Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2013

The SSCQ gathers survey responses from identical questions in the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, the Scottish Health Survey and the Scottish Household Survey into one output. SSCQ provides reliable and detailed information on the composition, characteristics and attitudes of Scottish households and adults across a number of topic areas including equality characteristics, housing, employment and perceptions of health and crime, and enables detailed sub-national analysis.

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Annex A. Comparison with Census

In this chapter we compare estimates produced from the SSCQ 2013 data with the population of Scotland on census day 2011. The census tables used for the following comparisons are available to download from the Scotland-level bulk data file[49].

Table A.1: Tenure of Scottish households

Tenure Census 2011 SSCQ 2013
Owned 27.8% 29.9% ± 0.7%
Mortgaged 34.2% 30.7% ± 0.7%
Social rented 24.3% 24.4% ± 0.7%
Private rented 11.1% 13.5% ± 0.6%
Other rented 2.6% 1.3% ± 0.2%
Census source table: KS402SC

Census figures are close to being within the confidence intervals of the SSCQ tenure estimates. However, SSCQ estimates there to be fewer mortgage-holders (-3 p.p.) and more private renting tenants (+2.4 p.p.) than reported by census. Some of the differences are likely to be as a result of changes in the underlying composition of household tenure between 2011 and 2013. The Scottish Household Survey Annual Report 2014[50] sets out trends in tenure between 1999 and 2014. This highlights for example that the proportion of households in the private rented sector has estimated to have grown steadily from 5 per cent in 1999 to 14 per cent in 2014.

Table A.2: Number of cars accessible by household members

Car Access Census 2011 SSCQ 2013
None 30.5% 31.1% ± 0.7%
1 42.2% 42.8% ± 0.8%
2 21.6% 21.3% ± 0.6%
3+ 5.6% 4.8% ± 0.3%
Census source table: KS404SC

Estimates of car access by household are very accurate compared to census figures.

Table A.3: Country of birth of adult population

Country of Birth Census 2011 SSCQ 2013
Scotland 81.5% 81.1% ± 0.7%
Rest of UK 10.8% 10.8% ± 0.5%
Rest of EU 3.3% 3.7% ± 0.3%
Rest of World 4.4% 4.4% ± 0.4%
Census source table: DC2103SC

Estimates of country of birth from the SSCQ are in very close agreement with census figures.

Table A.4: Ethnicity of adult population

Ethnicity Census 2011 SSCQ 2013
White Scottish 83.4% 79.6% ± 0.7%
White other British 8.6% 12.1% ± 0.5%
White Polish 1.1% 1.3% ± 0.2%
White other 3.3% 3.5% ± 0.3%
Asian 2.5% 2.3% ± 0.3%
All Other 1.1% 1.2% ± 0.2%
Census source table: DC2101SC

83% of census respondents were white Scottish, and 8.6% white other British. SSCQ puts these at around 80% and 12% respectively. Other ethnicities are in line with census figures.

Table A.5: Religion of adult population

Religion Census 2011 excl. Missing SSCQ 2013
Refused/DK 6.7% - 0.3% ± 0.1%
None 34.3% 36.8% 43.0% ± 0.9%
Church of Scotland 34.8% 37.3% 30.8% ± 0.8%
Roman Catholic 16.0% 17.2% 15.5% ± 0.6%
Other Christian 5.8% 6.2% 7.3% ± 0.4%
Muslim 1.2% 1.3% 1.2% ± 0.2%
Other 1.2% 1.3% 2.0% ± 0.2%
Census source table: DC2107SC

A large proportion (6.7%) of census respondents did not provide information about their religious belief. Excluding these missing cases from census responses indicates that SSCQ picks up fewer Church of Scotland respondents, and more non-religious, non-Church of Scotland Christians and "Other".

Table A.6: Self-assessed general health

General Health Census 2011 SSCQ 2013
Very good 46.0% 36.0% ± 0.8%
Good 33.0% 38.6% ± 0.8%
Fair 14.3% 17.8% ± 0.6%
Bad 5.1% 5.9% ± 0.4%
Very bad 1.6% 1.7% ± 0.2%
Census source table: DC3102SC

Reported levels of 'very good' general health were higher in census responses than in the SSCQ. However further reports of 'good' and 'fair' general health in SSCQ bring the national indicator combining these top two categories close (79% versus 75%). The responses were similar in reporting 'bad' and 'very bad' general health.

Table A.7: Economic activity

Economic Activity Census 2011 SSCQ 2013
In Employment 57.7% 55.2% ± 0.8%
Unemployed 5.1% 4.3% ± 0.4%
Inactive 37.2% 40.4% ± 0.8%
Census source table: DC6107SC

SSCQ reported marginally lower levels of employment and unemployment, and higher levels of inactivity than the census estimates.

Table A.8: Highest achieved qualification

Top Qualification Census 2011 SSCQ 2013
No qualifications 26.8% 18.9% ± 0.6%
Other qualifications - 5.2% ± 0.3%
Level 1 23.1% 19.5% ± 0.7%
Level 2 14.3% 16.9% ± 0.7%
Level 3 9.7% 10.8% ± 0.5%
Level 4 and above 26.1% 27.7% ± 0.8%
Census source table: DC5102SC

SSCQ reported similar levels of higher qualifications and a distinction between 'no qualifications' and 'other qualifications' when compared to census estimates.

Contact

Email: Jamie Robertson

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