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English Indices of Deprivation

The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

Today I am announcing the publication of the revised Indices of Deprivation 2004.

The Indices of Deprivation 2004 (ID 2004) combine statistical indicators on economic and social issues into a single score and rank for each small area in England. This enables us to rank small areas according to their level of deprivation. The indices are used by govermnent and other agencies to identify where there are concentrations of disadvantaged people, so that resources could be targeted where there is greatest need.

The new index is a significant improvement on previous indices. It uses a new base geography, which is more consistent over time and in terms of size. This allows us to overcome some of the problems with electoral wards, which were of varying sizes and which were regularly changed. The new super output areas allow us to better identify where very small pockets of deprivation exist and to track changes over time.

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We have also been able to include new indicators that give a more precise measurement of particular aspects of deprivation. For example, with the new pupil level annual school census, we are able to attribute educational deprivation to the area where the child lives rather than attributing it to the school, as was the case in the past. We have also overcome previous problems with crime data and have now included a crime domain for the first time. There is also a new living environment domain, which aims to identify deprivation in the indoors and outdoors living environment. Both of these new domains were strongly supported in the two periods of public consultation held to determine the best process for updating the 2000 index.

The index also allows us to rank local authority districts. Districts are complex to describe as a whole and as a result six different measures have been designed which focus on different aspects of multiple deprivation in the district. No single measure is favoured over another, as there is no single best way

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of describing or comparing districts. The six measures are:

The concentration is an important way of identifying districts' hot spots of deprivation;

The extent portrays how widespread high levels of deprivation are in a district;

The income scale measure gives the number of people in the district who are income deprived;

The employment scale measure gives the number of people in the district who are employment deprived;

The average of SOA ranks summarises the district as a whole, taking into account the ranks of both the deprived and the least deprived SOAs;

The average of SOA scores also describes the district as a whole, taking into account the full range of SOA scores across a district.

The table below summarises the districts that are among the 50 most deprived on each of the six district measures.

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Rank	Rank of AverageScore	Rank of AverageRank	Rank of Extent	Rank ofConcentration	Rank of IncomeScale	Rank of EmploymentScale
1	Knowsley	Tower Hamlets	Tower Hamlets	Knowsley	Birmingham	Birmingham
2	Liverpool	Hackney	Hackney	Liverpool	Liverpool	Liverpool
3	Manchester	Knowsley	Islington	Manchester	Manchester	Manchester
4	Tower Hamlets	Manchester	Manchester	Middlesbrough	Leeds	Leeds
5	Hackney	Islington	Liverpool	Newcastle upon Tyne	Bradford	Sheffield
6	Easington	Liverpool	Newham	Kingston upon Hull, City of	Sheffield	Bradford
7	Nottingham	Newham	Easington	Salford	Newham	Sunderland
8	Islington	Easington	Knowsley	Nottingham	Tower Hamlets	Wirral
9	Middlesbrough	Nottingham	Nottingham	Wirral	Hackney	Wigan
10	Kingston upon Hull, City of	Kingston upon Hull, City of	Middlesbrough	Rochdale	Nottingham	Newcastle upon Tyne
11	Newham	Southwark	Kingston upon Hull, City of	Hartlepool	Sandwell	Wakefield
12	Hartlepool	Haringey	Southwark	Redcar and Cleveland	Leicester	Nottingham
13	Salford	Barking and Dagenham	Haringey	Bradford	Wirral	Doncaster
14	Halton	Sandwell	Halton	Blackpool	Bristol, City of	Bristol, City of
15	Haringey	Stoke-on-Trent	Hartlepool	Halton	Lambeth	Sefton
16	Birmingham	Halton	Birmingham	Stockton-on-Tees	Kingston upon Hull, City of	Kirklees
17	Stoke-on-Trent	Lambeth	Sandwell	Birmingham	Haringey	Stoke-on-Trent
18	Southwark	Hartlepool	Stoke-on-Trent	Gateshead	Southwark	Sandwell
19	Sandwell	Middlesbrough	Blackburn with Darwen	Tower Hamlets	Newcastle upon Tyne	Kingston upon Hull, City of
20	Blackburn with Darwen	Birmingham	Salford	Westminster	Sunderland	Barnsley
21	Blackpool	Salford	South Tyneside	St. Helens	Kirklees	Lambeth
22	Sunderland	Blackpool	Sunderland	Blackburn with Darwen	Brent	Leicester
23	Newcastle upon Tyne	Camden	Wolverhampton	Derby	Lewisham	Coventry
24	Rochdale	Greenwich	Camden	Sheffield	Wolverhampton	Newham
25	Camden	Sunderland	Barking and Dagenham	Easington	Coventry	Southwark
26	Barking and Dagenham	Waltham Forest	Newcastle upon Tyne	Leicester	Doncaster	Hackney
27	South Tyneside	Blackburn with Darwen	Gateshead	Stoke-on-Trent	Ealing	Salford
28	Wolverhampton	Wear Valley	Rochdale	Oldham	Enfield	Bolton
29	St. Helens	Hastings	Lambeth	Sunderland	Wakefield	Wolverhampton
30	Gateshead	South Tyneside	Mansfield	Bolton	Islington	Knowsley
31	Leicester	Barrow-in-Furness	Barnsley	Leeds	Croydon	Rotherham
32	Lambeth	St. Helens	Blackpool	Bristol, City of	Walsall	Haringey
33	Barrow-in-Furness	Bolsover	St. Helens	Barrow-in-Furness	Sefton	Gateshead
34	Barnsley	Barnsley	Doncaster	North East Lincolnshire	Stoke-on-Trent	Tower Hamlets
35	Mansfield	Leicester	Greenwich	Sefton	Salford	Dudley
36	Wear Valley	Mansfield	Hastings	Preston	Greenwich	Walsall
37	Hastings	Wolverhampton	Bradford	Barnsley	Waltham Forest	Lewisham
38	Bradford	Lewisham	Barrow-in-Furness	Coventry	Knowsley	Islington
39	Greenwich	Gateshead	Leicester	Burnley	Bolton	Brent
40	Doncaster	Rochdale	Wansbeck	Mansfield	Wigan	St. Helens
41	Redcar and Cleveland	Penwith	Walsall	Hastings	Dudley	Rochdale
42	Burnley	Doncaster	Oldham	Wolverhampton	Rotherham	Ealing
43	Wansbeck	Sedgefield	Preston	Haringey	Camden	Brighton and Hove
44	Waltham Forest	Burnley	Burnley	Islington	Derby	Oldham
45	Bolsover	Tameside	Wear Valley	Great Yarmouth	Barnsley	Tameside
46	Oldham	Wansbeck	Sedgefield	Wansbeck	Rochdale	Plymouth
47	Wirral	Derwentside	Norwich	Wigan	Barnet	Camden
48	Westminster	Wigan	Bolton	Doncaster	Oldham	South Tyneside
49	Tameside	Westminster	Redcar and Cleveland	Wear Valley	Gateshead	North Tyneside
50	Wigan	Ashfield	Bolsover	Tameside	Brighton and Hove	Croydon

