Productivity: Rural Areas

Tim Farron
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the difference in productivity was between the least well performing quartile of rural areas and the English median in the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Shaw
The indicator used to support the public service agreement on productivity (PSA4) monitoring shows that productivity in the least well performing quartile of rural areas was 16.07 per cent. lower than the English median in 2004-05.