Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Social focus on deprived areas

27/09/2005

A new, wide-ranging statistical analysis of Scotland's most deprived areas using previously published social and environmental data sources has been released today.

The Social Focus on Deprived Areas is the latest publication in the Social Focus series. Earlier studies have focused on disability; urban and rural Scotland; and women and men.

Statistics from the data sources included in the publication have been published previously, but this publication is the first to analyse statistics from across a range of policy areas on the official measure of area deprivation - the publication includes 134 charts and tables.

Social Focus includes analyses of administrative data sources - including the NHS and Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) - and statistical survey, including the Scottish Household Survey, Labour Force Survey and the 1991 and 2001 Census.

The publication contains ten chapters: spread of area deprivation across Scotland; population make up; current income and financial inclusion; the labour market; education, skills and training; health; housing; access and transport; the physical environment; and neighbourhood perceptions and community involvement.

In July 2004, the Executive released its official measure used to identify concentrations of multiple deprivation - the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2004. Scotland was divided up into around 6,500 small areas called data zones, which contain on average 750 people. Information on aspects of deprivation, including health, education and employment is available for each data zone. The SIMD 2004 ranked the data zones from one (most deprived) to 6505 (least deprived) using 31 deprivation indicators.

Social Focus builds on SIMD. It uses the rankings to aggregate the small areas up in to the five per cent most deprived, 10 per cent most deprived, 15 per cent most deprived and 20 per cent most deprived areas. For example, the five per cent most deprived areas include the data zones ranked 1 - 325 on SIMD 2004; the 10 per cent most deprived areas include the data zones ranked 1 - 651.

Social Focus looks at the outcomes of people living in the most deprived areas and compares them to the rest of Scotland. Analysis of the five to 20 per cent most deprived areas helps build understanding of the social and environmental characteristics of Scotland's most deprived areas. It supplements the SIMD which is primarily used to identify deprived areas.

Where the data sources allow, the publication includes historic analysis. The Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics database has developed a range of small area data sources and, in future, a wider range of historic analysis will be possible.

The publication does not attempt to identify key indicators that will be monitored over time. The 'Closing the Opportunity Gap' anti-poverty approach sets out the Executive's targets for tackling poverty and disadvantage and how these are measured. This publication provides analysis to support the 'Closing the Opportunity Gap' targets.

Some of the main statistical findings from the publication include:

