Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2018 to Question 160764 on Food Poverty: Surveys, if he will establish annual national measurements of food insecurity.

The underlying causes of food insecurity are complex and multi-faceted and it is not possible or practical to try and measure it with a single indicator. There are however, several established data sources which measure the level of food security in the UK.

The biennial FSA “Food and You” survey asks questions on household food insecurity. The ONS Living Cost of Food Survey (LCFS) includes questions on household spend on food, including that of the lowest 20% income households. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “Voices of the Hungry” project developed the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), which also collects data on household food security in up to 150 countries worldwide, including the UK via the Gallup World Poll

Defra officials will continue to engage with colleagues from ONS and other Government Departments on the range of work being undertaken to measure household food insecurity and address the underlying factors.