Enhancing inclusive growth to create new evidence of rural diversity: an analysis in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland

Figures & data

Table 1. Established definitions of IG. The ‘narrow’ and ‘broad’ descriptions were also used by Hughes and Lupton (2016) and Waite et al. (2020).

IG definition type	Definition	Adapted from
narrow	Reduced inequality through economic growth	Statham & Gunson, 2019, p. 10
		Hughes & Lupton, 2016, pp. 6–7
		Waite et al., 2020, p. 1824
broad	Reduced inequality through reshaping economic development to contribute to holistic goals	Hughes & Lupton, 2016, p. 7
		Waite et al., 2020, p. 1824

Figure 1. Map: Scotland and the Highlands and Islands, showing places referred to in the text.

Source: Spatial data shown: Appendix 1.

A map focused on Scotland, showing the Highlands and Islands region in the north and west of the country and urban areas within Scotland. Major cities and places referred to in the article text are indicated and labelled.

Figure 2. Simplified overview of the research which contributed to this paper. Labels referred to in the text. Part of the framework represents the Inclusive Growth Monitor.

Source: Beatty et al., 2016.

An infographic diagram showing key stages of the research described in this paper, with labels reflecting the seven stages referred to within the ‘Material and methods’ section, from the co-construction of a conceptual framework (stage 1) to the interpretation of the inclusive growth classification (stage 7).

Table 2. IG framework.

Theme	Dimension	Potential indicators
Inclusion*	Income*	Benefits*
		In-work tax credits*
		Low earnings*
	Living costs*	Housing affordability*
		Housing costs*
		Fuel poverty*
	Labour market inclusion*	Unemployment*
		Economic inactivity*
		Workless households*
Prosperity*	Output growth*	Output*
		Diversity of business interests
		Private sector businesses*
		Wages/earnings*
	Employment*	Workplace jobs*
		Private/public sector employment balance
		People in employment*
		Employment in low pay sectors*
	Human capital*	Educational attainment*
		Intermediate/higher-level skills*
		Type of workforce, occupations*
Physical geography and connectivity	Physical geography	Urban-rural classification
		Mainland or island
		Population density or sparsity
		Natural hazards
	Access to services	Transport infrastructure
		Access to key services
		Digital connectivity
	Environmental assets	Area of carbon ‘sinks'
		Renewable energy potential / existing schemes
		Area protected / designated in some way
Population and social characteristics	Social strength	Community strength and cohesion
		Commuting
		Second or empty homes
	Social infrastructure	Existence of community centres, libraries and similar facilities, community owned land
	Social vulnerability	Age structure
		Rates of disability, poor health
		Ethnicity
		Gender
		Public transport infrastructure

Note: Some descriptions of potential indicators have been shortened.

Source: Adapted and extended from IG Monitor framework (Beatty et al., 2016). Themes, dimensions and indicators replicating or partly reflecting those in the IG monitor (Beatty et al., 2016, p. 4) are starred (*).

Table 3. Indicators included in the dataset: raw data sources and descriptive statistics (to two decimal places).¹⁰

