Expenditure and Food Survey
Encyclopedia
The Expenditure and Food Survey is now the Living Costs and Food Survey
.
The Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) is a survey
conducted by the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(DEFRA) which collects data about private household
expenditure and food consumption in Great Britain
.
The design of the survey is based on that of the FES but there have been some changes, notably with the introduction of the European Standard Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP). Another change has occurred with the use of a new processing software, SPSS
, which has affected the structure of the datasets.
Additionally, the EFS has changed from a financial year based system to a calendar year based one in 2006 and is soon to be incorporated into the Integrated Household Survey (IHS).
, an individual questionnaire for each adult over 16 years of age, a personal expenditure diary kept by each person over a period of two weeks as well as a simplified diary kept by children aged seven to 15.
estimates of household expenditure, the analysis of the effect of taxes and benefits and trends in nutrition.
(ESDS) website.
Living Costs and Food Survey
The Living Costs and Food Survey is a survey carried out in the United Kingdom by the Office for National Statistics . It is carried out on a calendar year basis and collects information on expenditure of goods and services for private households...
.
The Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) is a survey
Statistical survey
Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....
conducted by the Office for National Statistics
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
(ONS) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
(DEFRA) which collects data about private household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....
expenditure and food consumption in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
.
History
From 1957 until 2001, there were two different surveys conducted each year: the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) and the National Food Survey (NFS). These two surveys were combined in the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) which completely replaced the former series. The survey is conducted by the ONS, the DEFRA sponsors the food data.The design of the survey is based on that of the FES but there have been some changes, notably with the introduction of the European Standard Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP). Another change has occurred with the use of a new processing software, SPSS
SPSS
SPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment , data mining , text analytics, statistical analysis, and collaboration and deployment ....
, which has affected the structure of the datasets.
Additionally, the EFS has changed from a financial year based system to a calendar year based one in 2006 and is soon to be incorporated into the Integrated Household Survey (IHS).
Methodology and scope
The survey is made up of a comprehensive household questionnaireQuestionnaire
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case...
, an individual questionnaire for each adult over 16 years of age, a personal expenditure diary kept by each person over a period of two weeks as well as a simplified diary kept by children aged seven to 15.
Survey results
The data collected in the EFS is multi-purpose but it is primarily used for the Retail Prices Index, National AccountsNational accounts
National accounts or national account systems are the implementation of complete and consistent accounting techniques for measuring the economic activity of a nation. These include detailed underlying measures that rely on double-entry accounting...
estimates of household expenditure, the analysis of the effect of taxes and benefits and trends in nutrition.
Re-using the data
Users can obtain EFS data from the Economic and Social Data ServiceEconomic and Social Data Service
The Economic and Social Data Service is a national data archiving and dissemination service that was founded in January 2003. It is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Joint Information Systems Committee ....
(ESDS) website.
External links
- ONS website retrieved September 14, 2009
- DEFRA website retrieved September 8, 2009