Parliamentary Inquiry
I can announce that the provisional date for the launch of the much awaited Parliamentary Inquiry is 1 February. We are hoping to announce a very important keynote speaker for the launch but that was of course before the potential on set of omicron. Still watch this space.
English Indices of Deprivation
The Centre were invited to a small group meeting of key informants convened by Defra to consider the potential to open up a debate about making this a more rural sensitive data set last week. I am optimistic particularly based on the work of Professor Andy Jones at University of East Anglia that we can get some traction in this debate. If you like to see his current data set which puts a rural nuance into the current approach drop me an email.
Rural Proofing Toolkit
Our discussion about the roll out of the toolkit in Northern Ireland continues to bear fruit and we believe that it should be possible to develop some bespoke case studies and to provide a rural socio-economic commentary based on the country specifically within the toolkit.