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I have been involved with the Audit Commission Area Profiles work, in particular the VCS pilots, and trying to profile community needs, especially rural, over a much longer time period.
It is a constant frustration that data and maps are often not available for civil parish level, with flexibility to be aggregated in other combinations to reflect not only geographical communities but communities of interest, policy, strategy, etc.
With the focus on generally 'evidencing' the sector and its needs to meet the demands of politicians, authorities and funders, it is critical that various types of data, including that produced locally (eg via parish plans, appraisals, feasibility studies etc) can relate to census and other reports. This also requires much more support to groups to access or acquire the software and expertise to do this and overcome their exclusion from the process (perhaps a separate but relevant debate).
I would also like to see more of the geographies set up to enable comparison on the flow of resources to different areas (eg central and local government target areas)and to allow inputting on features not covered by the census etc: for example,more nuanced data on services, facilities and activities - such as access to community buildings, distance from citizens advice or volunteer bureau,presence of specialist support to BME groups, etc.
This has been happening in various 'developing' countries for years, using GIS ...we seem to be a long way behind.