General Lifestyle Survey (GLF or GLS)

Summary

GLF data are used by a number of government departments to inform planning and policy decisions and to monitor the impact of policy changes in Great Britain. The survey covers a wide range of topics that are of great interest to policy makers and researchers within (and outside) Government. • The GLF and its predecessor the GHS has included questions on smoking and drinking behaviour since the 1970s. The resulting statistics and commentary have been published annually in the form of a survey report, which is widely used by government departments, health organisations and charities: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ghs/general-lifestyle-survey/2009-report/smoking-and-drinking-among-adults--2009.pdf. • The GLF and GHS have included questions on health and the use of health services since the 1970s, providing a wealth of data, which has tracked changes in health for over 35 years. • General health and limiting long-term illness statistics from the GLF are used in the calculation of both official national health expectancies statistics, and experimental health expectancy statistics. Health expectancies partition years of life into periods spent in favourable and unfavourable health states: Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) is a measure of the period of time an individual spends on average in very good or good general health; Disability-free Life Expectancy (DFLE) is a measure of the period of time and individual spends on average without a limiting long-term illness. This partitioning of the length of life into periods spent in favourable and unfavourable health states provides a quality dimension to life expectancy statistics. • Key external users of health expectancies derived from GLF data are: Department of Health (DH), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Department for Environment Food and Rural Development (DEFRA) • HLE and DFLE estimates are used by DH in describing the health status of the population, in monitoring changes over time and in evaluating the health needs of the population. In summary, these estimates are used in monitoring health inequalities and in targeting health resources. • GLF data on pension participation are used by a number of policy departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HM Treasury (HMT) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The departments use the GLF to monitor and evaluate current policy and policy reforms, and to assist future policy development. Recent policy developments, for which the GLF has been one of a number of important sources, include the Government’s review of the 2012 workplace pension reforms, as set out in the Pensions Act 2008. • The GLF provides the longest running time series of statistics on childbearing histories and fertility intentions in Great Britain. Among other uses, these data are used by ONS to produce birth order estimates which inform the fertility assumptions used in the national population projection.

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Survey different
Crosssection regular

Data gathering method
Telephone
Face-to-face

Access to data

Conditions of access
Data are available from the UK Data Service (previously the Economic and Social Data Service, ESDS): http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/ The website contains detailed information on conditions of access, and it is also possible to contact the UK Data Service by phone: +44 (0)1206 872143, or by email: help@ukdataservice.ac.uk

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Anonymised microdata

Formats available
Survey data from the UK Data Service are usually available to download in SPSS, Stata and tab-delimited (suitable for use in MS Excel) formats.

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
The GHS started in 1971 and has been carried out continuously since then, except for breaks in 1997-1998 when the survey was reviewed, and 1999-2000 when the survey was redeveloped. Following the 1997 review, the survey was re-launched from April 2000 with a different design. The relevant development work and the changes made are described in the Living in Britain report for the 2000-2001 survey. Following its review, the GHS was changed to comprise two elements: the continuous survey and extra modules, or 'trailers'. The continuous survey remained unchanged from 2000 to 2004, apart from essential adjustments to take account of, for example, changes in benefits and pensions. The GHS retained its modular structure and this allowed a number of different trailers to be included for each of those years, to a plan agreed by sponsoring government departments. From April 1994 to 2005, the GHS was conducted on a financial year basis, with fieldwork spread evenly from April of one year to March the following year. However, in 2005 the survey period reverted to a calendar year and the whole of the annual sample was surveyed in the nine months from April to December 2005. The GHS then ran from January to December each year, hence the title date change to single year from 2005 onwards. Since the 2005 GHS did not cover the January-March quarter, this affected annual estimates for topics which are subject to seasonal variation. To rectify this, where the questions were the same in 2005 as in 2004-2005, the final quarter of the latter survey was added (weighted in the correct proportion) to the nine months of the 2005 survey. The GLF completed the last year of field work at the end of 2011, with data processing and analysis taking place in 2012 and the final General Household report due to be published in early 2013. The face-to-face survey collected information on a range of topics from people living in private households in Great Britain, including smoking and drinking; health; households; families and people; housing and consumer durables; marriage and cohabitation; occupational and personal pension schemes; and income. Until the change at the start of 2012, the GLF was conducted on an annual basis. Fieldwork was undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Social Survey Division and the survey used a probability, stratified two-stage sample of approximately 13,000 addresses selected in Great Britain per annum; providing an achieved sample of around 9,000 households. `Note: Older people are represented in this data source (approximately) according to their proportion in the population. In 2011, over one third of the total UK population (and approximately 40 per cent of the adult population 16+) was aged 50 and over.`

First year of collection
1971

Stratification if applicable
The data includes a variety of demographic variables, including age and sex. The sample is stratified.

