Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Citizenship Survey (known in the field as the Communities Study) ran from 2001 to 2010-2011. It began as the 'Home Office Citizenship Survey' (HOCS) before the responsibility moved to the new Communities and Local Government department (DCLG) in May 2006. The survey provided an evidence base for the work of DCLG, principally on the issues of community cohesion, civic engagement, race and faith, and volunteering. The survey was used extensively for developing policy and for performance measurement. It was also used more widely, by other government departments and external stakeholders to help inform their work around the issues covered in the survey. The survey was conducted on a biennial basis in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007-2008. It moved to a continuous design in 2007 which means that data became available on a quarterly basis from April 2007. Quarter one data were collected between April and June; quarter two between July and September; quarter three between October and December and quarter four between January and March. Once collection for the four quarters was completed, a full aggregated dataset was made available, and the larger sample size allowed more detailed analysis. In January 2011, the DCLG announced that the Citizenship Survey was to close. As part of the drive to deliver cost savings across government and to reduce the fiscal deficit, research budgets were closely scrutinised to identify where savings can be made. For this reason, and the belief that priority data from this survey could either be dropped; collected less frequently; or collected via other means, the survey was cancelled. Fieldwork concluded on 31 March 2011, followed by publication of reports in the months after analysis of that data. Further information about the survey, including links to publications, can be found on the National Archives webarchive page for the Citizenship Survey. Detailed topic reports are published for the years up to 2009-2010 and there are statistical releases which cover 2010-2011. The Consultation outcome: the future of the citizenship survey statement can be viewed on the gov.uk website. The Community Life Survey, (held under GN 33475), which began in 2012-2013 and is conducted by the Cabinet Office, incorporates a small number of priority measures from the Citizenship Survey, in order that trends in these issues can continue to be tracked over time. For these measures the Community Life Survey findings are comparable to the Citizenship Survey findings.UK Data Archive holdings: End User Licence and Secure Access The Archive holds standard End User Licence (EUL) versions of the complete Citizenship Survey series from 2001-2011, held under SNs 4754, 5087, 5367, 5739, 6388, 6733 and 7111. Currently, the Secure Access version (SN 7403) includes only the 2005, 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 waves. The Secure Access datasets include extra variables that are not available in the standard EUL versions. The extra variables comprise:more detailed and extensive household and demographic information;more detailed geographies, including Police Force Area, Local Authority Districts, Wards, Health Areas, Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) and Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA); more detailed responses to questions covering extremism, immigration, and religion; and more detailed administrative variables.Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the Citizenship Survey will need to agree to rigorous Terms and Conditions, including applying for ESRC Accredited Researcher Status and attending a training session, in order to obtain permission to use that version (see 'Administrative and Data Access' section in the catalogue record). Therefore, users are encouraged to download and inspect the EUL versions of the data prior to ordering the Secure Access version.For the second edition (March 2019) data and documentation for survey years, 2005, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 have been added.

Main Topics:

Key topics included:• household characteristics• social networks• fear of crime• views about the local area• volunteering and charitable giving• involvement in civil renewal activities• perceptions of racial and religious prejudice and discrimination• attitudes to immigration• interactions with people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Standard Measures:The questionnaire used established questions and classifications where appropriate:demographic questions were mostly taken from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) harmonised question bookletsquestions on family relationships were adapted from the General Household Survey (GHS) family relationship grid (the GHS is held at the UK Data Archive under GN 33090)the hierarchy of community participation was adapted from the method used in the National Survey of Voluntary Activity, 1997 (held under SN 3931)Some questions on trust were adapted from the World Values Survey (see under SN 5488) and some from the British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) (held under GN 33168)

Multi-stage stratified random sample

See documentation for further details.

Face-to-face interview