Statistics Wales quarterly update: September 2025

This is the latest in a series of quarterly updates, for users of Welsh statistics, on our latest developments, consultations, and plans.

A full list of our most recent publications can be found on our upcoming calendar.

Do you use the StatsWales service to access or download data? We’ve been developing a more modern and user-friendly version of the service which we expect to launch in the coming months. We will be using the Welsh Government’s Digital and Data blog to provide regular updates on plans and progress, so subscribe to the blog to keep up-to-date. 

Economy

In June, we published our Sub-regional productivity: 2002 to 2023. In July, we also published our Short-term output indicators: January to March 2025 which shows the short term movements in the output of industries in the production, construction and market services sectors. 

The role of the Welsh Economic Statistics User Group is to engage with and advise Welsh Government analysts on strategic priorities and the work plan for economic statistics in Wales. Past agenda items and presentations, as well as the terms of reference can be found online. The next meeting will be held on 14 October 2025. We are eager to extend membership of this group to a wider audience. If you would be interested in joining this group, which meets twice a year (either hybrid or online), please contact KASevents@gov.wales. 

If you would like to get in touch, please contact economic.stats@gov.wales 

Labour market

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have highlighted that the challenges with maintaining response rates for the Labour Force Survey (LFS) continue to affect data quality. As a result LFS-based labour market statistics are labelled as official statistics in development (Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR)) until further review and we continue to recommend caution when interpreting this data. 

We continue to publish our monthly labour market overview release, which brings together a range of different labour market sources. We recommend using the LFS data alongside the trends in these other measures of the labour market to gain a clearer picture of the impact different events have on the Welsh labour market.

ONS are introducing a new Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) which they plan to become the main data source for information on the labour market in the UK and Wales in the future. ONS published an update in July 2025 on their program of work to improve the quality of labour market statistics, including an update on their developments to TLFS and the actions they are continuing to improve the quality of existing LFS based statistics The LFS will continue while further development of the TLFS takes place. 

In June we published the quarterly update on young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) which covers data for the year ending March 2025 which provides more detailed and timely statistics on young people (those aged 16 to 24) who are NEET in Wales. 

In July we published our Annual Population Survey labour market statistics data for the year ending March 2025 which includes data for UK countries and regions and also for local areas. We also published Jobs Growth Wales+ statistics for April 2024 to March 2025 which presents information on young people enrolled on the Jobs Growth Wales+ programme.

If you would like to get in touch, please contact labourmarket.stats@gov.wales.

Trade Survey for Wales

The analysis of Trade Survey for Wales 2022 is available online. There has been a gap in data collection due to budgetary pressures, but an invitation to tender for the next iteration of the survey will be advertised in summer 2025.

For further information contact: stats.trade@gov.wales.

Welsh International Goods Trade

Headline results from HMRC Regional Trade Statistics for Wales’s international goods trade for year ending March 2025 were published 11 June 2025, with the next quarter’s data due to be published on 11 September 2025. Welsh international goods trade: 2024 was published on 10 April 2025, which contained further analysis of the 2024 data. 

Alongside the above statistics, the interactive trade dashboard will be kept updated to the latest quarter’s data. 

For further information contact: stats.trade@gov.wales.

Supply and Use Tables and Input Output Tables

Supply and use tables and input-output tables for 2019 were published as official statistics in development on 11 March 2025. These tables provide a snapshot of the Welsh economy, detailing the buying and selling relationships of goods and services between its constituent parts, the rest of the UK, and the world. Work is currently underway to update the tables using a 2022 base year. 

To support users in applying these data, we plan to publish estimates of effects and multipliers, including employment multipliers, to accompany the 2019 tables. These can be used to estimate how changes in demand for one industry’s output can affect others across the Welsh economy. In addition, a separate interactive tool is being developed to support input-output modelling. Further information on publication plans will be announced in due course.

If you are interested in using these tables for your own research and would like advice on their application, please get in touch.

For further information contact: InputOutputTables@gov.wales 

Statistics on post-16 education have now transferred to Medr. If you have any questions related to further education, school sixth form, apprenticeship or adult learning statistics, please contact statistics@medr.cymru.

Schools

We continued to publish regular data on pupils’ attendance in maintained schools throughout the summer term. The release will restart in the autumn with the first release scheduled for 23 September 2025.

