Household food insecurity risk indices for English neighbourhoods: Measures to support local policy decisions

• Published in: PloS one 2022-12, Vol.17 (12), p.e0267260
• Main Authors: Smith, Dianna M, Rixson, Lauren, Grove, Grace, Ziauddeen, Nida, Vassilev, Ivaylo, Taheem, Ravita, Roderick, Paul, Alwan, Nisreen A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biology and Life Sciences; Child; Children; Decisions; Domains; Earth Sciences; Economic aspects; Economic policy; Evaluation; Family Characteristics; Food deserts; Food Insecurity; Food programs; Food security; Food Supply; Health care; Health disparities; Health risks; Households; Humans; Hunger; Life expectancy; Local government; Low income groups; Management; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental health; Obesity; Pandemics; Pediatric Obesity; People and places; Population characteristics; Poverty; Public health; Risk; Rural areas; Rural Population; Social Sciences; Sociodemographics; Sustainable development
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267260

In England, the responsibility to address food insecurity lies with local government, yet the prevalence of this social inequality is unknown in small subnational areas. In 2018 an index of small-area household food insecurity risk was developed and utilised by public and third sector organisations to target interventions; this measure needed updating to better support decisions in different settings, such as urban and rural areas where pressures on food security differ. We held interviews with stakeholders (n = 14) and completed a scoping review to identify appropriate variables to create an updated risk measure. We then sourced a range of open access secondary data to develop an indices of food insecurity risk in English neighbourhoods. Following a process of data transformation and normalisation, we tested combinations of variables and identified the most appropriate data to reflect household food insecurity risk in urban and rural areas. Eight variables, reflecting both household circumstances and local service availability, were separated into two domains with equal weighting for a new index, the Complex Index, and a subset of these to make up the Simple Index. Within the Complex Index, the Compositional Domain includes population characteristics while the Structural Domain reflects small area access to resources such as grocery stores. The Compositional Domain correlated well with free school meal eligibility (rs = 0.705) and prevalence of childhood obesity (rs = 0.641). This domain was the preferred measure for use in most areas when shared with stakeholders, and when assessed alongside other configurations of the variables. Areas of highest risk were most often located in the North of England. We recommend the use of the Compositional Domain for all areas, with inclusion of the Structural Domain in rural areas where locational disadvantage makes it more difficult to access resources. These measures can aid local policy makers and planners when allocating resources and interventions to support households who may experience food insecurity.