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
Countries (England, Wales, Scotland) Government Office Regions (NUTS1)

Age range
All ages

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
The General Lifestyle Survey (GLF), formerly the General Household Survey (GHS), is a continuous national survey of people living in private households conducted on an annual basis, by the Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The main aim of the survey is to collect data on a range of core topics, covering household, family and individual information. This information is used by government departments and other organisations for planning, policy and monitoring purposes, and to present a picture of households, family and people in Great Britain. From 2008, the GHS became a module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). In recognition, the survey was renamed the General Lifestyle Survey. As noted above, the GHS became the GLF/GLS in 2008. The sample design of the GLF/GLS is the same as the GHS before, and the questionnaire remains largely the same. The main change is that the GLF now includes the IHS core questions, which are common to all of the separate modules that together comprise the IHS. Some of these core questions are simply questions that were previously asked in the same or a similar format on all of the IHS component surveys (including the GLF/GLS). The core questions cover employment, smoking prevalence, general health, ethnicity, citizenship and national identity. These questions are asked by proxy if an interview is not possible with the selected respondent (that is a member of the household can answer on behalf of other respondents in the household). This is a departure from the GHS which did not ask smoking prevalence and general health questions by proxy, whereas the GLF/GLS does from 2008. (For details on other changes to the GLF/GLS questionnaire, please see the GLF 2008: Special Licence Access documentation, which is held on the UK Data Service website.) The main GLF/GLS/GHS consists of a household questionnaire, completed by the Household Reference Person, and an individual questionnaire, completed by all adults aged 16 and over resident in the household. A number of different trailers each year covering extra topics were included in later (post-review) surveys in the series from 2000. The household questionnaire covers the following topics: household information, accommodation type, housing tenure/costs, and consumer durables including vehicle ownership. The individual questionnaire includes data from the household dataset, and additional sections on migration/citizenship/national identity/ethnicity, employment, pensions, education, health, child care, smoking, drinking, family information, financial situation, and income. In January 2012 a number of question blocks that had previously been asked on the GLF were transferred onto the Opinions Survey. These cover topics such as Family Formation, Health, and Drinking. This merged survey has become the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey from April 2012. The section of the GLF collecting the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for Eurostat has become its own survey, with further information being collected on the Family Resource Survey.

Linkage

Standardisation
There is an ongoing cross-governmental programme of work in the UK which aims to develop and improve standardised inputs and outputs for use in official statistics. This is known as harmonisation, and is led by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). While this work primarily affects government-run surveys, the results have an impact on most national UK data sources. Furthermore, harmonisation has important benefits for all researchers using these surveys, and not just government statisticians. For more information, see: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/harmonisation/harmonisation-index-page/index.html

Possibility of linkage among databases
Data are anonymised

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
In addition to unit non-response, the data include item non-response and may be subject to other errors that are typical of surveys and censuses. For more information on data quality, see the survey documentation on the UK Data Service website.

Breaks
Breaks are described in the section on Coverage, and are principally 1997-1998, when the survey was reviewed, and 1999-2000, when the survey was redeveloped.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
In general, the consistency of this data source is good. For more information on data quality, see the survey documentation on the UK Data Service website.

Governance

Contact information
Office for National Statistics
Customer Contact Centre
Government Buildings, Cardiff Road
NP10 8XG Newport, South Wales United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 1633 455678.
Email: socialsurveys(at)ons.gsi.gov.uk
Url: http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/

Timeliness, transparency
The General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) completed the last year of field work at the end of 2011, with data processing and analysis taking place in 2012 and the final General Household report due to be published in early 2013.