§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the recommendation in the Third report of the Welsh Affairs Committee, on social exclusion in Wales, concerning the availability of disaggregated statistical information relating to Wales. [146019]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyI have been asked to reply.
A great deal of statistical information is already available in geographically dis-aggregated form—and the Committee specifically paid tribute to the recent publication of the "Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation", which brings together some new small area data for Wales. The National Assembly hopes to extend the amount of information available at the local level in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics' Neighbourhood Statistics Service to be launched shortly.
The Government are carefully considering all of the Select Committee's recommendations, including this one, and will respond fully to the report in due course.