Indicator name	Code	Data sources	Type	n	mean	min	max	sd	n unique values
Data Zone code	DZ11		C	630	NA	NA	NA	NA	630
Percentage of people who are employment deprived (2017) (%)	INC_EMPDEP	Scottish Government (SG)	N	630	7.7	1	35	4.98	29
Number of children in working families, receiving tax credits (2017/18) (estimated rate per 1,000 children)	INC_CHILDR	HM Revenue and Customs; National Records of Scotland (NRS)	N	630	316.22	56.82	735.29	120.95	404
Percentage of people who are income deprived (2017) (%)	INC_INCDEP	SG	N	630	9.59	1	46	6.37	36
Percentage of people in households that are overcrowded (2011) (%)	INC_OCROWD	NRS (Census); SG	N	630	7.07	0	37.62	4.42	618
Percentage of dwellings which are vacant or second homes (2019) (%)	LIV_VSHOME	NRS	N	630	7.95	0	45.79	6.82	600
Percentage of dwellings which are in council tax bands A–C (2019) (%)	LIV_TAXABC	NRS	N	630	61.47	0	100	24.71	615
Claimant count^11, as a proportion of residents aged 16–64 (2019) (maximum value, %)	LAB_CCOUNT	Office for National Statistics (ONS)	N	629	3.28	0	15.1	2.4	101
Average annual range of claimant count (2016–19) (percentage points)	LAB_ARANGE	ONS	N	609	1.32	0	6.12	0.71	206
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on claimant count (March–September 2019 to March–September 2020) (percentage point change between maximum claimant count)	LAB_CORONA	ONS	N	625	3.26	−1	9.6	1.81	203
Estimated GVA of accessible area (2017) (£ million)	OUT_GVAEST	ONS; Geographic Information Science and Analysis Team, Scottish Government (hence in this table: GISAT, SG); ONS Geography; NRS (Census); SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	1006.61	6.43	3063.18	938.36	470
Estimated GVA of accessible area (2017) (£ million per 1,000 employees)	OUT_GVAEST1000	ONS; GISAT, SG; ONS Geography; NRS (Census); SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	53.54	37.21	88.21	5.71	470
Accessible workplaces: industrial diversity (2020) (Simpson Index^12)	OUT_DIVERS2020	ONS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	0.88	0.59	0.91	0.04	250
Accessible workplaces: proportion of micro-businesses (2020) (%)	OUT_MICROB2020	ONS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	83.22	75.84	93.88	3.35	244
Number of accessible private sector workplaces (2020) (number)	OUT_PWORKN2020	ONS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	2543.75	120	6260	1847.57	229
Median gross household income estimate (2017) (£/week)	OUT_INCOME	SG	N	630	610.09	319.74	1170.58	111.68	629
Accessible employment within the private sector (2018) (employment)	EMP_PEMPLN2018	ONS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	13,918.19	78	46,188	13,909.79	468
Percentage of accessible employment within the private sector (2018) (%)	EMP_PEMPLP2018	ONS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	73.7	12.7	100	7.69	470
Percentage of accessible workplaces within the private sector (2020) (%)	EMP_PWORKP2020	ONS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	93.41	87.5	96.84	1.57	236
Attainment of school leavers (2015–16 to 2017–18) (score, based on highest level of qualification attained for pupils of publicly funded secondary schools)	HUM_ATTAIN	SG	N	627	5.54	3.65	6.45	0.43	342
Degree of remoteness from urban areas	PHY_REMOTE	SG	C	630	NA	NA	NA	NA	4
Settlement size	PHY_SETTLE	SG	C	630	NA	NA	NA	NA	3
Population sparsity (within or outside the Sparsely Populated Areas)	PHY_SPARSE	Hopkins and Piras (2020)	C	630	NA	NA	NA	NA	2
Number of accessible child care places (2020) (within 30 min of Data Zone centroid, per 1000 children)	ACC_CHILDCPL1000	Care Inspectorate; ONS Geography; NRS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	175.42	44.28	465.75	46.72	510
Sum of average drive times to a GP surgery and retail centre (2018) (minutes)	ACC_DRIVET	SG	N	630	16.74	1.79	195.97	20.51	630
Sum of average travel times by public transport to a GP surgery and retail centre (2018) (minutes)	ACC_PUBLIC	SG	N	630	38.88	6.79	265.44	33.61	630
Percentage of premises receiving a superfast connection (January 2019) (%)	ACC_BBFAST	Ofcom; NRS	N	628	76.79	0	100	27.4	481
Capacity of renewable schemes, operational or awaiting/under construction (2020) (MW) (within 50 km of Data Zone centroid)	ENV_RENEWA	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; GISAT, SG; ONS Geography	N	630	1378.83	0	3222.8	826.02	310
Area within National Scenic Areas (hectares) (within 50 km of Data Zone centroid)	ENV_SCENIC	GISAT, SG; ONS Geography	N	630	58,456.72	0	276,092.82	61,861.08	548
Number of accessible active charities, which operate locally (2020) (within 30 min of Data Zone centroid, per 1000 people)	SOCS_CHARIT1000	Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator; ONS Geography; NRS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	6.43	2.82	37.5	3.68	567
Number of accessible key community facilities (2020) (within 30 min of Data Zone centroid, per 1000 people)	SOCI_FACILI1000	Ordnance Survey; NRS; GISAT, SG; Hopkins and Piras (2020)	N	630	6.18	2.57	36.28	4.25	577
Old age dependency ratio (2019) (old age population (65 or above) as % of working age population (16–64))	SOCV_OLDAGE	NRS	N	630	40.25	2.1	97.5	14.66	621
Percentage of single births of low birthweight (2017–19) (%)	SOCV_BIRTHW	Public Health Scotland	N	630	1.88	0	25	3.82	49
Comparative Illness Factor (2017) (standardised ratio)	SOCV_ILLFAC	SG	N	630	80.71	20	280	36.01	40
Standardised mortality ratio (2014–15 to 2017–18) (indirectly standardised ratio)	SOCV_MORTAL	SG	N	630	90.94	19.49	719.78	39.67	630
Percentage of residents who belong to ethnic groups other than ‘White: British’ (2011) (%)	SOCV_NONWBR	NRS (Census)	N	630	4.73	0.3	25.99	3.14	620
Gender balance (2019) (50% – female %, absolute value)	SOCV_GENDER	NRS	N	630	2.01	0	18.58	1.82	593

