§ Mr. Nellistasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list, pursuant to the answers to the hon. Member for Bimingham, Perry Barr, (Mr. Rooker) Official Report, 17 June, columns 505–6, those factors which led to the Z score of 3.71 for Coventry; if he will give the figures for previous years for which data are available; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenThe indicators and method used by my Department in its analysis of urban deprivation are set out in "Census Information Note No 2: Urban Deprivation" produced by the inner cities directorate. This publication is in the House of Commons Library.
The indicators used in the combined index of deprivation (basic Z-Score), which are all taken from the 1981 census, are:
- i. per cent. unemployed persons
- ii. per cent. overcrowded households
- iii. per cent single parent families
- iv. per cent. households lacking exclusive use of basic amenities
- v. per cent. pensioners living alone
- vi. per cent residents living in households where the head of household was horn in New Commonwealth or Pakistan.
The position of any authority on each of these indicators in relation to the national average will determine the contribution of each to the basic Z-score. In Coventry indicators (i), (ii), (iii) and (vi) were the main contributors to the overall Z-score. In each case Coventry was in the top 50 of the English local authorities.
As indicated in the previous answer the "Housing" Z-score is not a measure of housing need, but an indicator 367W of multiple deprivation (the basic Z-score) in which housing factors (indicators (ii) and (iv)) are given an additional weighting.
There are no comparable figures for previous years. However, in 1971 Coventry only ranked in the top 50 authorities on indicators (ii) and (vi).