HC Deb 22 June 2004 vol 422 cc1316-9W
Norman Lamb

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what surveys of public perceptions of his Department and of its areas of responsibility have taken place over the last 12 months; what the(a) title and (b) nature of these surveys was; what the findings of each survey were; where these findings have been published; what the cost of such surveys was; and if he will make a statement and place copies of the surveys in the Library. [176949]

Mr. McNulty

There are a number of surveys that explore public perceptions of the Department, and its areas of responsibility. The following annex provides information on each of the main surveys undertaken by

Title of survey Nature Where are findings published? Cost of survey (£)
ONS Omnibus Survey, July 2003.

Module covered attitudes to

congestion charging and knowledge

of speed limits

 A multi-purpose survey run by ONS

eight times per year

 A summary of recent attitudinal work on

speed and other road safety issues was

published on the DfT website in February

2004. This can be found at http://

www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/

documents/page/dft_transstats_028383.hcsp

 23,700 for the module
Coverage—Great Britain
Random sample
ONS Omnibus Survey, October

2003. Module covered attitudes to

road safety and speeding issues

 Face to face interviews, in-home 35,100 for the module
Sample size—around 1,800 each

wave

 A summary of attitudinal work on congestion

charging is expected to be completed and

published on the DfT website during the

summer.
ONS Omnibus Survey, November

2003. Module covered attitudes to

rail line closures on Bank Holidays

 Response rate—approx 60 per cent. 7,100 for the module
Data from the November 2003 questions of

rail line closures will be included within a

series of thematic factsheets to be released in

autumn 2004.
All findings will be available on the DfT

website at http://www.dft gov.uk/stellent/

groups/dft_transstats/documents/

sectionhomepage/dft_transstats_page.hcsp
ONS Omnibus Survey, March

2004-attitudes to road pricing

 Will be published on the DfT website in July

(at the same address as that provided above).

 38,200 for the module
ONS Omnibus Survey, April 2004.

Small module on satisfaction with

travel information services

 Will be published early in 2005 as part of the

evaluation of Transport Direct.

 7,400 for the module
Bus Passenger Satisfaction Survey—

a survey of bus users' satisfaction

with bus services. Respondents

provide satisfaction ratings on 22 key

service attributes.

 A quarterly survey of bus users. Data are published quarterly on the DfT

website, within the Bus Quality Indicators

bulletins. The 2003–04 bulletins can be found

at: http://www.dft.gov.uk stellent/groups/

dft_control/documents/contentservertemplate/

dft_index.hcst?n=8624&=5

 250,000 per annum
Coverage—England.
Quota sample, involving around

1,500 interviews per quarter.
Face to face interviews undertaken at

bus stops.
Copies will also be placed in the Library.
BMRB Omnibus Survey, October

2003. Covers use of and attitudes

towards public. transport in the UK

 DfT uses this survey around two or

three times per year.

 Findings from the October 2003 module were

published on DfT website on 11 March 2004

at http://www.dft.gov.uk/ research/

programmes/index.htm, where findings from

other modules can also located (i.e. November

2002 and April 2003).

 24,480 plus VAT per

wave, to a maximum of

three waves a year
2,000 interviews per wave
Quota sample (random location

sampling)
Face to face interviews, in home Copies will also be placed in the Library.
Coverage—Great Britain
British Social Attitudes Survey—the

survey is carried put on an annual

basis, and the Department currently

part funds a transport module

 Annual survey Results from the survey are published by

NatCen in their annual BSA Book. This is a

priced publication, which costs £40.00. Most

recent findings were published in December

2003, 'British Social Attitudes: the 20th

Report—Continuity and change over Two

Decades'. Press releases providing headline

results are available on NatCen's website at

http://www.natcen.ac.uk/natcen/pages/

news_and_media_docs/2003bsa pr.pdf

 DfT contributes 36,000

per annum
Coverage—Great Britain
Sample size approximately 1,100
Random sample
Face to face f interviews in -

in-home
Response rate—approx 60 per cent.
Department also has a full electronic dataset

for the transport data from each survey.
The Strategic Rail Authority's

National Passenger Survey. Covers

satisfaction with train services—

overall and across 27 specific aspects

of service

 Carried out every six months. Findings are published as part of 'National

Rail Trends', and are available on the Internet

at the following address: http://

www.sra.gov.uk/publications/

national_rail_trends

 SRA funds the survey
Self-completion of survey of rail-users

with approximately 25,000

completed questionnaires being

returned every wave.
Questionnaires distributed at

around 950 stations

 Copies will also be placed in the Library.
Coverage—Great Britain

the Department, its Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies. Many are regular surveys, and others are more ad hoc in nature.

Findings from most of the surveys referred to in the annex are available on the internet, and therefore are not summarised here. The annex provides full details on where findings can be obtained. In addition, copies of a number of the reports referred to will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Title of survey Nature Where are findings published? Cost of survey (£)
Highway Agency's Road Users'

Satisfaction Survey

 A continuous survey, with an annual

sample of around 2,500 road-users

 Findings are published every two years. HA funds the survey.
Results are published on the HA website, and

can be found at http://www.highways.gov.uk/

aboutus/corpdocs/road_user/2002/index.htm
Coverage—England
Quota sample
Face to face interviews, in-home Copies will also be placed in the Library.
Findings for 2004 will be published on the HA

website in around December 2004.
Learners Survey. A survey

undertaken by the DVO Group on

satisfaction/perceptions to DVO

services

 An annual survey of 1,000 motorists

that have applied for a provisional

licence in the past six months

 The survey was first conducted in August

2003. The findings have been distributed

throughout the DVO Group.

 The survey was funded

by the DVO Group and

cost 60,000.
Coverage—Great Britain Copies will also be placed in the Library.
Telephone interviews
Private Motorists survey. A survey

undertaken by the DVO Group on

satisfaction/perceptions to DVO

services

 An annual survey of 1,000 motorists The survey was first conducted in July 2003.

The findings have been distributed throughout

the DVO Group.

 The survey was funded

by the DVO Group and

cost 110,000.
Coverage—Great Britain
Quota sample Copies will also be placed in the Library. The 2004 survey is

budgeted at 100,000.
Face-to, face interviews
MOT study. A study on how the

MOT is perceived by private

motorists

 A survey, of 1,000 MOT customers The survey was first conducted in September

2003. The findings have been distributed

throughout the DVO Group

 The survey was funded

by DVO Group

(55,000) and

VOSA(21,000). The

next survey is planned

for 2005
Coverage—Great Britain
Quota sample
Face-to face interviews Copies will also be placed in the Library.

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