Government inspectors are to pry into the intimate details of more than 500,000 people a year, asking a series of probing questions about their sex lives and earnings.

Snooping officials will want to know about previous sexual partners, contraception, and how long couples lived together before marriage.

The 2,000-question survey from the Office for National Statistics will raise major concerns about privacy – especially as the data will be logged with the respondents' names and addresses.

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Some of the questions seem remarkably insensitive. One asks: "Have you ever had a baby – even one who only lived for a short time?"

Interviewers are told starkly: "Exclude: Any stillborn; Include: Any who only lived for a short time."

Civil servants claim the sensitive personal information will be made anonymous once it is processed at the department's headquarters in Newport, South Wales – but that is not enough to satisfy privacy campaigners.

Doubts have also been raised about how useful the information will be, as people have a proven tendency to lie when quizzed about their sex lives.

Investigators conducting the new Integrated Household Survey – at a cost of more than £3.5million a year – will visit 200,000 homes at random each year and question each occupant – about 500,000 individuals altogether.

They have 35 questions on contraception alone, such as whether men have had vasectomies, the brands of pill women take, and whether they have ever used a "morning after" pill.

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