§ Mr. WattsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will indicate the level of deprivation which exists in each local council area. [88341]
§ Mrs. RocheA table showing how local authority districts in England are ranked, relative to each other, on the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000 (IMD 2000) has been placed in the Library of the House. All 354 local authority districts (as at April 1998) are ranked with the most deprived authority being given a rank of 1.
Patterns of deprivation are complex—in some areas the entire district may be generally deprived but with no severe areas, while elsewhere deprivation may be concentrated in very severe pockets, which coexist alongside generally affluent areas. The IMD 2000 has reflected these different patterns through six different measures that are all equally valid. The six measures are:
The concentration measure tells us how severe deprivation is in each authority's 'hot spots' of deprivation;The extent measure is the percentage of each district's population that live in one of the 10 per cent. most deprived wards in England;The 'average scores' and 'average ranks' are the average level of deprivation across the entire district;The income scale and employment scale measure how many people suffer from income and employment deprivation respectively.The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently involved in a project to consider options for strengthening and updating the Indices of Deprivation 2000 (ID 2000). The Stage One Consultation Report contains preliminary proposals for updating the ID 2000 and is open for consultation until 15 January 2003.