Food poverty – Only BBC Scotland reports Leeds University research and then distorts it for your harm

By Professor John Robertson

So, new research out from Leeds University on BBC Reporting Scotland, to tell us

First, all about the struggles of the above North Ayrshire mother.

Why North Ayrshire?

This:

According to a new study, North Ayrshire is the area of Scotland where people are most likely to need help to put food on the table.

BBC analysis of research from Leeds University and the consumer group Which? looked at 363 councils across the UK, assessing neighbourhoods on measures such as distance to large supermarkets, the number of families on free school meals and households in food poverty.

The study found 29 councils where half the people were living in places considered at high risk of food insecurity.

Three were in Scotland – North Ayrshire where 65% of people lived in such neighbourhoods, East Ayrshire (59%) and West Dunbartonshire (50%).

The first bit is, a best, a gross simplification of the research. It’s not particularly about food banks or helping people to put food on the table in the sense most would read that. The research has much broader aims to identify limits to easy access to large supermarkets and assumes all smaller outlets to be more expensive and have limited supplies of cheaper, fresh food.

Here are the factors in the research data collection:

Proximity to supermarket retail facilities (12.5% of composite index)
Accessibility to supermarket retail facilities (12.5% of composite index)
  • Average travel distance (based on a custom built spatial interaction model). E,S,W
  • Accessibility via public transport (Govt Journey Time Statistics 2019). E,S,W
Access to online deliveries (12.5% of composite index)
Proximity to non-supermarket food provision (12.5% of composite index)
Socio-demographic barriers (16.7% of composite index)
  • Proportion of population experiencing income deprivation (UK Govt Index of Multiple Deprivation 2017-2020). E,S,W,NI
  • Proportion of population with no car access (UK Census 2021). E,S,W,NI
Need for family food support (16.7% of composite index)
Fuel Poverty (16.7% of composite index)
  • Proportion of households in fuel poverty (2017 – 2020). E,S,W.
  • Prepayment meter prevalence, 2017. E,S,W

https://priorityplaces.cdrc.ac.uk

So, 50% of the above is about access to supermarkets and only 16.7% of the total assessment is about the economic need for family support from, for example, food banks.

Most critical, but not surprising in an English study, there’s not a word on the ‘game changing’ Scottish Child Payment pushing child poverty well below UK levels.

Also, was North Ayrshire the worst in the UK? How many locations in England were worse than North Ayrshire? So many questions. Perhaps BBC England, Wales or Northern Ireland can tell us?

Don’t be daft! This sort of thing only happens in BBC Scotlandshire, for obvious reasons.

5 thoughts on “Food poverty – Only BBC Scotland reports Leeds University research and then distorts it for your harm”

  1. The negative ‘narrative’ being deliberately consistently (over) promoted by BBC Scotland’s news outlets takes precedence over the actual real news.

    That includes the ignoring of any positive news or news that could highlight practical and beneficial actions taken, by the Scottish government, that try to minimise the harmful impact to the people of Scotland via UK a government whose lack of action in addressing the problems they, the UK Govt, have created that then results in most of the suffering we see within their UK (that includes Scotland) …..plus the careful editing and airbrushing out of many of the crucial facts, by the BBC here, on these positive actions taken by our government that then results in no context, revealing of, comparisons made or indeed the fundamental facts ever being promoted in most of their, BBC Scotland news ‘stories’ that they decide to (badly) cover.

    The message seems to be ‘Scotland is the worst performing in the UK’ and ‘the Scottish government is the most incompetent, neglectful and failing government in the UK’……..which strangely when listening and watching news via a UK platform greatly contrasts with what they, UK news media, say is the reality of how other governments in the UK are failing in the nations that they govern in…….

    I guess if your narrative as a media is dictated more by your allegiance to matters other than broadcasting facts and truth you are then always compromised and thus committed to the fake news you communicate to your listeners and viewers…..it all really boils down to the BBC news outlets, as a media, being a part of the campaign to stop Scottish independence and currently that for them means trying to destroy the SNP as the party most people recognise as the party who promote independence as a future path for Scotland to vote upon and hopefully decide to take as a path….simples……only media like the BBC pretend it is not……. via their deliberately complicating everything associated with it.

    NMRN

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  2. They are fairly ramping up the SNP, SG, and everything Scottish bad and I can only see it getting worse, especially with a GE looming. The unionists, unbelievably Scottish ones are worst, are gunning for NS with vague rumours and posts that claim to know what’s going on. Salivating at the thought of her imminent arrest and commenting nastily about her appearance. X is almost unbearable just now but I’m a nosy old bat and can’t resist it.

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  3. The BBC News article on Scotland entitled ‘It is such a relief that we won’t miss a meal’ certainly didi merit closer examination here on TuS.

    We’re told what The BBC piece is based on: ‘BBC analysis of research from Leeds University and the consumer group Which?’ It seems to be referring to this work, the ‘Priority Places for Food Index ‘(PPFI), an initiative that is UK-wide in scope, which according to its website was last updated on 23 January 2024. (See https://priorityplaces.cdrc.ac.uk ) So the BBC has been working on this for months? Will the BBC only publish its analysis for Scotland?

    There is little or no indication in the BBC article of the nature, the scope of the factors used in the Leeds University/Which index. I note that the domain definitions include no direct, no explicit reference to ‘number of families on free school meals’ or to ‘households in food poverty’, two parameters referred to in the BBC article. The domain definitions do include ‘access to online deliveries’ though!

    Is BBC Scotland highlighting the status of North Ayrshire in the Index based on its composite score across ALL SEVEN domains in the Index or just the small minority relating to low family income and poverty? We can’t tell from the article. Without registering with the Leeds University Consumer Data Research Centre in order to do the objective assessment the BBC is failing to deliver, the actual data can’t be interrogated – nowadays who takes BBC Scotland’s output on trust?

    Why is the take up of something called the ‘healthy start voucher’ in England and Wales taken account of in the Index but there is no reference to take up of the Scottish Child Payment, a form of substantial financial support unique to Scotland?

    Returning to the case example used in the BBC Scotland article, a mother with four children. If she is in receipt of just one of the numerous qualifying social security benefits, then she will be entitled to receive support from the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) scheme. My understanding is that four children under 16 in a family in receipt of a qualifying benefit would receive in total £400 per month as a SCP in addition to any other benefits.

    In the BBC Scotland reporting here it’s as if this direct support from the Scottish Government is of no consequence to those like this mother-of-four who says ‘some weeks she would not have survived without its (i.e. a foodbank’s) help.’ The SCP may not be high enough but if in such a dire situation what must life be like for mothers struggling financially elsewhere in the UK where there is nothing equivalent to the SCP?

    I suspect we know the answer if the following question was put to mothers with four under 16 year old children across England, Wales and NI identified as being ‘food insecure’ due to their financial circumstances: “If the government provided you with an additional £100 per month for EACH of your children under 16, what would the impact be on your family life – on a scale from (1) marginal benefit to (5) major benefit?

    Just another day when BBC Scotland’s news and current affairs staff can go home having done sterling work gaslighting Scotland?

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  5. WILL ALL SCOTS PLEASE STOP REFERRING TO THIS TV STATION AS BBC

    when in Scotland

    IT IS AN ENGLISH CHANNEL HENCE THE CONSTANT DERIDING OF ANYTHING SCOTTISH

    kick them out of Scotland as soon as we are FREE TO RULE

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