§ Mr. BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what use his Department and its agencies make of postcode areas for the collection of data and in formulas for the distribution of grants and awards; and when such usages were last reviewed. [14801]
§ Mr. HowardMy Department and its agencies by and large do not make regular use of postcodes in the areas of interest. The postcode address file is used as the basis for social and criminal research as and when the need arises. Resource allocation formulae generally use census data at a high level of geographic aggregation and are not dependent on postcode areas. However, some use of the ACORN—a classification of residential neighbourhoods—classification, for which postcodes form the base, is used in the police funding formula which is reviewed regularly. Use has also been made in research of postcodes to convert 1981 census enumeration districts to 1991 census enumeration districts.