Children and young people: key data sources

Routine administrative data:

• Our page on Scottish national data schemes provides links to sources of data on primary care, secondary care, and deaths.
• The Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS) can provide researchers with linked data from various current Scottish administrative and statistical sources.

Survey data:

• Growing Up in Scotland (GUS): a longitudinal survey launched in 2005.
• The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS): a cross-sectional survey launched in 1995.
• The National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP): from 2003.
• The Maternal and Infant Nutrition Survey: a UK-wide survey to 2010, then Scotland-only in 2017.
• The Health and Wellbeing Census (HWB Census): during the 2021/22 school year a number of Local Authorities across Scotland took part in the HWB Census.
• The Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS): SALSUS data are available from 2002 to 2018.
• The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey: since 1987 HBSC has been providing data for Scotland, and other countries, about every four years.
• The Family Resources Survey (FRS): FRS data are used by the Scottish Government to measure child poverty.
• COVID-19 Early Years Resilience and Impact Survey (CEYRIS): a survey conducted by Public Health Scotland to help understand the impact of COVID-19 and associated restrictions on mental health and wellbeing in the early years.