§ Mr. John Garrettasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies his Department is carrying out, or sponsoring, into indicators of rural deprivation.
§ Mr. Denis HowellsA limited exercise on a similar basis to work on census indicators of urban deprivation has been done for rural districts in England and Wales, but the techniques used do not seem so readily applicable to rural areas. A rather different approach is being used in a study, in conjunction with the University of Kent, on indicators of local prosperity both urban and rural, which it is hoped will be completed next year. A paper on indicators of local prosperity in the South-West Region covering the early stages of this work was published in 1972. There are also a number of other studies of various aspects of the rural situation which may in the event throw further light on this subject.