Source: Data analysis, fuller details of data sources: Appendix 1. Some ‘Code’ values and indicators are based on dimension names and indicators (respectively) in IG Monitor (Beatty et al., 2016, p. 4).

Figure 3. Maps: intrinsic dimensions of IG performance.

Source: Spatial data shown: Appendix 1.

A series of seven maps of Scotland, each including an inset map of the Inverness and Elgin area, showing the distributions of factor scores representing intrinsic dimensions of inclusive growth performance in the Highlands and Islands – disadvantaged, big output, rural services, quality of life, private sector, community support, and small diverse businesses.

Table 4. Factor analysis: 22 standardised variables, oblimin rotation.

	Disadvantaged	Big output	Rural services	Quality of life	Private sector	Community support	Small diverse businesses
LAB_CCOUNT	0.844
LIV_TAXABC	0.779
INC_OCROWD	0.734
OUT_INCOME	−0.707
INC_CHILDR	0.595
HUM_ATTAIN	−0.535
SOCV_MORTAL	0.384
SOCV_BIRTHW
OUT_GVAEST		0.777		−0.344
OUT_MICROB2020		−0.763
ACC_DRIVET			0.868
ACC_BBFAST			−0.68
LIV_VSHOME			0.524
ENV_SCENIC				0.633
EMP_PWORKP2020				−0.543	0.391
ENV_RENEWA				−0.459
LAB_CORONA				0.419
EMP_PEMPLP2018					0.885
ACC_CHILDCPL1000						0.866
SOCS_CHARIT1000				0.335		0.419
OUT_DIVERS2020		0.343					0.58
OUT_GVAEST1000							−0.521
Variance explained (%)	15.26	9.62	9.04	8.23	5.88	5.64	4.42

Note: Absolute loadings of 0.3 or more shown to three decimal places.

Source: Data analysis. Some ‘Code’ values are based on dimension names and indicators (respectively) in IG Monitor (Beatty et al., 2016, p. 4).

Figure 4. Map: five cluster typology.

Source: Spatial data shown: Appendix 1.

A map of Scotland, including an inset map of the Inverness and Elgin area, showing the distributions of the five clusters which form a typology of inclusive growth performance.

Table 5. Descriptive statistics showing means and standard deviations (in brackets) to two decimal places and distribution of Data Zones.