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Amalgamation of Divisions of General Commissioners

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin): On 26 April 2004 I made an order under Section 2(6) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 amalgamating a number of divisions in Oxfordshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire with effect from 1 May 2004 and a number of divisions in Devon with effect from 1 June 2004, as follows:

Bideford, Barnstaple and Tavistock divisions are merged into North and West Devon Division; Moreton and Henley divisions are merged into Oxfordshire South Divisions; Frome and Wells divisions are merged into Frome and Wells Division; Northleach and Cheltenham divisions are merged into Cheltenham Division; and Stroud and Whitstone divisions are merged into Stroud Division.

All the amalgamations were made at the request of the general commissioners in all the divisions with the aim of improving the organisational efficiency of the divisions concerned. I have placed a copy of the order amalgamating the divisions in the Libraries of both Houses.

Small Business Service: Business Plan 2004–05

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

The Small Business Service (SBS) is today publishing its business plan for 2004–05. I have deposited copies of the plan in the House of Commons

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Library. Electronic versions are available on the SBS website (www.sbs.gov.uk).

The Government published a cross-departmental action plan A government action plan for small business in January. The action plan defines the Government's programme of work going forward and is the foundation for the 2004–05 SBS business plan. The SBS has a leadership role as a centre of expertise, an innovator and an engine for change within government based on its experience of delivering services to small businesses and its extensive research base and network of contacts.

The business plan sets out what the SBS will do to drive forward implementation of the government action plan over the next 12 months. It also sets out the changes being made within the SBS to make a reality of its leadership role within government on small business issues.

The plan identifies eight key agency targets for 2004–05 grouped—where relevant—under the strategy to which they relate.

Building an enterprise culture

Deliver a national enterprise awareness event involving public and private sector partners in November 2004.

Encouraging a dynamic start-up market

Complete the establishment of the Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship by May 2004.

Building the capability for small business growth

Ensure by March 2005 that Business Link (both the website and the face-to-face service) is effectively promoting and delivering the DTI's new portfolio of

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business support products—particularly those relating to innovation, knowledge transfer and best practice.

Improving access to finance for small businesses

Complete an action plan for carrying forward the recommendations of the review of the Small Firms Loan Guarantee by December 2004, and launch a pathfinder round of Enterprise Capital Funds within one month of state aid approval being received.

Encouraging more enterprise in disadvantaged communities and underrepresented groups

Launch the second round of the City Growth Strategies and Phoenix Fund Building on the Best projects from April 2004, monitor their progress and begin a programme of events to share best practice by February 2005.

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Improving small businesses' experience of government services

Plan the transfer of responsibility for the management of Business Link operator contracts to the regional development agencies within a national framework which maintains core service standards with effect from April 2005.

Developing better regulation and policy

Complete a public consultation so that government can consider whether to extend the concept of common commencement dates for regulations to new areas of domestic law, and publish the responses.

Delivering the government action plan for small business

Monitor, evaluate and drive forward implementation of the government-wide action plan for small business published in January 2004, updating the web-based implementation programme available at www.sbs.gov.uk on a regular basis to record the progress being made.

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