§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will make a statement on the relationship between the new index of local conditions and the Z score of deprivation as used by his Department to distribute resources to local government;
(2) what plans he has to change the resource distribution methodologies to reflect the deprivation of Birmingham as measured by the index of local conditions.
§ Mr. BaldryThe index of local conditions and its predecessor based on Z scores are not used to determine resource distribution. The index is one of the factors which Government offices of the regions may take into account in assessing bids for funding through the single regeneration budget. There are no plans to include the index of local conditions in the standard spending assessment system used to distribute revenue support grant. As well as many other indicators reflecting higher spending need, the SSA system already includes economic and social indices.