1. Sharne Bailey, Tony Byrne UK, Office for National Statistics
Profiling in the UK 19th International Roundtable on Business Survey Frames
Sharne Bailey, Tony Byrne
UK, Office for National Statistics

2. Profiling in the UK Content
09/11/2018
Content
 What is the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR)
 Sources for updating the IDBR
 Data held on the IDBR
 Organisation of Business Registers Unit
 IDBR units model
 What is profiling
 How/Why do we profile, what is in scope, profiling constraints
 Profiling targets

3. What is the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR)?
Profiling in the UK
What is the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR)?
Statistical business register providing a sampling frame
Complies with EU standards
Source for 80 statutory economic surveys
Key data source for analyses of business activity
2 million enterprises (businesses)
2.5 million local units (sites)
Covers approximately 99% of economic activity in the UK

4. Profiling in the UK
Distribution/Location of Enterprises in 2000 & 2004
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
Production
Construction (3) 11.3 (3)
Transport Industries
Wholesale and dealing
Retailing (2) 11.5 (2)
Finance
Catering
Motor Trades
Property and business services 21.7 (1) 27.6 (1)
All other services
Total % 100%

5. Profiling in the UK

6. Please see website links:
Profiling in the UK
Please see website links:

7. Sources of data for updating the IDBR
VAT HM Revenue & Customs
PAYE HM Revenue & Customs
Dun & Bradstreet
Companies House
ONS (and N Ireland) surveys
Construction and farm surveys

8. Profiling in the UK Data held on the IDBR
Name, address, geographic codes
Size (employment/turnover)
Economic activity (SIC 2003)
Legal status
Demographic data (birth/death dates)
Survey selection/response history
Company number
Country of ownership

9. IDBR Units Model

10. HMRC (Customs) sends VAT information to the ONS
09/11/2018
Profiling in the UK
HMRC (Customs) sends VAT information to the ONS
Enterprise
VAT
Legal Unit
Reporting
Unit

11. HMRC (Revenue) sends PAYE information to the ONS
09/11/2018
Profiling in the UK
HMRC (Revenue) sends PAYE information to the ONS
Enterprise
VAT
Legal Unit
PAYE
Legal Unit
Reporting
Unit

12. Profiling in the UK ONS links source data Enterprise VAT Legal Unit
09/11/2018
Profiling in the UK
ONS links source data
Enterprise
VAT
Legal Unit
PAYE
Legal Unit
Local
Unit
Reporting
Unit

13. ONS forms enterprise groups
09/11/2018
Profiling in the UK
ONS forms enterprise groups
Enterprise Group
APEX
VAT
PAYE
Local
Unit
Enterprise
Reporter
Subsidiary
VAT
PAYE
Local
Unit
Enterprise
Reporter
Enterprise
Group
Reporter

14. Distribution of Enterprises by Complexity
09/11/2018

15. New Units Model
09/11/2018

16. Organisation of Business Registers Unit
09/11/2018

17. Mix of desk and visit profiling
Resources and targets
Dedicated profiling team
10 staff
Approximately 525 cases per year, including
public sector
Mix of desk and visit profiling
To date 20 visits in 2005

18. Profiling in the UK What is profiling? The definition of profiling is;
‘to confirm(prove) which legal and administrative units are contained within an enterprise, group or sub set of an enterprise or enterprise group by communicating with the business’. Thus providing the most efficient structure for the collection of statistical data.

19. Profiling in the UK Why we do need to profile?
EU regulation - four year rolling programme.
Requirement to update business register structures on which to draw survey sample.
Profiling minimises the risk of duplication or omission ensuring quality of register.
Meets need for common approach to data collection across the whole economy.
Ensure consistency of output.
Meeting statutory requirements for data collection (Statistics of Trade Act 1947).

20. Profiling in the UK What triggers a profile?
Enterprises with 250+ employees and > 1 legal unit.
Significant secondary activity, i.e. >100 employment.
Local Authorities with > 2000 employees.
Central Government with > 250 employees.
 Referrals from surveys and data collection unit. Need to resolve immediate problems.

21. Profiling in the UK What triggers a profile (Continued)
Need to deal with businesses that are unwilling or unable to complete survey forms. Enforcement may become an issue.
Consider burden on business. .
Currently, 2,945 cases fall within criteria;
all profiled within four year rolling programme

22. Profiling in the UK How do we profile?
Consultation exercise between survey outputs, National Accounts and business requirements.
Report, inform and restructure (update of IDBR).
A mix of top down and bottom up approach.
 Profile at 3 levels (1) enterprise (2) subset of the group and (3) group level.
 Relate this to the business organisational view.

23. Profiling in the UK How do we profile? (continued)
Using information from Companies House and other administrative sources (VAT and PAYE) and information already available from surveys and the internet.
Agree data collection entities.
Define enterprises - decide whether the enterprise needs to be split into parts.
Profile by visits or telephone (or a combination).

24. Profiling in the UK Actions following a profile.
Quality assure % of completed profiles.
Monitor response rates.
Follow up with survey outputs, data collection and National Accounts (if necessary).

25. Units in scope of profiling 2005/06
Number of enterprises
Employment (‘000)
Employment
1,033
8,758
Employment 1000 to 1999
438
623
Employment 250 to 999
1,474
757
Total
2,945
10,138

26. Profiling in the UK

27. Profiling in the UK

28. Profiling in the UK

29. Profiling in the UK
1. During January-March 2005 actively profiling public sector (no vats).
2. No data available for April-May 2004

30. Profiling in the UK Profiling Issues
09/11/2018
Profiling Issues
Often ‘driven’ by survey data collection, affecting priorities.
One contact is often not responsible for the full range of information.
Requires the co-operation of the business.
Business activity crosses UK boundaries but profiling is limited to UK data collection.
Relies on a common understanding of definitions between the business and the ONS.

31. Profiling constraints
Gives a better understanding of complex unit
structures, however there are constraints;
 Expensive
 Time consuming
 Requires trained staff
 Compromise based on quality & resource

32. Profiling in the UK Summary
09/11/2018
Summary
Profiling provides a consistent approach to data collection.
Can be a powerful communication tool - provides consistent feedback to ONS staff and to businesses.
Is the public face of ONS, explaining our
function and encouraging compliance.
Helps derive and apply standards.

33. To further reduce number of profiling referrals.
Profiling in the UK
Future outlook
To achieve European regulation objective of profiling complex
businesses within a four year rolling programme.
To further improve links with ONS register users, in particular
data collection, survey outputs and National Accounts .
To fully integrate the re-engineered IDBR as part of the
profiling process.
To further reduce number of profiling referrals.
Participation in the multi national enterprise project.

34. Profiling in the UK - Questions?