THE leader of Hampshire County Council has responded to the release of new Government figures which show parts of the county as among the least deprived in England.

Commenting on the 2015 Indices of Deprivation, Roy Perry said: “Promoting economic prosperity and helping to create the right conditions in which people can thrive underpin our key aims in Hampshire.

“While Hampshire is shown on the Government’s map as one of the least deprived areas of the country, the 2015 Indices of Deprivation enable us to use the data to target areas where our intervention across a range of our services can make a significant difference – from our supporting troubled families programme, which has so far helped 2,000 Hampshire families, to responding to health inequalities or delivering town centre improvements.”

The English Indices of Deprivation measures relative levels of deprivation on seven components: income; employment; health deprivation and disability; education, skills and training; barriers to housing and services; crime, and living environment.

Some of the data is split by Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas and shows that of the areas in Hampshire, the M3 LEP is the least deprived of all 39 LEP areas, while the Solent LEP is mid-point at number 20.

Mr Perry added: “Our services encompass all these issues to make life better for the people of Hampshire. We are committed to ensuring Hampshire’s young people achieve their full potential, and that we do all we can to equip people with the right skills and opportunities.

“Delivering good infrastructure while protecting Hampshire’s unique environment and quality of life, promoting and supporting healthy choices for all, helping residents feel safe, and providing high quality spaces – these are all priorities for us and I’m pleased to see that Hampshire comes out well in these tables.”