This report provides a picture of survey activity across the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and how this has changed over the past financial year. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: Supporting material Language: English Alternative title: Annual Report on Government Statistical Surveys

Findings from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey for England.

The People and Nature Survey for England is one of the main sources of data and statistics on how people experience and think about the environment. It began collecting data in April 2020 and has been collecting data since.

The survey builds on the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) survey which ran from 2009 to 2019. Data from the People and Nature Survey for England enables users to:

• understand how people use, enjoy, and are motivated to protect the natural environment
• monitor changes in use of the natural environment over time, at a range of different spatial scales and for key groups within the population
• understand how being in the natural environment can influence wellbeing
• understand environmental attitudes and the actions people take at home, in the garden and in the wider community to protect the environment

This data contributes to Natural England’s delivery of statutory duties, informs Defra policy and natural capital accounting, and contributes to the outcome indicator framework for the 25 Year Environment Plan.

Different versions of the People and Nature Survey for England are available from the UK Data Archive under Open Access (SN 9092) conditions, End User Licence (SN 9093), and Secure Access (SN 9094).

The Secure Access version includes the same data as the End User Licence version, but includes more detailed variables including:

• age as a continuous variable
• sex
  
• whether gender is the same as at birth
• sexual orientation
• more detailed ethnicity
• where journey to recent visit to green and natural space started from
• visit date
• detailed home geography, including local authority districts, local nature recovery strategies areas, national character areas; urban/rural area, and Index of Multiple Deprivation
• a number of variables that have not been top-coded, including number of children and number of children in household, food and drink expenditure, and income

The Open Access version includes the same data as the End User Licence version, but does not include the following variables:

• age band
• gender identity
  
• marital status
• number of children living in household
• number of children
• work status
• student working status
• income
• qualification
• ethnicity and consent to answer ethnicity question
• number of vehicles
• presence of dog in household
• physical activity
• various health data

Researchers are advised to review the Open Access and/or the End User Licence versions to determine if these are adequate prior to ordering the Secure Access version.

Natural England's statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in January 2023. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

Users are welcome to contact Natural England directly at people_and_nature@naturalengland.org.uk with any comments about how they meet these standards. Alternatively, users can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, Natural England have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:

1. Published a development plan with timetables for future work, which will be updated annually
2. Ensured that users have opportunities to contribute to development planning through their biannual Research User Group
3. Enabled wider access to the data by publishing raw data sets through the UK Data Service
4. Provided users with guidance on how statistics from their products can be compared with those produced in the devolved nations
5. Published guidance on the differences between PaNS and MENE
6. Improved estimates of the percentage of people visiting nature in the previous 14 days by reducing the amount of respondents answering ‘don’t know’.

These data are available in Excel, SPSS, as well as Open Document Spreadsheet (ODS) formats.

Latest edition information

For the ninth edition (June 2025), data for October to December 2024 (Quarter 19) have been added.

The Expenditure and Food Survey is the successor to the National Food Survey which ran in some form from 1940 to 2000. Survey data from 2000 onwards is being considered for publication as Open Data. More information on the Expenditure and Food Survey, the successor to the National Food Survey, and a link to archived National Food Survey reports for 1997 to 2000, can be found on the Family Food page on the GOV.UK site https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-food-statistics.

Comparison of how disabled and non-disabled people participate in society in a number of life areas and the reasons why people do not take part in these areas as much as they would like to. It ran from June 2009 to September 2014. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/life-opportunities-survey Source agency: Work and Pensions Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: LOS

Weighted estimates from the voluntary fortnightly Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) about financial performance, workforce, prices, trade, and business resilience. These are official statistics in development.

Sexual assaults experienced by adults aged 16 to 59 years and 60 to 74 years, including by type and personal characteristics. Analyses from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

The Citizenship Survey (known in the field as the Communities Study) ran from 2001 to 2010-2011. It began as the 'Home Office Citizenship Survey' (HOCS) before the responsibility moved to the new Communities and Local Government department (DCLG) in May 2006. The survey provided an evidence base for the work of DCLG, principally on the issues of community cohesion, civic engagement, race and faith, and volunteering. The survey was used extensively for developing policy and for performance measurement. It was also used more widely, by other government departments and external stakeholders to help inform their work around the issues covered in the survey. The survey was conducted on a biennial basis from 2001-2007. It moved to a continuous design in 2007 which means that data became available on a quarterly basis from April of that year. Quarter one data were collected between April and June; quarter two between July and September; quarter three between October and December and quarter four between January and March. Once collection for the four quarters was completed, a full aggregated dataset was made available, and the larger sample size allowed more detailed analysis.

In January 2011, the DCLG announced that the Citizenship Survey was to close. As part of the drive to deliver cost savings across government and to reduce the fiscal deficit, research budgets were closely scrutinised to identify where savings can be made. For this reason, and the belief that priority data from this survey could either be dropped; collected less frequently; or collected via other means, the survey was cancelled. Fieldwork concluded on 31 March 2011, followed by publication of reports in the months after analysis of that data. Further information about the survey, including links to publications, can be found on the National Archives webarchive page for the Citizenship Survey. The Consultation outcome: the future of the citizenship survey statement can be viewed on the gov.uk website. The Community Life Survey, (held under GN 33475), which began in 2012-2013 and is conducted by the Cabinet Office, incorporates a small number of priority measures from the Citizenship Survey, in order that trends in these issues
can continue to be tracked over time. For these measures the Community Life Survey findings are comparable to the Citizenship Survey findings.


