§ Mr. BayleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the companies commissioned by his Department in 1992–93 to carry out polling and market research about the views of parents of school pupils in the course of preparing an updated parents charter; and if he will list the areas of research, the questionnaires used and the groups questioned.
172W
§ Mr. Robin SquireResearch on a draft text and design of the parents charter was carried out in 1993–94. The identity of the company commissioned to carry out the research is commercial in confidence.
As is usual in qualitative research, the research was conducted through group discussions rather than via a questionnaire. The research covered the readability and content of the text, and its relevance and value for parents. It also looked at the effectiveness of the design and layout, and the preferred distribution route to parents. The research groups were a representative mix of parents, reflecting a number of socio-economic categories, both urban and rural areas, and different geographical regions.