Expenditure & Food Survey – datasets and user guides Steven Dunstan EFS Senior Research Officer

Overview The survey data The datasets Raw variables Derived variables Family Spending (the specification) Changes over time References / contact details Questions

Questionnaire topics (Volumes B, C) and the diary Household structures Employment Education Housing: tenure, costs Pensions and insurance Loans, hire purchase, standing orders Income Expenditure - food (DEFRA), clothing, bills, recreation, etc. Ownership of goods

EFS microdata (User Volume 1 / A) 12 datasets (files) deposited with UKDA –household level (e.g. dvhh, rawhh) –person level (e.g. dvper, rawper) –item level (e.g. dv_set89, dvloans_set86, dvdry_set114)

Raw variables (User Volume 2 / E) Diary data –Expenditure codes (User Volume 4 / D) Questionnaire data –User Volume B, C (Household/Income questionnaire) –Blocks / Topics (e.g. QElecPay, QTVeh) –question responses & weekly equivalents EAcAmt (response), DVEAC (weekly equivalent)

Derived variables (User Volume 3 / F) Coded expenditure (mainly diary) –COICOP codes (av. wkly expenditure) –suffix c child, adult (e.g. c c11111c = c11111t) a, b codes (mainly derived from questionnaire) aggregate p codes weighta, weightq

Summary of process

Estimation weights (technical report, Appendix B Family Spending) One weight – weighta for annual estimates, weightq for qtrly –Non-response –Adjustment for over sampling Northern Ireland –Expansion from sample to population –Calibration to Census-based population projections

Family Spending Specification – Table A1, 7.1 Uses dvhh Variables that define expenditure categories Often offers more detail than COICOP heading Covers all expenditure that feeds total expenditure

Extract from specification

Changes over time Appendix B (general changes) Volume 5 / G (variable changes) FES classification (prior 2001/02) vs COICOP (thereafter) –Low level broad mapping available –Chapter 4 FS – see p codes

References Family Spending Technical Report (available on request) Quality Report ats.asp Coding & editing notes (available on request) Interviewer instructions (available on request)

Enquiries EFS enquiries Tel: General enquiries Tel: ONS website

Questions?