The following statistical releases were published during June to August:

Final results from the School Census January 2025 were published on 23 July 2025

Pupils educated other than at school: September 2024 to August 2025 was published on 28 August 2024

Upcoming statistical releases in the Autumn

Provisional Examination results on 2 October 2025

Permanent and fixed-term exclusions from schools: September 2023 to August 2024 – date yet to be announced.

Attendance and absence from primary schools: September 2024 to August 2025 in November 2025.

Final Examination results in December 2025

Attendance and absence from schools: September 2024 to August 2025 in December 2025. This output will bring together all the data from the separate outputs for primary schools and secondary schools and provide all official statistics on attendance and absence in a single statistical release.

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback on school data, you can contact us on school.stats@gov.wales.

School workforce

The latest available statistics from the School Workforce Census results for November 2024 were published on 16 July 2025.

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback on school workforce data, you can contact us on educationworkforcedata@gov.wales.

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback, you can contact us on school.stats@gov.wales.

Higher education and student finance

We’ve continued to publish our monthly statistics on Student support applications for higher education and Education Maintenance Allowances (EMA) awarded in Wales.

In order to provide feedback, or for any further information, please contact highereducationandstudentfinance.stats@gov.wales.

Update on Homelessness Data Collection in Wales

Currently, homelessness data in Wales is gathered through aggregate returns from local authorities, providing information on households applying for housing assistance and the outcomes of those applications. Work is ongoing to transition to a new data collection approach that will capture individual-level data on homelessness applicants. We believe this shift will significantly enhance our understanding of homelessness in Wales and ultimately support efforts to improve outcomes for vulnerable individuals.

In May 2025, local authorities were provided with a draft data specification. In July 2025, regional workshops were held to discuss the draft specification in detail and to gather feedback. A virtual workshop will be scheduled for late August to accommodate the 4 out of 22 local authorities that were unable to attend the in-person sessions.

A data pilot is planned for October to November 2025, simulating the proposed quarterly data collection. Findings and outcomes from the pilot will be shared with stakeholders in December 2025.

The official launch of the new individual-level data collection is scheduled for April 2026. The first data submission, covering quarter 1 (April to June 2026), will be shared with Knowledge and Analytical Services (KAS) colleagues in the Welsh Government in July 2026.

Housing Information Group Annual Seminar

This year’s Housing Information Group annual seminar took place 26 June and focussed on homelessness. During the day charities, local authorities, academics and government departments presented on their recent work. Further information can be found in the Housing Information Group seminar presentation slides from the day.

Welsh Housing Quality Standard 2023      

The Housing Conditions Evidence Team have successfully received returns from 44 of 45 suppliers on the new, first of its kind, property level data collection to be used to assess compliance with the Welsh Housing Quality Standard. The team are now assessing data quality with providers and validity ahead of publishing the first statistical output under the new Standard. 

Housing publications

Since the last update, the following statistical outputs have been published:

• Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping: May 2025 (published 31 July)
• Help to Buy – Wale (Shared Equity Loan Scheme): April 2024 to March 2025 (published 26 June)
• Social Housing Vacancies, Lettings and Arrears: April 2023 to March 2024 (published 15 July)
• Fuel poverty modelled estimates for Wales (headline results): as at October 2024 (published 7 August)
• Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping: June 2025 (published 28 August)

Please contact us via the stats.housing@gov.wales mailbox with any queries or requests.

Hospital statistics

This quarter we updated our usual monthly update to our NHS activity and performance summary, this included a review of how the product is used by users, with rationalisation of some commentary and updates to the layout to make the output more usable and allow inclusion of new commentary on hospital discharges. We also updated our recently developed quarterly output on a deep dive of NHS performance for each Welsh Local Health Board.

NHS workforce and expenditure

This quarter saw an update to our quarterly outputs on Staff directly employed by the NHS, Sickness absence in the NHS and NHS vacancy statistics including analysis analyses by staff group and staff characteristics. There was also a quarterly update to data on the General practice workforce.

Population and community health

This quarter we published an update to annual statistics on Maternity and birth statistics, Breastfeeding statistics and the Healthy Child Wales Programme, plus timelier quarterly updates for each of these.

We also published management information phase 2 of the Flying start programme

Other health and social services statistics

This quarter saw an update to our regular quarterly update of data for the Mental Health (Wales) Measure 2010 and Detentions under Section 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act.

This quarter has also seen regular updates to a range of other statistics including; Eye care measures and Smoking cessation services.

All our statistical releases are available on the Statistics and research website and more detailed underlying data is available on the health and social care area of StatsWales. 

