To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009 to question 256435, what high scores for both deprivation and crime were used to determine which estates were selected. (259305)

The Youth Justice Board established the first 70 youth inclusion programmes in 2000. In England, the areas were identified using a combination of the (then) Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions’ “Index of Local Deprivation” and youth offending teams’ own data and knowledge of local levels of crime. Youth offending teams will have also considered other factors, such as local levels of school attendance or unemployment. The Welsh Assembly Government selected the areas in Wales. Since 2005, youth offending teams have determined the areas themselves using the Youth Justice Board’s guidance which advises them to consider a range of crime, economic and population data. Youth offending teams have the flexibility to change the areas over time in order to reflect changing local circumstances.