UKSA Chairman Pleads for Citizen Survey Reprieve

UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) Chairman Sir Michael Scholar has urged Government Minister Eric Pickles to re-consider plans to scrap the 'Citizenship Survey', describing it as 'too valuable to be lost'.

The Citizenship Survey, which has been fielded since 2001, asks around 10,000 English adults for their opinions on issues such as immigration and extremism, faith, volunteering, and feelings about their community.

However, the Government has described the £4m study as 'unsustainable' during a period of spending cuts.

Sir Michael (pictured) has written to Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Secretary Pickles, accusing him of taking 'insufficient account' of widespread concern about the change.

In the letter, he outlined how the Government needs the survey's resulting data to monitor its own policies, and described how the survey has recently been used to provide information for the coalition's Big Society initiative as well as to monitor the impact on policies such as the Olympics and the recession.

He also recommended that statistician Jil Matheson meet Pickles' own statisticians to discuss the most effective and cost-efficient way to meet the Government's statistical requirements.

'In our view, these requirements need to be addressed afresh, whether by a decision to retain the Citizenship Survey in some form, or by other, cheaper options which may be available,' Sir Michael added.

Last November, a consultation was completed on the future of the survey, but almost two months before the findings were made public, Pickles announced that the survey would be scrapped - a move which Sir Michael says breaches rules governing the publication of such consultations.

In response, a DCLG spokesperson said that the final decision to end the survey had been made following the consultation, continuing: 'Ministers would rather give money to charities and the voluntary sector than hand out blank cheques to opinion polling companies.' [Nothing like a good intelligent statement from a government department - Ed.]

Web site: www.statistics.gov.uk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.