Getting a probing about your sex life is something we may find more familiar from our friends - but what about a civil servant?

According to recent reports, the government is going to quiz over 500,000 people on a variety of personal details, ranging from your salary to the type of contraception you use with your partner.

The 2,000-question survey will be conducted by the Office for National Statistics and will form part of the new Integrated Household Survey, with questions including such details as when particular relationships ended and how long couples have lived together before getting married.

However, Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at Kent University, is not sure the government is going to get accurate results when it comes to quizzing people about their sex life.

He told the Telegraph: "When researchers ask about sexual habits there is a very strong tendency for ¬people to clam up, or to say what they think they want to hear."

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