• The spread of concentrations of deprivation across Scotland: The highest concentrations of multiple deprivation are found in Glasgow. Over 50 per cent of the neighbourhoods in Glasgow City are defined to be in the most deprived 15 per cent neighbourhoods nationally; the comparable statistics for other local authorities with relatively high concentrations are: Inverclyde (33 per cent); Dundee (28 per cent), West Dunbartonshire (27 per cent), and North Lanarkshire (25 per cent).
• Highest concentrations of deprivation: The 'deprivation slope' is steepest in the most deprived areas: 57 per cent of the population in the 1 per cent most deprived areas are income deprived, compared to 47 per cent in the 5 per cent most deprived areas, 41 per cent in the 10 per cent most deprived areas, and 34 per cent in the 20 per cent most deprived areas. Not all income deprived people live in deprived areas; just under 40 per cent of income deprived people live in the 15 per cent most deprived areas.
• Compounding effect of multiple deprivation: In almost all aspects of life, there are considerable differences between the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland.
• People living alone: The changes in deprived areas over time should be viewed in parallel with the demographic changes in society; some of the main changes include the number of people living alone. The proportion of people of working age living alone increased from 13 to 18 per cent of all households across Scotland between 1991 and 2001, and in the 10 per cent most deprived areas single people of working age now make up one in four households. Lone parents make up 13 per cent of households in the 10 per cent most deprived areas, compared to six per cent nationally (women make up over 90 per cent of lone parent households).
• Ethnicity and Faith: Some minority ethnic groups and faith groups are overrepresented in the most deprived areas. For example, 20 per cent of people describing themselves as African, Black Scottish or Black other, and Other South Asian live in the 10 per cent most deprived areas; 19 per cent of Roman Catholics and 14 per cent of Muslims live in the 10 per cent most deprived areas. The reasons why these groups are over represented are complex and relate to the higher levels of people from these groups living in urban areas, the higher levels of deprivation in urban areas, and also the education, health and the labour market outcomes of people from these groups (with different groups facing different challenges).
• People moving in and out of deprived areas: Analysis shows that over half of all the people moving in to the 10 per cent most deprived areas were previously living in the 10 per cent most deprived areas. Analyses of the 2001 Census show that migrants from the rest of the UK in to Scotland were more likely to move to the least deprived areas of Scotland. Seventeen per cent of migrants in to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK moved in to the 10 per cent least deprived areas. This is also the case for migrants from the rest of the world, with 22 per cent moving in to the 10 per cent least deprived areas. Whilst migrants with no usual address one year before the 2001 Census were most likely to move in to the most deprived areas, some 20 per cent of migrants with no usual address one year before the Census moved in to the 10 per cent most deprived areas.
• Income: Household income is increasing across Scotland, although there is no evidence at present about whether the gap between household incomes in the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland is closing. There are differences between the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland in the proportions of people dependent on benefits and tax credits. For example, in the 15 per cent most deprived areas over 40 per cent of children are dependent on a recipient of income support, compared with 10 per cent of children in the rest of Scotland. People of working age living in the 15 per cent most deprived areas are four times more likely to be receiving income support than those living in the rest of Scotland.
• Labour Market: There are differences between the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland in economic inactivity rates and unemployment rates, with particularly large differences in the percentage of men on incapacity benefit and the percentage of young people not in education, employment or training. In 2004, one in four men of working age in the 15 per cent most deprived areas were on either incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance compared to one in eleven men in the rest of Scotland. People living in the 15 per cent most deprived areas are less likely to be in employment (55 per cent of the working age population is in employment in the 15 per cent most deprived areas compared to over 75 per cent in the rest of Scotland). People living in the 15 per cent most deprived areas are more likely to be unemployed (12 per cent of economically active people in the 15 per cent most deprived areas are unemployed compared to 5 per cent in the rest of Scotland). People aged 16 to 19 living in the 15 per cent most deprived areas are less likely to be in education, employment or training. (25 per cent of 16 to 19 year olds in the 15 per cent most deprived areas are not in education, employment or training compared to 11 per cent of 16 to 19 year olds in the rest of Scotland).
• Education: Recent changes to the way statistics are collected now allow, for the first time, analysis of educational outcomes based on where children live, as well as where they go to school. There are differences between the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland in educational outcomes at primary, secondary and higher education level. In 2003/4, 45.8 per cent of pupils from the 15 per cent most deprived areas attained expected standards in writing at P7, compared with 60.6 per cent from the whole of Scotland. In the 15 per cent most deprived areas, more pupils (11 per cent) leave publicly funded secondary schools without any qualifications than the rest of the Scotland (3.0 per cent) - this statistic does not include the children attending special schools, of which, there are again a higher proportion living in deprived areas. Of all higher education graduates from Scotland in 2002/3, 5.5 per cent were from the 10 per cent most deprived areas compared with 14.9 per cent from the 10 per cent least deprived areas. Some 18 per cent of enrolments to further educational colleges are from the 15 per cent per cent most deprived areas.
• Health: Improvements are being made across the whole of Scotland on a number of health outcomes, for example, on reducing premature deaths. However, for many health outcomes, the differences between the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland are increasing because the improvements are being made at a faster rate in the least deprived areas. Premature mortality rates for those aged under 75 in the 10 per cent most deprived areas are 845 per 100,000 of the population compared to 265 per 100,000 in the 10 per cent least deprived areas. This means that the mortality rates for those aged under 75 in the 10 per cent most deprived areas are three times as high as those in the 10 per cent least deprived areas. The differing health outcomes between men and women should also be recognised.
• It is also worth highlighting the 50 per cent increase (between 1991 and 2001) in the proportions of people with a limiting long-term illness across all areas of Scotland - these increases have been seen in all age groups. Some 30 per cent of people living in 10 per cent most deprived areas have a limiting long term illness, compared to 12 per cent in the 10 per cent least deprived areas.
• Housing: There have been improvements to Scotland's housing and this is helping to reduce and turn around the differences between the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland. For example, there is no difference in the proportion of homes with central heating, and homes in deprived areas are more likely to have good energy efficiency (44 per cent of homes in the 15 per cent most deprived areas compared to 31 per cent nationally).
• The tenure mix in deprived neighbourhoods is changing - the proportion of owner occupiers in the 10 per cent most deprived areas has doubled from 14 to 28 per cent between 1991 and 2001. However, this is relatively low when compared to the Scotland level of 63 per cent of households owned.
• Between 2003 and 2004, house prices increased across all areas with the smallest relative increase in the 5 per cent most deprived areas.
• Neighbourhoods: There are signs that the differences between the most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland in people's perceptions of their neighbourhoods are closing. The proportion of people in the 15 per cent most deprived areas who rate their neighbourhood as a fairly or very poor place to live decreased from 26 per cent (1999) to 22 per cent (2003), the comparable proportions for the rest of Scotland have fluctuated between four and five per cent.
• People living in the 15 per cent most deprived areas were just as likely to say that they particularly liked the social aspects of their neighbourhoods as those living in the rest of Scotland. Particular social aspects that were chosen were good neighbours (35 per cent in 15 per cent most deprived, 32 per cent in the rest of Scotland), friendly people (28 per cent in 15 per cent most deprived, 30 per cent in the rest of Scotland).
• Crime: People living in the most deprived areas are more worried about being assaulted or mugged than those living in the rest of Scotland, although there was little difference in the number of incidents of personal crime recorded. Some 53 per cent of people in 15 per cent most deprived areas are worried about being assaulted or mugged compared with 35 per cent in the rest of Scotland. In 2002, there was very little difference in the number of incidents of personal crime (reported in the Scottish Crime Survey) between the 15 per cent most deprived areas and the rest of Scotland.
• Physical Environment: Although the majority of statistics in this study show a strong relationship with level of deprivation, some of the physical environment statistics have a less straightforward relationship and are influenced strongly by urban and rural factors. For example, concentrations of air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, benzene and particulates are higher in the 10 per cent most deprived areas and the 10 per cent least deprived areas which are predominantly urban areas with high concentrations of population, industry and road traffic. Not all of the physical environment statistics in this study show a similar pattern.
• Access and transport: Sixty per cent of people living in the 20 per cent most deprived areas have no access to a car for private use, compared with 14 per cent in the 20 per cent least deprived areas.
• Average drive times to a range of services (including supermarkets, post offices, petrol stations, primary schools and GPs) are greatest in rural and remote areas. Statistics on average travel times by public transport are not readily available at this time.
• In the 15 per cent most deprived areas, which are mainly urban areas, people are more likely to live within five kilometres of work and are more likely to take the bus or walk to work than those in the rest of Scotland. The average travel time to work, however, is not considerably different from those in the rest of Scotland.