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SCOTTISH INDEX OF MULTIPLE DEPRIVATION 2004: TECHNICAL REPORT

Chapter 1 : Background

In August 2003 the Scottish Executive published a report from the Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice (SCRSJ) called ' Measuring Deprivation in Scotland : Developing a Long-Term Strategy' ⁷. The team behind this report had been commissioned by the Executive to:

• provide a clear definition and conceptual basis for measuring deprivation. This should clarify how the terms relate to others used to refer to social need such as poverty, social exclusion or social injustice.
• set out the long-term strategy for measuring area deprivation building on the Scottish Indices of Deprivation (SID) 2003.
• explore approaches to measuring deprivation for individuals. In particular, to recommend whether individual measures should be developed as replacements to area-based measures or as additional to them.

The final report was based on a wide ranging consultation process. Through a steering group, consultation on the interim report and public meetings, the views of central and local government, community groups, academics and the wider general public were sought. The report set out a range of recommendations for the short, medium and long term measurement of deprivation. The Executive welcomed the report as a sound basis for developing its strategy for measuring deprivation in Scotland and accepted all of its recommendations.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2004, is the first output from this long-term strategy and implements the recommendation to produce an area-based measure building on the SID 2003. The starting point for the construction of the SIMD 2004 was therefore the definition of deprivation set out by Townsend:

"Deprivation takes many different forms in every known society. People can be said to be deprived if they lack the types of diet, clothing, housing, household facilities and fuel, and environmental, educational, working and social conditions, activities and facilities that are customary, or at least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies to which they belong."⁸

This definition highlights the fact that individuals can be deprived in different ways and that the level of this deprivation is generally assessed in comparison to accepted social standards. On this premise the SIMD 2004 is multi-dimensional and relative. It is therefore conceptualised as a combination of different domains of deprivation, each of which contain relevant and high quality indicators. These domains form individual relative indices for their particular dimension of deprivation. They are combined into an overall index of multiple deprivation using explicit weights, which reflect the academic literature on multiple deprivation and the robustness of the domains.

This is the same basic methodology used in SID 2003. However, the SIMD 2004 also incorporates recommendations made by the SCRSJ and is therefore based on both a strong methodology and is in line with the views of users. It is important to note that the SID 2003 made use of the best available geography and datasets. However, since its publication, there have been advances in both of these areas, particularly through the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics ⁹ project. This has allowed the SIMD 2004 to take significant steps forward in both the updating of data, and the geographic unit of analysis. It is based on the recently introduced small area statistical geography called data zones ¹⁰ which will enable users to compare deprivation at a small area level across Scotland.

The six individual domains which combine to produce SIMD 2004 and their reasons for inclusion are:

Current Income domain - indirect measure of a major part of the main cause of deprivation.
Employment domain - direct measure of exclusion from the world of work.
Housing domain - direct measure of material living standards.
Health domain - indirect measure of both causes and consequences of deprivation.
Education, Skills and Training domain - indirect measure of both causes and consequences of deprivation.
Geographic Access and Telecommunications domain - direct measure of area characteristics that impact on individuals.

The SIMD 2004 is a weighted combination of these domains. Across the 6 domains, there are 31 indicators which are used to describe various aspects of deprivation. Taken in total they provide a comprehensive picture of deprivation within each data zone across Scotland. As part of its long-term strategy commitments the Executive is working to ensure that data will be available to update these indicators in late 2006 and on a three year basis thereafter.

Although the underlying methodology is based on the SID 2003, the SIMD 2004 has been produced in-house by the Office of the Chief Statistician (OCS) in the Scottish Executive. The main processes carried out by the OCS in the construction of the Index are outlined below:

• data for the individual indicators was sourced from a range of administrative systems and the Scottish Census. It was essential that the indicators made use of the most up to date information and therefore where possible the data represents 2002 or is taken from the 2001 Scottish Census of Population.
• the indicator data was supplied to the OCS at data zone level and data suppliers ensured that the information they were providing was of sufficient quality for use in the Index.
• each of the individual indicators was constructed by the OCS on a domain by domain basis. For example in the Health domain, the data supplier provided four years worth of counts of emergency admissions to hospital. The final indicator was calculated by presenting this as a proportion based on the total population of the data zone and applying shrinkage. The indicators were then combined to create domain scores and the SIMD 2004 was constructed as a weighted combination of these domains. These steps are described in greater detail in chapters 3 and 4.
• Chris Dibben at Oxford Social Disadvantage Research Centre provided valuable advice on the more technical matters regarding the construction of the indices. In addition, Professor Gillian Raab at Napier University helped in quality assuring the SAS programmes and interpreting the shrinkage technique and factor analysis.
• the domains and the overall SIMD were quality assured by the relevant Scottish Executive department and the Index of Deprivation Advisory Group. This advisory group was established through Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics to oversee the SID 2003 and the long term strategy research. It included representatives from the Scottish Executive, local authorities and the health service. Although the group had successfully fulfilled its remit with the publication of the long-term strategy, it agreed to provide this valuable quality assurance of the SIMD 2004 while successor arrangements were considered.
• the final SIMD 2004 was published on 14 ^th June 2004.

The quality assurance carried out at each stage ensured that the construction of the Index was carried out to the highest possible standards. The resulting SIMD 2004 identifies the most deprived areas across Scotland on a consistent basis.

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