§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what reasons the calculation of the sparsity factor in the social services elderly domiciliary care standard spending assessment is made on an enumeration district basis. [64575]
§ Ms ArmstrongThe measurement of sparsity for small areas minimises the extent to which sparsity is obscured through the grouping together of sparsely populated areas with more densely populated areas. Enumeration districts are the smallest areas for which the data enables population sparsity to be calculated consistently for all local authorities.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what reasons the City of Westminster is to be allocated money for sparsity within the social services elderly domiciliary care standard spending assessment sub-block. [64576]
§ Ms ArmstrongStandard spending assessments (SSAs) are calculated in a consistent way by applying the same formula to all relevant local authorities. Four of the City of Westminster's 631 enumeration districts are sparsely populated. It therefore receives a very small amount by reference to the sparsity indicator in the formula. The amount within the social services domiciliary care Standard Spending Assessments (SSAs) is some £1,500, which represents 0.0006 per cent. of the total SSA for Westminster City Council.