Cluster	1	2	3	4	5	Region
Disadvantaged	0.03 (0.68)	0.8 (1.04)	0.16 (0.95)	−0.32 (1.03)	0 (0.59)	0 (0.95)
Big output	−0.55 (0.52)	0.96 (0.63)	−0.64 (0.56)	0.98 (0.4)	−2.02 (0.14)	0 (0.94)
Rural services	0.48 (1.02)	−0.66 (0.27)	0.04 (0.58)	−0.48 (0.41)	4.03 (1.06)	0 (0.92)
Quality of life	1.13 (0.53)	−0.03 (0.88)	−0.33 (0.68)	−0.61 (0.3)	−0.24 (0.27)	0 (0.9)
Private sector	0.05 (1.14)	0.26 (0.51)	−0.1 (0.92)	0.11 (0.36)	−2.6 (2.1)	0 (0.91)
Community support	0.57 (1.33)	−0.12 (0.21)	−0.25 (0.64)	−0.2 (0.28)	−0.34 (1.16)	0 (0.89)
Small diverse businesses	0.5 (0.6)	0.18 (0.34)	−0.44 (0.78)	0.15 (0.32)	−4.61 (1.57)	0 (0.88)
Old age dependency ratio	0.37 (0.96)	−0.96 (0.69)	0.07 (0.79)	−0.25 (1.09)	0.86 (0.6)	0 (1)
Ethnic group: not ‘White: British'	−0.11 (0.63)	2.92 (1.17)	−0.42 (0.6)	0.03 (0.7)	−0.4 (0.39)	0 (1)
Gender balance	0.04 (0.82)	0.68 (1.33)	−0.22 (0.7)	0.07 (1.24)	−0.33 (0.42)	0 (1)
Number of Data Zones	175	35	202	210	8	630
Urban (population > = 10,000) (%)	5.71	74.29	0.99	50	0	22.7
Small town (population 3000–9999) (%)	20	22.86	43.56	17.14	0	26.51
Rural (population < 3000) (%)	74.29	2.86	55.45	32.86	100	50.79
Accessible (within 30 min drive from urban settlement) (%)	2.29	5.71	4.95	34.76	0	14.13
Remote (30–60 min drive from urban settlement) (%)	9.14	14.29	26.24	14.29	0	16.51
Very Remote (more than 60 min drive from urban settlement) (%)	82.86	5.71	67.82	0.95	100	46.67

Source: Data analysis. Urban Rural Classification definitions adapted from Scottish Government Geographic Information Science & Analysis Team, Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division, 2022, p. 4.

Figure 5. Graph: the number of variables (intrinsic dimensions of IG performance, demographic variables) which are not significantly different between each pair of clusters.

A network graph, with the five clusters represented as points, linked by lines between these points. The number of lines between two points shows the number of variables (out of ten) which are not significantly different between the clusters.

Hughes, C., & Lupton, R. (2016). Achieving inclusive growth in Greater Manchester: What can be done? University of Manchester. https://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/mui/igau/IGAU-Consultation-Report.pdf.

 Google Scholar

Waite, D., Whyte, B., & Muirie, J. (2020). From an agreeable policy label to a practical policy framework: Inclusive growth in city-regions. European Planning Studies, 28(9), 1812–1835. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1691507

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Statham, R., & Gunson, R. (2019). Delivering inclusive growth in Scotland. The Poverty and Inequality Commission. https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Poverty-and-Inequality-Inclusive-Growth-final-report.pdf.

 Google Scholar

Beatty, C., Crisp, R., & Gore, T. (2016). An inclusive growth monitor for measuring the relationship between poverty and growth. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. https://www.jrf.org.uk/file/49152/download?token=cxNehPvt&filetype=full-report.

 Google Scholar

Hopkins, J., & Piras, S. (2020). Population projections and an introduction to economic-demographic foresight for Scotland’s sparsely populated areas (2018-43). https://www.hutton.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/research/srp2016-21/rd341briefprojectionsandforesightintro.pdf.

 Google Scholar

Scottish Government Geographic Information Science & Analysis Team, Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division. (2022). Scottish government urban rural classification 2020. The Scottish Government, Edinburgh. https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/advice-and-guidance/2022/05/scottish-government-urban-rural-classification-2020/documents/scottish-government-urban-rural-classification-2020/scottish-government-urban-rural-classification-2020/govscot%3Adocument/scottish-government-urban-rural-classification-2020.pdf.

 Google Scholar

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.