§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what expenditure has been incurred by her(a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each of the last four years on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if she will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each. [27953]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe Department commissions tightly focused market research to help develop and evaluate publicity campaigns. The spend in recent years was:
£ 1998–99 1,408,908 1999–2000 1,687,050 2000–01 2,340,222 2001–021 1,256,121 1 To January 2002 It would be possible to list every one of these research projects only at disproportionate cost. However, some recent campaigns where strategic communications research or creative development research have been commissioned include the drive to widen participation in higher education, by encouraging under-represented groups to take up this option, the promotion of the relevance of science to teenagers, as part of Science Year, the child care recruitment campaign, the campaign to help those adults with basic skills gaps, and the promotion of foundation degrees and Modern apprenticeships. This research is subject to the usual strict rules that spending must represent good value for the tax payer and must not be used for party political purposes.
The Department also conducts research to help us understand the education, skills and communication needs of our customers. It has sampled and consulted on the 1131W views of teachers, parents and other groups affected by the Department's policies on specific issues. For example, the project "Causes of truancy by pupils of compulsory school age" gathers the views of pupils, parents, school and LEA staff on the causes of truancy and what measures could be taken to address the issue. One of the aims is to examine the issue of absence that is condoned by parents. "A longitudinal study of factors contributing to variations in teacher effectiveness" will investigate the factors which contribute to the effectiveness of teachers at different stages of their career, working in a range of schools in different contexts, and how this changes over time. Part of this study is to track 300 teachers over three years measuring their effectiveness by pupil outcome measures and other qualitative techniques. Again it would not be possible to give details of every project without disproportionate cost.
Information about opinion polls, focus groups and other forms of research commissioned by the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally.