During the ANED annual meeting, held in Brussels on 14 December 2012, presentations were made by Professor Stefanos Grammenos, member of the ANED core research team and Martha Sticking from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Professor Stefanos Grammenos (Centre for European Social and Economic Policy) presented an update on comparative data against key quantitative indicators relevant to the EU2020 strategy. These relate primarily to the headline targets agreed for employment, education and poverty reduction. Additional indicator data was presented on reported accessibility items.

A new report is now available summarizing ANED’s work on the development of Indicators for Disability Equality in Europe (IDEE), written by Prof Stefanos Grammenos. Based on the earlier proposals, developed by Mark Priestley and Anna Lawson, 11 headline indicators were selected for 2011. The focus items relate to key targets on employment, education and poverty in the Europe 2020 Strategy, and to the theme of accessibility in the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020. Secondary data analysis was conducted using the EU-SILC survey for 2008 and 2009, with additional statistics drawn from Eurostat’s internet database. This includes data for all EU27 Member States for people aged 16 and over living in private households. The items selected included: employment rates, unemployment rates, economic activity rates; early leavers from education and training, completion of tertiary or equivalent education, risk of poverty and social inclusion (including households with low work intensity, and risk of poverty after social transfers, severe material deprivation). These indicators were further analysed by gender, age group and change over time since 2008, where possible. New items were piloted on the accessibility of public transport, and accessibility of postal or banking services.

Following the conceptualisation and development of indicator proposals in 2008 and 2009, the next stage was to pilot a selection of statistical items using available data at the European level. The initial list was selected to include items particularly relevant to the EU2020 targets on outcomes in employment, tertiary education and poverty reduction but also sought to include items across the range of themes proposed by the working group. Relevant data was accessed via Eurostat and from published sources to populate the selected items. The compilation of statistical indicators from the pilot is now available as a report and an annex of tables.

During 2009 a working group was formed to develop preliminary proposals for qualitative and quantitative indicators, in consultation with the ANED Network and other relevant actors engaged in indicator development work, including Eurostat, the World Health Organisation and the Council of Europe. The purpose of the group was to agree an outline approach to developing comparative indicators and to produce recommendations for a preliminary list that could be proposed for wider consultation and piloting.