§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure has been incurred by his(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 he will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each. [27940]
§ Dr. MoonieAs the Modernising Government White Paper set out, it is important to this Government that we listen to what people have to say about new proposals and policies. Quantitative and qualitative surveys by focus groups, public opinion research and other forms of market research are an integral and important part of Ministry of Defence work. Public research spending, however is subject to the usual strict rules that spending must represent good value for money for the taxpayer and must not be used for party political purposes.
17WInformation on the totality of quantitative and qualitative surveys carried out by the Ministry of Defence and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, our central corporate communications division, which carries out public opinion research relating to the Ministry of Defence as a whole, does have a record of research initiated by them. From the information available, the following surveys have been carried out in each of the last four years (the 2001–02 figure includes money committed, but not yet spent). Costs are inclusive of VAT:
£ 1998–991 Royal Tournament exit questionnaire 77,396.86 Strategic Defence Review research Media evaluation 1999–20001 Public Attitudes to Defence surveys (quarterly) 96,211.56 NATO Strategy Development research Media evaluation 2000–011 Public Attitudes to Defence surveys (quarterly) 33,884.65 Public Attitudes to Defence focus groups 2001–021 Public Attitudes to Defence surveys (quarterly) 100,570.27 Public Attitudes to Defence focus groups SDR New Chapter focus groups 1Financial year