4105.0 - Children and Youth News, Jan 2004  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 09/01/2004   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All


NATIONAL CHILDREN AND YOUTH STATISTICS UNIT UPDATE

In July 2003, the ABS created a National Children and Youth Statistics Unit (NCYSU) in response to the need for a statistical evidence base to support community and government policy related to children and youth. Discussions with agencies responsible for the development of policy relevant to children and youth, identified areas where data are required to support their work and underlined the need for ABS to be able to respond to these data needs in a timely way.

The role of the NCYSU includes:

  • maintaining a dialogue with key stakeholders regarding emerging issues, data gaps and needs;
  • developing statistical information related to children and youth (analyses and other products);
  • providing statistical leadership and coordination in the area of children and youth statistics;
  • the development of standard concepts and definitions;
  • advancing children and youth issues within the ABS (relating to standards, survey content and design);
  • facilitating client requests relating to data on aspects of the population related to children and youth, and children and youth within families; and
  • keeping abreast of emerging issues in relation to children and youth, and actively facilitating statistical responses where appropriate.
The NCYSU is guided by an Advisory Group comprising senior representatives from the ABS and other organisations and government agencies. The NCYSU is part of the ABS Health and Community Statistics Branch and is located in the Western Australian office of the ABS.