UK Data Archive holdings: End User Licence and Secure Access
The Archive holds standard End User Licence (EUL) versions of the complete Citizenship Survey series from 2001-2011, held under SNs 4754, 5087, 5367, 5739, 6388, 6733 and 7111, and Secure Access versions of the 2005, 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 waves (all held under SN 7403). The Secure Access datasets include extra variables that are not available in the standard EUL versions. They cover: more detailed and extensive household and demographic information; more detailed geographies, including Police Force Area, Local Authority Districts, Wards, Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) and Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA); more detailed responses to questions covering violent extremism, immigration, and religion; and more detailed administrative variables. Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the Citizenship Survey will need to agree to rigorous Terms and Conditions, including applying for ESRC Accredited Researcher Status and attending a training session, in order to obtain permission to use that version Therefore, users are encouraged to download and inspect the EUL versions of the data prior to ordering the Secure Access versions.

The Citizenship Survey, 2007-2008 dataset includes a total sample of 14,095 people aged 16 and over, resident in England and Wales. This comprised a core sample of 9,336 people and a minority ethnic boost of 4,759. The minority ethnic boost is required to ensure that sufficient responses are received to enable analysis by detailed ethnic group and religion. The 2007 survey is targeted to achieve 9,600 core interviews and a boost of 5,000 throughout the twelve months in the field. Data for the first quarter of 2007 were collected during April-June, the second quarter during July-September, the third quarter during October-December and the fourth quarter during January-March.

For the seventh edition (March 2019) some discrepancies within derived have been resolved.
The affected variables are Zempmon (Employer volunteering at least once a month); Zempvol (Employer volunteering in last 12 months); XnatidBr (National identity ‐ any British); xNatidDu (National identity ‐ dual any British and any other); and Smain1 to Smain95 (Main Language) ('other' were wrongly coded as Somali). There are no changes to the documentation.

This page is no longer updated. It has been superseded by the Business insights and impacts on the UK economy dataset page (see link in Notices). It contains comprehensive weighted datasets for Wave 7 onwards. All future BICS datasets will be available there. The datasets on this page include mainly unweighted responses from the voluntary fortnightly business survey, which captures businesses’ responses on how their turnover, workforce prices, trade and business resilience have been affected in the two-week reference period, up to Wave 17.

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) has been running continuously since 1992 to meet the information needs of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It is almost wholly funded by DWP.

The FRS collects information from a large, and representative sample of private households in the United Kingdom (prior to 2002, it covered Great Britain only). The interview year runs from April to March.

The focus of the survey is on income, and how much comes from the many possible sources (such as employee earnings, self-employed earnings or profits from businesses, and dividends; individual pensions; state benefits, including Universal Credit and the State Pension; and other sources such as savings and investments). Specific items of expenditure, such as rent or mortgage, Council Tax and water bills, are also covered.

Many other topics are covered and the dataset has a very wide range of personal characteristics, at the adult or child, family and then household levels. These include education, caring, childcare and disability. The dataset also captures material deprivation, household food security and (new for 2021/22) household food bank usage.

The FRS is a national statistic whose results are published on the gov.uk website. It is also possible to create your own tables from FRS data, using DWP’s Stat Xplore tool. Further information can be found on the gov.uk Family Resources Survey webpage.

Secure Access FRS data
In addition to the standard End User Licence (EUL) version, Secure Access datasets, containing unrounded data and additional variables, are also available for FRS from 2005/06 onwards - see SN 9256. Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the FRS will need to fulfil additional requirements beyond those associated with the EUL datasets. Full details of the application requirements are available from http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/media/178323/secure_frs_application_guidance.pdf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Guidance on applying for the Family Resources Survey: Secure Access.

FRS, HBAI and PI
The FRS underpins the related Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset, which focuses on poverty in the UK, and the related Pensioners' Incomes (PI) dataset. The EUL versions of HBAI and PI are held under SNs 5828 and 8503, respectively. The Secure Access versions are held under SN 7196 and 9257 (see above).

FRS 2023-24

Alongside the usual topics covered, the 2023-2024 FRS includes new variables on veterans (ex-armed forces, former regulars and reserves); care leavers (where young adults were previously living in care, during their teenage years); and, for the self-employed, length of time in that occupation. For doctors, we add clarifying variables for NHS vs private earnings streams. There are new variables on food support from friends/relatives, which complement the existing food bank and household food security set. 2023-2024 also includes Cost of Living Payment variables, including those on certain state benefits and the Warm Homes Discount scheme.

The achieved sample was over 16,500 households (28,500+ adults). A large majority of interviews were face-to-face with a minority being by telephone.

The BENUNIT table contains a raft of variables on the new material deprivation question set; see GOV.UK for background.

This version of the dataset (End User Licence) adds the DEBT table for the first time this year. The table contains responses on credit card debt, loan debt, hire purchase debt and store card debt.

Please send any feedback directly to the FRS Team Inbox: team.frs@dwp.gov.uk

Documentation

Many variables in the data files are fully labelled, but additional details can be found in the frs2324_variable_listing_eul.xlsx document.

Working arrangements of people in Great Britain; indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

The Environment Agency undertakes fisheries monitoring work on rivers, lakes and transitional and coastal waters (TraC).

This dataset contains site and survey information, the numbers and species of fish caught, fish lengths, weights and ages (where available), for all the freshwater fish surveys carried out across England from 1975 onwards.

Notes: - These survey data are stored in an archive more commonly known as the NFPD (National Fish Populations Database). - This dataset contains Freshwater fish surveys only. - Third party data held on the NFPD are excluded from the dataset. - Some historic surveys (particularly in Anglian Central) have incorrect survey lengths and survey widths. These can be identified by a survey length of 1 and a survey width that is equal to the area. The survey areas are correct. This is due to the migration of old historic data from previous databases into the NFPD. - Approved for Access under AfA347.

Please see the Dataset Documentation for further detail.

Guide to ASHE results tables.