PUBLIC OPINION POLLS (DISCLOSURE) BILL (Hansard, 28 February 1973)

§ Mr. Dick Douglas (Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire)
I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to regulate the publication of public opinion polls to ensure a fair and balanced presentation. Finding fault with the predictions of public opinion polls is a never-out-of-season sport with politicians. We have a tendency to accept their analysis when they show us or our party in a good light. The reverse tends to be the case when they are critical of our stated positions.
The Bill is partly motivated by an examination of the report on public opinion polling in the 1970 General Election produced by the Market Research Society of Great Britain, but more importantly from my own understanding of survey techniques, I realise that although organisations aspire to objectivity in the construction of the questionnaires and the structuring of the survey it is all too easy to get things wrong.
Realising that they are subject to criticism, five of the leading companies that engaged in polling in May 1970 compiled an agreed code of practice. [Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I wish that hon. Members who want to conduct conversations would do so outside the Chamber.

§ Mr. Douglas
So far as it goes, the code of practice is adequate, allowing in particular that the organisations will on request make available to a reasonable number of journalists, academics, students, other polling organisations and the political parties a substantial amount of information in addition to that which is normally published.
However, a fair and balanced publication of polling results is a matter of concern not only to the pollsters but to the mass media. Both Press and television are equally prone to give statistics about polling results without bothering to quote the questions or give information about the sample size or the number of respondents. There was a glaring 1504 example last week, when the media dealt with the results of a poll conducted for the Law Society by Market and Opinion Research International. The media should have had enough responsibility at least extending to stating in their reports of the results of the poll the question and the number of respondents.
The Bill, while endorsing that all the background sources of information and questions should be made available, would also seek to obtain details of the sponsorship of polls and, where appropriate, the cost of a poll. Sponsoring organisations sometimes have the public benefit in mind, but more often they who pay for the polls can so structure a questionnaire as to obtain the responses they desire. Reputable polling organisations can and do insist on balancing the questionnaire, but more often than not it will be the sponsor's slanted question that obtains the headlines.
In the immediate pre-election period it is very important to create an independent committee with the task of inquiring into the accuracy and meaning of polls. Judging by the Market Research Society's report, the committee should be acceptable to the pollsters. Therefore, I hope that such a committee can be established before legislation is passed.
We who admire the United Kingdom practice recognise that the absence of a fixed election date gives added weight to the peculiar alchemy of opinion polls. Some of us realise that to ban such polls would create more difficulties than it would provide solutions.
The Bill is not aimed at those who wish to conduct a poll and to keep the contents for their private use. It is aimed at halting the selective disclosure of opinion poll results, including the results of polls conducted for purposes other than political.
The Bill is an attempt to request that more light be shone on a subject that is important to the working of our democratic process. I trust that the House will give me permission to introduce it.