Official Statistics

Wider Determinants of Health: short statistical commentary, November 2021 update

Published 2 November 2021

Applies to England

New in this update

We have updated the methodology and definition for the Fuel Poverty indicator to align with changes made by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

We have added new data to the following indicators:

• gender pay equality
• percentage of people in employment
• unemployment
• economic inactivity rate
• access to woodland
• access to NHS dental services - successfully obtained a dental appointment
• percentage of people who said they had good experience when making a GP appointment
• proportion of people who use services who feel safe
• proportion of people who use services who have control over their daily life

Several indicators in other Fingertips profiles have been updated with new data in this release. Further details on these can be found in the change log.

Summary of new and updated indicators

This summary focuses on England-level data. The Wider Determinants of Health profile presents indicators primarily at the local authority level in addition to regional and England values.

Fuel poverty

To align with a change in methodology and definition made by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Wider Determinants of Health profile has an updated Fuel Poverty indicator. The new indicator measures Fuel Poverty through ‘Low Income Low Energy Efficiency’. Using this measure, a household is fuel poor if:

• it is living in a property with an energy efficiency rating of band D, E, F or G as determined by the most up-to-date Fuel Poverty Energy Efficiency Rating (FPEER) methodology AND
• its disposable income (after housing costs and energy needs) would be below the poverty line

A comparison between the old and new definitions can be found in the latest report from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

In 2019, 13.4% of households in England were considered fuel poor using the updated definition. In the 10% most deprived upper tier local authorities, the percentage considered fuel poor was 18.7%, more than 10 percentage points higher than in the least deprived upper tier local authorities (7.8%). Fuel poverty was highest in homes which were privately rented (26.8%) and lowest in owner occupied homes (8.2%).

Access to woodland

In 2020, it is estimated that 15% of the population had accessible woodland of at least 2 hectares within 500 metres of where they live. The highest value was in Southampton, where 56% of the population had accessible woodland within 500m compared with 0% in Barking and Dagenham.

Work, the labour market and income indicators

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there was a decrease in the employment rate and an increase in the economic inactivity and unemployment rates as outlined in the Employment in the UK: October 2021 bulletin.

Seventy five percent of people were employed in 2020 to 2021. This has decreased from 76.2% in 2019 to 2020. Breaking the data down by ethnicity, the percentage of people in employment in the White ethnic group was 76.6%, compared with 57.0% in the Pakistani/Bangladeshi group. There was a seven percentage point difference between men (78.5%) and women (71.8%). The employment rate for the English regions ranged from 71.2% in the North East to 77.7% in the South East and South West.

The percentage of the economically active population aged 16 and over who were unemployed was 4.7% in 2020, increasing from 3.9% in 2019. The economically active population includes the unemployed but excludes those who are out of work for other reasons such as illness, studying, caring responsibilities or retirement.

The economic inactivity rate was 20.9% in 2020 to 2021. The rate ranged from 32.5% in Middlesbrough to 12.7% in Bedford at upper tier local authority level.

Gender pay equality in 2019 was 81.6%. For this indicator the closer the value is to 100, the greater the equality and this is seen as being better. This has increased from 79.4% in 2015.

GP Patient Survey (GPPS) indicators

There are 2 indicators in the Wider Determinants of Health profile from the GP Patient Survey. These aim to capture the availability of services and the experience of patients using them. In 2018 to 2019, the percentage of people who successfully obtained an NHS dental appointment in the last 2 years was 94%, which was broadly similar to the 3 preceding years. In 2018 to 2019, 67% of people said that they had a good experience of making a GP appointment. This has decreased since 2015 to 2016 when it was 73%. These indicators do not cover the period of the pandemic yet.

Adult Social Care Survey indicators

The Adult Social Care Survey asks people (aged 18 or over) who use adult social care about their experiences. In 2019 to 2020, the proportion of people who use services who feel safe was 70%. This has remained similar for the previous 5 years. The proportion of people who use services who have control over their daily life was 77% in 2019 to 2020 and it has been similar since the first data point reported in the profile in 2011 to 2012. These indicators do not cover the period of the pandemic yet.

For information on how the indicators are produced and caveats surrounding their interpretation, please see the ‘Definitions’ tab for each indicator in the profile.

Background

This tool brings together available indicators at England and local authority level on the wider determinants of health, with links to further resources.

The Wider Determinants of Health tool is designed to:

• draw attention to the broad range of individual, social and environmental factors which influence our health
• provide the public health system with intelligence on the wider determinants of health to help improve population health and reduce health inequalities

The indicators that have been brought together for this tool are a combination of wider determinants, health behaviours and health outcomes.

For queries relating to this publication, contact <[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]>.