Worst region in country

May 9 2004 By Sunday Sun

Detailed figures will help with future funding

The Government claims the new survey is the most comprehensive mapping of deprivation across England yet.

The information will have a crucial, knock-on effect when it comes to deciding Government policies and funding in future years.

For the first time, data on crime and the living environment are included.

But perhaps the most telling feature is the new way of collecting data.

Previously, when the last Indices of Deprivation survey was done in 2000, the study was based on council wards.

But this time around it is based on Super Output Areas, SOAs.

There are 32,482 of them altogether and each one has a population of between 1000 and 3000.

When the data was based on wards, the areas were much larger and less consistent, as they had populations of between 800 to 35,000.

As Jeff Rooker, Minister for Regeneration in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, ODPM, said: "The increased detail provided by this new information offers a great insight in to the geographic pattern of deprivation in England as never seen before.

"From the Government and local authorities to practitioners at the grass roots level, the new indices will help focus our efforts to tackle disadvantage and create sustainable communities."

The league tables were drawn up based on 37 indicators such as employment, low income, crime, education and health.

A spokesperson for the ODPM said: "By using these indicators we can pinpoint much more accurately which areas suffer from deprivation.

"At this stage we can't make any decisions about funding based on the figures as existing regeneration and renewal money is still in place.

"But it will be used to determine funding in future."

In recent years, ODPM funding has included initiatives such as the New Deal for Communities, NDC, in the region.

Parts of Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Hartlepool and Sunderland have all received in excess of £50m under that scheme.

Other schemes included the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund - totalling £247m in the North East - along with neighbourhood and street warden schemes in operation in the region.

Sunday Sun: Champion of the North

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Also in the top 50:

A staggering 362 of the North East's Super Output Areas are among the top 10 per cent of most deprived areas in the country. The North East has 1656 SOAs in total, so almost a quarter - 22pc - of England's worst areas are found here.

The following list orders council areas according to the average scroes of SOAs in the district. It takes into account the full range of SOA scores - including every factor such as health, education and environment - across a district.

It reveals that an astonishing 11 of the 50 worst local authority areas in England are in the North East.

1 Knowsley, Merseyside
2 Liverpool
3 Manchester
4 Tower Hamlets, London
5 Hackney, London
6 EASINGTON, County Durham
7 Nottingham
8 Islington, London
9 MIDDLESBROUGH
10 Kingston upon Hull
11 Newham, London
12 HARTLEPOOL
13 Salford, Greater Manchester
14 Halton, Cheshire
15 Haringey, London
16 Birmingham
17 Stoke-on-Trent
18 Southwark, London
19 Sandwell, West Midlands
20 Blackburn
21 Blackpool
22 SUNDERLAND
23 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
24 Rochdale, Greater Manchester
25 Camden, London