Scottish Surveys Core Questions (SSCQ): Code of Practice compliance

1. Overview

The Survey Strategy and Coordination team sits within the Strategy for Household and Population Statistics unit in the Office of the Chief Statistician (OCS).

The team is responsible for:

• Scottish Surveys Core Questions (SSCQ) publication and ongoing review
• Centralised survey sampling and weighting
• Survey Managers Network, promoting best practice and harmonisation
• Long Term Survey Strategy
• Centralised strategy and support for procurement of survey contracts
• Engagement with Cross Government Surveys Group (UK-wide) and International Surveys Network

The SSCQ bring together a set of 20 questions which are included in all three of our major household surveys:

• The Scottish Household Survey (SHS)
• The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS)
• The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS)

This provides a large, combined dataset that supports robust analysis of Scotland’s population, including small sub-groups and sub-national geographies.

Our 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. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards at sscq@gov.scot. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

As per the Code of Practice for Statistics: Edition 3.0, producers are required to publish a set of documents demonstrating how statistics meet standards of trustworthiness, quality and value. These include:

• Annual statistical work programme
• Quality management approach
• Public involvement and engagement strategy