A major barrier to improving access to healthier food and drink in Wales is not knowing which factors are having the largest impact on Welsh diets. For this reason, we consider just three basic aspects of access — physical access, online access and affordability. A future study might take a much wider view on access, and consider factors such as the time available for preparing and eating healthier meals, as well as the range stocked in local food and drink outlets.
In addition to the lack of data on access at a nationwide level, there is even sparser data on how access varies across Wales. Regional variation in factors such as the cost of food or the availability of public transport could well create very different pictures of access across the country, particularly given that a high proportion of the population live in rural areas.
A specific area of opportunity to improve access to children’s diets in Wales is the rollout of free school meals to all primary school children. Better data would help us make the most of this.
“There are no public domain data sources of online groceries provision at a neighbourhood level in GB. Whilst retailers make claims about coverage in press releases or annual reports, they publish no definitive list of areas covered by their service, with consumers required to input their postcode on retailers’ websites to check delivery coverage.”
Improving access to healthier food and drink
