PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(19 December 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of food poverty on (a) malnutrition, (b) obesity and (c) other health conditions in (i) Basingstoke, (ii) Hampshire and (iii) England in the past 10 years.

Asked by:
Luke Murphy (Labour)

The relationship between food poverty, or food insecurity, nutritional intake, and physical and mental health in the United Kingdom is currently unclear. However, international evidence suggests that in the long-term, food insecurity may be associated with poorer diets and poorer mental and physical health, including a higher risk of overweight and obesity. the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs' UK Food Security Report 2024, which pulls together data from a range of sources, including the Department of Work and Pensions’ Family Resources Survey, found that 90% of UK households were food secure in the financial year ending 2023. Further information on the international evidence relating to food insecurity, poorer diets, and mental and physical health, and the UK Food Security Report 2024 is available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6426124/#:~:text=In%20a%20longitudinal%20study%2C%20the,admissions%2C%20and%20length%20of%20stay.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024-theme-4-food-security-at-household-level#healthy-diet

Data is not available specifically for Basingstoke and Hampshire. However, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ report notes that geographical differences remain across the UK, with food security highest in the East, South East, and South West of England, where 92% of households were food secure in all three regions. 10-year trend data is not available as the Family Resources Survey first measured household food security in 2019/20, when the percentage of households classified as food secure was 93%, compared with 90% in 2022/23.

Direct data on the relationship between food insecurity and obesity in the UK is not available. Household level food insecurity is associated with broader deprivation, which is in turn associated with an increased likelihood of overweight and obesity. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/update-to-the-obesity-profile-on-fingertips/obesity-profile-short-statistical-commentary-may-2024

Most cases of malnutrition will be secondary to another health condition which may impact on nutritional needs or impact on a person’s ability to eat and drink, rather than it solely being caused by poor or inadequate dietary intake.

The term malnutrition is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to a poor diet, although this may put someone at increased risk of malnutrition, this would not necessarily meet the criteria for malnutrition. Malnutrition is a clinical condition that is assessed using specific tools.

The Child Poverty Taskforce, made up of ministers from across Government, will be publishing its strategy to reduce child poverty in Spring 2025.

Answered by:
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1 January 1970