Measuring Deprivation in Scotland: Developing a Long-Term Strategy

This is the final report from a project to produce a long-term strategy for measuring deprivation in Scotland. The project was commissioned by the Central Statistics Unit of the Scottish Executive with three main objectives: <br/> <br/> To provide a clear definition and conceptual basis for measuring deprivation. It will also clarify how the term relates to others used to refer to social needs such as poverty, social exclusion or social injustice. <br/> <br/> To set out a long-term strategy for measuring area deprivation building on the recently published Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2003. <br/> <br/> To explore approaches to measuring deprivation for individuals. In particular, it will recommend whether individual measures should be developed as replacements to area-based measures or as additional to them. <br/> <br/> Most importantly, the work was not to be limited by considerations of what data is currently available but was to work from the definition and conceptual framework to determine whether additional data should be collected. <br/> Measures were not being constructed for a single purpose or context. Rather, an important part of our remit was to provide measures of deprivation which were applicable across Scotland and suitable for a range of possible uses. At the same time, the work is intended to facilitate more specific, local analyses by ensuring that as wide a variety of information is made available in as flexible a way as possible