§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the level of food poverty in the UK; and what criteria he uses to define food poverty. [103548]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 20 March 2003]Poverty is a complex multi-dimensional concept, affecting many aspects of people's lives, including their inability to access an affordable healthy diet. Diet is assessed through a series of surveys: the National Diet and Nutrition Surveys, the Expenditure and Food Survey and the Health Survey for England. For example, the results of the 2001 Health Survey for England on the consumption of fruit and vegetables were analysed by the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC), equivalised household income and area deprivation; the results are published in "Health Survey for England 2001: Fruit and vegetable consumption".