Barts Health Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment Report

www.brap.org.uk6. Sexual orientationAt a Glance…Locally available data from the Integrated Household Survey suggest that thepercentage of LGB people in Tower Hamlets is broadly in line with the nationalaverage (1.5%), and the percentage in Newham and Waltham Forest is lower.However, there are challenges with this data set. Many studies suggest that thereare between 0.3% and 3% LGB people in the national population, whilst othersestimate this figure to be higher (5-7%).Identifying the number of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people in the population isnotoriously difficult. A recent report from the Office for National Statistics, for example,highlighted the absence of reliable national and local data. 19A commonly used estimate for the number of LGB people at a national level is 5 to 7 percent. This is taken from the government’s Impact Assessment of the Civil Partnership Act2004, which in turn used a wide range of research sources.More up-to-date estimates can be derived from the Citizenship Survey 2009/10 (2.3%), andthe British Crime Survey 2009/10 (2.2%).Local data is available from the UK Data Archive from the Integrated Household Survey andthese are replicated below.Figure 6a: Sexual Identity by Borough, April 2009 to March 2010 (percentage*)Heterosexual/StraightGay/LesbianBisexual Other Don'tknow/RefusalNo responseNewham (Male) 47.4 unavailable 0.4 0.6 1.5 50.1Newham (Female) 59 unavailable 0.4 0.5 3 37.1Newham (Total) 53.5 unavailable 0.4 0.6 2.3 43.3Tower Hamlets (Male) 54.7 3 0 0.8 1.7 39.8Tower Hamlets (Female) 57.2 0.6 0.4 0.2 1.6 40Tower Hamlets (Total) 56 1.7 0.2 0.5 1.6 39.9Waltham Forest (Male) 56.3 0.5 0.3 0 2.1 40.9Waltham Forest (Female) 62.8 0.4 0.9 0.7 1.5 33.7Waltham Forest (Total) 59.8 0.5 0.6 0.4 1.8 37Source: ONS (2012) from Integrated Household Survey 2009-201019 Office for National Statistics (2010) Measuring Sexual Identity: an evaluation report. Available at:http://tinyurl.com/7nabdt5108