Michael runs the Social Disadvantage Research Centre (SDRC) and the Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy (CASASP) at the University of Oxford. SDRC has just completed the new national indices of deprivation for England (ID 2007) for central government. CASASP works with the South African government to develop high quality evidence-based social policy research to assist in the eradication of poverty and the development of citizenship.

The statistics were released by the government alongside details of council funding for the next three years.

Yorkshire and the Humber had 7.1% fewer super output areas, as the measurement zones are called, in the most deprived fifth, while there were drops of 10.3% in the northeast and 2.8% in the northwest.

In contrast, all the southern regions had more neighbourhoods in the most deprived fifth with the east going up by 1.4%, London by 7.2%, the southeast by 17.3% and southwest by 7.9%.
The picture for the midlands was mixed with an overall improvement in the east midlands but an increase in areas falling into the most deprived for the west midlands.

However, despite signs of recovery, OCSI said overall levels of deprivation in the north were still well above the national average. And almost all districts which fell into the 50 most deprived on one or more measurement in 2004 were still there in 2007.

Reflecting on the IMD figures, OCSI managing director Tom Smith said employment growth in the north could have helped to reduce deprivation. ‘Employment and worklessness is such a big driver in the indices it would have a big impact on the figures.’

See http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news/article/latest-index-reveals-deprivation-figures-are-falling-faster-in-north for the full New Start story.

Key questions that partners should be thinking about include:

• Are we closing the gap against the country / region? Are our most deprived areas closing the gap against the LA as a whole? Do the IMD and domains show any (indirect) evidence of the impact of local programmes.
• What is the likely impact on future funding streams? How have local deprivation levels changed relative to the national or regional perspective? Are we likely to gain or lose funding from regional or national pots?
• How do local priorities match-up with the latest evidence? Have priority areas got better? Do the Indices highlight areas that we haven’t previously focused on?

As there is little change in the methodology from the Indices of Deprivation 2004, direct comparisons can (and should!) be made.

For further information, contact Tom Smith on Tom.Smith@ocsi.co.uk or 01273 201 345.

OCSI led on the initial consultation and specification phases of the redevelopment, identifying the functionality and datasets required by users to ensure it provided the key datasets relevant to local policy areas. OCSI also developed the initial upload of nationally published indicators into the new system. The technical development of the system was carried out by project partner Geowise.

For further information see www.bhlis.org

The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 combines a number of indicators, chosen to cover a range of economic, social and housing issues, into a single deprivation score for each small area in England. This allows each area to be ranked relative to one another according to their level of deprivation. As with the 2004 Indices, the Indices of Deprivation 2007 have been produced at Lower Super Output Area level, of which there are 32,482 in the country.

There are also six district summary scores for each Local Authority district (there are 354 districts in England) and for each County Council and higher tier (there are 149 of these). A relative ranking of areas, according to their level of deprivation is then provided. There are also supplementary Indices measuring income deprivation amongst children and older people: the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) and the Income Deprivation Affecting Older People Index (IDAOPI).

The methodology underpinning the ID 2004 and the ID 2007 are largely the same though there have been small changes to some of the underlying indicators. Comparison between the two Indices is therefore acceptable.

The Indices are used widely to analyse patterns of deprivation, identify areas that would benefit from special initiatives or programmes and as a tool to determine eligibility for specific funding streams.

www.communities.gov.uk/communities/neighbourhoodrenewal/deprivation/deprivation07/

Key findings were presented by OCSI Director Tom Smith at a dissemination event attended by 150 stakeholders from across the county, with the research also picked up by local newspapers and radio. Subsequently, Norfolk became the first county across the region to receive dedicated rural funding under the East of England Development Agency 'Investing in Communities' programme.

This project focused on IiC's three key themes of employment, skills and enterprise, as well as cross-cutting issues of communities and access to services.  The work carried out by OCSI has provided a comprehensive evidence of 'need' for communities in Bedfordshire and Luton, updating and further developing previous work by OCSI.

The Norfolk County Strategic Partnership commissioned OCSI to develop innovative ways of measuring and highlighting deprivation in rural areas. The project aimed to redress the limitations of existing standard data sources for measuring rural deprivation, particularly at the small-area level. The work focused on 4 main areas:

• Uncovering pockets of deprivation: We statistically modelled key deprivation datasets such as the Index of Multiple Deprivation down to Output Area level, and validated these datasets using locally-held administrative data. Our modelling analysis uncovered many pockets of deprivation in Norfolk's rural areas that are not identified with existing Super Output Area datasets
• The "Rural Share of Deprivation" in Norfolk: We identified that on many issues, up to 50% of all people experiencing high levels of deprivation across the County live in rural areas
• Deprivation issues in rural areas: Our analysis highlighted key barriers faced by people living in rural areas
• Profiling settlements: As part of the project we developed a comprehensive set of data profiles, providing evidence on deprivation issues at small settlement level across Norfolk

This work has provided the framework for subsequent work on profiling rural communities and settlements, as well as identifying rural deprivation issues not picked-up by datasets such as the Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) has commissioned OCSI to examine indicators for target setting and performance assessment at neighbourhood level, in the context of the data needs emerging from the LAA process.

In ongoing work we are identifying additional guidance and "practical solutions" to support local partners in this process.