Filling data gaps
• Google maps
• Data scraping
• Semantic analysis
• Machine learning classification
• Pattern recognition
• Social media
Example 1 - Goal 3 / Target 1: By 2030, reduce the global maternal
mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births

Death Register Coroner Reports

(Admin Data) (Admin Data)
(Semantic Analysis)
(Machine Learning)
Data visualisations
onto Google Maps

Medical Accessibility Transportation Network

(Admin Data) (Admin Data)
Possible policy impacts

• Regional specific medical accessibility

• Regional specific transport infrastructure

Data collection, validation and dissemination
Putting the pieces together
Managing and Developing
securing data methodology for non
survey data
Managing
permissions and Methodology framework
access for processing non
survey data
Consistent
approach to Quality assuring data
cataloguing and
publishing data Digital Economy
across GSS Bill infrastructure
We are striving for the capability to:
Import external data Quality interrogation
in different formats techniques
Update data in real Be accessible to
time
statistical modelling
Link and
compare SDG data Access a safe
sets sandpit environment

Create data
visualisations
Next Steps
• Consultation will go live in autumn 2016.
• The Data Science feasibility study will be completed by
December 2016.
• Agreed indicators will be in place by spring 2017.
• Favourable findings will inform a specification and build
beginning January 2017.
• We are aiming for a platform at alpha stage by summer
2017.
• Our aspiration is to collaborate internationally, use open
source code and incorporate UN guidance.
Questions?
France…
…have an inter- …highlighted their high
ministerial quality of life, but
Representative for noted that there is
Sustainable work to be done,
Development and a particularly around
General inequalities, healthy
Commissioner for ecosystems and
Sustainable natural resources.
Development.

…are developing a national action plan and have established a participatory

internet platform, agenda2030.gov.fr.
Germany…
Their work is monitored
…have a State by the Parliamentary
Secretaries Committee Advisory Council on
for Sustainable Sustainable Development
Development, chaired by and an independent
the head of the Federal Council for Sustainable
Chancellery. Development.

…are revising their National Sustainable Development Strategy in light of

Agenda 2030's ambition and goal structure, to be completed in autumn 2016.
The strategy contains national goals and indicators that allow them to
'measure progress and identify any wrong turns in policy'.
Finland…
Their national
…are drafting a Sustainable
national action plan, Development
which will identify Indicators will be
strengths as well as revised to
gaps and challenges. complement the
global
indicators.

…are setting up an Indicator Network, comprising representatives

from statistics, research, policy and stakeholder groups.
Norway…
The government
has identified The Prime
issues across the Minister is co-
3 pillars - chair of the UN
economy, Secretary
society, General's SDG
environment - Advocacy
that need Group.
addressing
nationally.