§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
What areas of Northern Ireland have been given Targeting Social Need status; what are the criteria for selection; who makes the selection; and what the benefits are for such areas. [HL3864]
§ The Lord President of the Council (Lord Williams of Mostyn)There are no "New Targeting Social Need (New TSN)" status areas. Ideally targeting is aimed towards those who are in most need. Where programmes are delivered to individuals, departments must identify who are the most deprived and who need the particular service. Measures such as benefit entitlement, entitlement to free school meals etc can be used.
Some programmes (for example, rural development, urban regeneration, etc) are delivered on an area basis and in these cases, areas must be identified for targeting. The Northern Ireland multiple deprivation measure assists with area-based targeting. It ranks electoral wards on the basis of relative deprivation. As well as an overall measure of multiple deprivation it includes separate domain measures including employment, income, health, etc which can be applied individually as appropriate.
Another consideration in targeting resources on an area basis is that the areas to which one type of programme is appropriate, for example, urban regeneration, may not be appropriate to other types of programme, such as rural development or forestry. The need for a particular service must also be taken into account. While areas may have similar overall levels of deprivation, their specific need for particular government services such as housing, employment, schools, transport etc may differ.