17 Highland datazones in most deprived 15% in Scotland

18th December 2012

The Highlands has 17 datazones ranked in the most deprived 15% in Scotland according to the Scottish Government’s latest release of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).

SIMD has been designed to identify the most deprived areas across Scotland. It uses statistical information across a range of topics which are combined to indicate deprivation at household level.

The SIMD measures deprivation at small area level called datazones. These are areas which have a standard population of between roughly 500 and 1000 people and cover a wide range of geographical areas. There are 6,505 datazones in Scotland and 292 in Highland.

It is common practice to look at the 15% most deprived datazones within Scotland. Within the 2012 release, Highland has 17 datazones in the most deprived 15% in Scotland, an increase of one from the previous version on the index from 2009 this means that 5.8% of Highland datazones are classed as multiply deprived. Deprivation continues to be concentrated in areas identified in earlier releases, but one datazone in Dingwall is now classed as deprived. Datazones falling within the 15% most deprived in Scotland on order of rank are-

Inverness Merkinch North; Inverness South Kessock; Wick Pultneytown South; Inverness Merkinch East; Invergordon Strath Avenue; Wick Hillhead North; Inverness Central and Longman; Inverness Merkinch South; Wick South; Alness Kirkside; Inverness Hilton West; Seaboard South; Inverness Merkinch Telford; Dingwall Central; Wick South Head; Inverness Raigmore North; and Alness Teaninich.

Council Leader Drew Hendry said “Clearly deprivation is an ongoing concern and we are determined to do what we can, locally, to tackle this. Although levels of poverty are relatively low in Highland compared to some other areas of Scotland, the SIMD is very useful in helping us to identify multiply deprived communities. We know too t that this is only part of the picture, so our services and the new preventative funding from the Council will also reach children, unemployed people and older people living in our rural communities where deprivation can be more hidden and not shown by SIMD. We will step up our work with others, such as the police and NHS Highland through the new partnership arrangements to take a co-ordinated approach to this serious issue.”

It is important to note that the deprivation of each datazone is relative to all others and not absolute. Also, the SIMD was designed to measure concentrations of deprivation. It is good at achieving this. However, it doesn’t identify rural deprivation where deprivation is spatially dispersed with the very rich living alongside those who are very poor.

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2012
18/12/2012

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2012. The SIMD is the Scottish Government's official tool for identifying those places in Scotland suffering from multiple deprivation. It has been an important policy tool for many years, providing evidence to help target policies and resources at those places with the greatest need.

SIMD 2012 measures seven different aspects of deprivation - Employment, Income, Health, Education, Access to Services, Crime and Housing. These different 'domains' are combined to produce a single index which provides a relative ranking for each small area in Scotland from 1 (most deprived) to 6,505 (least deprived).

A new web portal has been developed to provide users with a single point of access to the SIMD 2012 publication and other helpful resources including links to interactive mapping to visualise the results of the SIMD 2012, tailored summaries of SIMD 2012 findings for Local Authorities, access to the data used to construct the index, and relevant guidance papers to understand how to use the SIMD. A short podcast is also available providing a brief introduction to the SIMD, how it is constructed, and how to use the new SIMD 2012 web portal.

Key findings from SIMD 2012 include:

* The SIMD 2012 shows that relative multiple deprivation in Scotland has become less concentrated over time. In SIMD 2004, nearly half of all datazones in the most deprived 10% across Scotland were in Glasgow City. In SIMD 2012 this has dropped to just over one third, with corresponding rises in other Local Authorities. Note that this does not provide any information on overall absolute levels of deprivation; the Index is based only upon relative rankings, and it is not possible to compare absolute levels of multiple deprivation from one index to the next.

* Glasgow City, Edinburgh City, West Lothian, Aberdeen City and South Lanarkshire have seen relatively large decreases in their share of datazones in the 15% most deprived areas in Scotland between SIMD 2009 and SIMD 2012.

* North Lanarkshire, Fife, Renfrewshire and East Ayrshire have seen relatively large increases in their share of datazones in the 15% most deprived areas in Scotland between SIMD 2009 and SIMD 2012.

* Eilean Siar, Moray, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands do not have any datazones in the 15% most deprived in the SIMD 2012. This does not mean that there is no deprivation in these areas; rather that it is not concentrated in small areas.

The full statistical publication can be accessed at http://simd.scotland.gov.uk/publication-2012/

Highland information on deprivation at -
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/highlandfactsandfigures/deprivationandfragility/default.htm