Living Costs and Food Survey

mikebuss | 23/02/2013 | 0 Comments More

Data on purchases and expenditure have been collected by various surveys since 1940 to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of the national food policy at the time. In 2001, the National Food Survey (NFS) was merged with the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) to form the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS). In 2008, the EFS, along with other major national surveys on topics as diverse as smoking, housing, employment and training, were brought together to form the Integrated Household Survey (IHS) to increase the range of the statistical outputs. The EFS was renamed as the Living Costs and Food Survey when it became part of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). It is a continuous survey run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). One element of the survey- The Family Food Module – collects detailed quantity and expenditure information on food and drinks purchases for both household and eating out consumption. Energy and nutrient intakes are calculated using standard profiles for each of some 500 types of food. ‘Family Food’ reports based on the survey analysis are published annually by DEFRA. These reports provide detailed information on purchased quantities, expenditure and nutrient intakes from food and drink (including food eaten out). The nutrient intakes are based on averages for households – information is not provided on variations/extremes within households. The Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) is also the source for ‘Family Spending’, a report published by ONS. This report covers aspects of household spending other than food.

Methodology: The sample for Great Britain is a multi-stage stratified random sample with clustering. It is drawn from the Small Users file of the Postcode Address File – the Post Office’s list of addresses. The Northern Ireland sample is drawn as a random sample of addresses from the Land and property Services Agency list. In 2010 the survey collected the diaries of 12,196 people within 5263 households across the UK. Self report diaries of all purchases (including food eaten out) over a two week period. The current response rate is approximately 50 percent.
Start date: April 2001
Frequency of survey: Annual.
Most recent return: 2011.
Commissioned by: Social Surveys Division of the Office of National Statistics and DEFRA
Coverage: UK
Caveats: Data are collected at household level, with no account taken of whom within the household consumes the purchase.
Link to data source: Datasets in Excel format are available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/foodfarm/food/familyfood/datasets/ Survey data for the EFS (200/01 – 2007) and subsequently LCFS (2008-2010) is available to download via the Data Archive on the Economic and Social Data Service website: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/ National Food Survey data from 1974 to 2000 is available from: http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/efsTitles.asp Associated data (e.g. Family Spending) is available from: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/index.html
Link to associated papers: Family Food 2010 (Revised) Family Food 2011