Region

Definition

A region is mainly now just a statistical area used broadly for policy discussions and sometimes for specific planning and infrastructure projects. In England, there are nine Government Office Regions (GORs), which serve as the highest statisical tier below the national level. The actual Government Offices were shut down in 2011 by David Cameron’s coalition government (cost-cutting and decentralization) as such they no longer have any real administrative role, London being the exception with a directly elected Mayor and Assembly.

The nine English regions are:

• North East
• North West
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• East of England
• London
• South East
• South West
• Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own distinct structures rather than having equivalent regions. In UK wide regional level datsets you will often see figures for these nations alongside the English GORs. 

Relevance to OCSI

OCSI’s Local Insight tool hosts a wide variety of indicators derived from public data, all of which is available at the regional geographic level.

Related links and examples

• ONS: Regions

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