Monitoring Poverty And Social Exclusion 2005

This book provides an analysis of poverty and social exclusion in Wales. Following on from the series of publications exploring the UK, this study reviews the particular issues of poverty and social exclusion in Wales. The choice of subject areas in this report has been determined to reflect the Welsh context. The issues covered include income, work, education, health, housing, transport and access to services. Using a mix of graphs and maps, each section examines changes over time and differences relating to social class, age, gender and local authority areas. Together, these provide a much more comprehensive picture of poverty and social exclusion in Wales than has ever been available before.

The first and second editions of this report, Monitoring poverty and social exclusion: Labour's inheritance (1998) and Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 1999, attracted widespread coverage and set out a base line against which the Labour Government's progress on tackling poverty and social exclusion can be measured.

The series of reports, Monitoring poverty and social exclusion, produced annually since 1998 by the New Policy Institute and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has had a major impact on the debate about poverty and social exclusion in Britain, improving public understanding and holding government accountable for progress. Ever since the first report, however, there have been discussions about the need for a more Scottish-specific analysis, partly in response to a widespread view that some of the issues are somewhat different in Scotland (for example, in health and education) and partly reflecting the observation that much of the debate in Scotland takes place in a Scottish-specific context.

This report follows the model of previous editions, focusing on 50 indicators which are updated for the latest data available. They show both how the indicator has changed over time and how it varies between the population as a whole and the more vulnerable groups within it.

A report developed to provide a model of assessment. This was built around nearly 50 statistical indicators, chosen on the basis of regular updating and established publication. The scale of the problem in 1996-7is first reviewed (i.e. the year before the Labour Government came to power) before determining whether matters have improved, deteriorated or remained unchanged since then.