MoD using the IMD

According to Hansard records from October 2001 the Ministry of Defence uses the Index of Multiple Deprivation “to inform decisions such as unit moves, site rationalisations and investment decisions on new facilities”

I managed to find an example of this in practice – an MoD Strategic Environmental Assessment from November 2014 uses the IMD (2010) to assess local deprivation in areas proposed for siting a submarine dismantling storage facility. It makes sense that such a large government department would use deprivation statistics as part of planning facility siting in order (as it states) to “minimise disturbance to local communities and maximise positive social impacts”.