For further information or to get in touch please email stats.healthinfo@gov.wales.

National Survey for Wales 2024 to 2025 Results

On 27 August we published the first set of results from the National Survey for Wales for 2024 to 2025. The release was originally planned to be published in July but was postponed to allow for more time for quality assurance. The publication will includes a broad range of topics covered by the National Survey for Wales in 2024 to 2025.

The achieved sample size for the 2024 to 2025 survey (6,000 respondents) is smaller than originally planned, and so for this year it is not possible to produce breakdowns by local authority and for smaller subgroups. The smaller sample size is due to the contractor encountering fieldwork issues including response rates being lower than in previous years, as experienced by many large-scale surveys at present. As such, the accredited official statistics status has been suspended for publications based on the 2024 to 2025 data. More information is available in our letter to the OSR.

Please contact us at surveys@gov.wales if you have any questions.

Welsh language speaking ability and use

On 14 August we published the Welsh language speaking ability and use bulletin, 2022 to 2023. The bulletin investigates the characteristics associated with people who reported having some Welsh speaking ability, and people who speak Welsh daily.

Poverty and cost of living

On 26 June 2025 we published the latest sixth release in a quarterly series of Discretionary Assistance Fund statistics, with breakdowns by age and local authority. The Discretionary Assistance Fund is a Welsh Government programme which provides payments to people in an emergency or who need help to live independently. 

On 27 March 2025 we published updates to annual data summaries for Wales on relative income poverty and persistent poverty, with latest data relating to financial year ending 2024. On the same day, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published their updated suite of UK level data on income poverty and material deprivation (DWP), persistent poverty (DWP), family resources (DWP), and an update to their children in low income families local area statistics (DWP).

DWP has updated its method for estimating material deprivation, making the latest data for the financial year ending (FYE) 2024 not directly comparable to previous years. In September we will publish an article explaining the changes and providing some single-year estimates for Wales, along with confidence intervals. 

Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD)

We’re currently working on producing the next update to WIMD, to be published in late 2025. If you want to receive notification of publication updates for WIMD, please email stats.inclusion@gov.wales to subscribe.

Community safety

Following the restructuring of our fire incident and performance outputs in late 2024, we will be reviewing our Grassland fires and Deliberate fires releases ahead of their next updates in Autumn 2025 and 2026 respectively. If you are a user of these statistical outputs, please contact us at stats.inclusion@gov.wales.

Crime and justice

The Prisons and probation interactive dashboard will be updated in September to reflect the latest Ministry of Justice and HMPPS data for the operation of the prison and probation services in Wales.

If you have any feedback on our Prisons and probation and Youth justice interactive dashboards, please contact stats.inclusion@gov.wales.

In May, we published provisional estimates for police recorded road collisions: 2025 quarter 1 and updated our interactive dashboard, including breakdowns such as severity of injury, type of road user and collision location on a map. 

For feedback and comments please contact stats.transport@gov.wales. 

Annual Population Survey

Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: April 2024 to March 2025 was published on 3 July. We also updated our StatsWales tables (Annual Population Survey: Welsh language) with the latest data.

These estimates were previously classed as accredited official statistics. The APS has seen a fall in sample sizes over recent years. Given this, and the fact that the survey has not been reweighted to the latest population estimates, the OSR has agreed that this accreditation should be temporarily suspended and that the estimates should be re-designated as official statistics (OSR).

If you have any feedback or would like further information about any aspect of our work, please email: welshlanguagedata@gov.wales.

Decarbonisation and climate change

Local authority quarterly municipal waste figures for October to December 2024 were published on 10 July.

Please email stats.environment@gov.wales for further information.

Agriculture

If you have any feedback or would like further information about any aspect of our work, please email: stats.agric@gov.wales.

In June, we published Council Tax collection rates , Local authority revenue budget and capital forecast, and Budgeted expenditure on Special Educational Needs provision.

In July, we published Local authority budgeted expenditure on schools.

If you have any feedback or would like further information, please email: stats.finance@gov.wales.

We have published new guidance on Access to Welsh Government Microdata for Researchers. This explains what researchers must do to access Welsh Government microdata for research projects. It is designed to support those using, or thinking of using, Welsh Government administrative datasets for analytical purposes. 

Administrative Data Research Wales are hosting the ADR UK conference in September. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language is delivering the opening address on 18 September, and many Welsh Government officials are presenting their work throughout the week.

For further information or to get in touch please email stats.popcensus@gov.wales.

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