Scottish Household Survey Quarterly Bulletin No.1 : Contents Page

Scottish Household Survey Quarterly Bulletin No.1

ISBN 0 11 497264 8

1 Introduction
2 The composition and characteristics of Scottish households
3 Transport
4 Finances and savings
5 Educational qualifications and training
6 Neighbourhoods and local government services
7 Some other topics covered by the survey
8 Further information about the survey
9 Methodological details
10 A note on definitions
11 Correspondence and enquiries

Key points

The Scottish Household Survey is a major new continuous survey funded by the Scottish Executive, covering some 62,000 households over its first four years.
Scottish households contain, on average, 2.3 people. A quarter contain at least one child aged under 16, while a similar proportion contain someone aged 65 or over.
Three-fifths of Scottish households now either own their own homes outright (22%) or are buying their property with the help of a loan or mortgage (39%).
5% of households have insufficient bedrooms, based on a measure of density of occupation. Single parent and 'large family' households were more likely than other household types to lack sufficient bedrooms (15% and 21%, respectively).
Six out of ten households have access to at least one car or motor vehicle, though this is strongly related to income - only 33% of households in the lowest net income group have access to a vehicle, compared with 94% of those in the highest income group.
77% of men and 52% of women aged 17 and over hold a current full driving licence. This difference widens with age. Most licence holders (70%) drive 'every day', while a further fifth do so at least 'once a week'. 48% of those in employment or full-time education drive to their place of work or study.
One household in eight does not have access to a bank or building society account and nearly half of all householders have no savings or investments. Among single parent households, only 61% have access to a bank or building society account and just 15% have savings.
A third of adults have been in contact with their local authority in the past year - most commonly in connection with refuse collection or Council Tax.
While 15% of adults use recycling facilities at least once a week, 43% never do so.
3% of Scottish households have experienced a fire in the home during the past 12 months - the same proportion that have been broken into.
29% of Scottish households have a PC or computer and 12% have access to the Internet from home. Men are more likely than women to have Internet access and younger people more likely than older people.
20% of adults regularly give up time to help as a volunteer or organiser for a charity, club or organisation.
30% of Scottish households contain at least one person with a limiting long-standing illness, health problem or disability, and 13% have a household member in need of regular help or care.