§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what expenditure has been incurred by his(a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental bodies in 2002 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. [106274]
§ Malcolm WicksDetails of expenditure incurred by this Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, in 2002 in respect on opinion polls, focus groups and other forms of market research of opinion polls, are given in the following table.
The cost information provided in the table is, in the main, that incurred in the financial year 2002–03. Financial information provided for the 2002–03 financial year is provisional and subject to final audit.
Some of the projects listed may have been undertaken by a mixture of methodologies, for example, in-depth interviews and surveys, in addition to focus groups and opinion polls. In such instances, it has not always been possible to disaggregate costs for the individual elements.
While this Department is keen to hear what people have to say about proposed new policies and ideas, we are committed to obtaining best value for money. Public opinion research, including focus groups and polling, is subject to the usual strict rules that spending must represent good value for the taxpayer and must not be used for party political purposes.
695W
Research involving opinion polls Title Purpose Cost Easing the Transition to Work Focus Groups with (former) Benefit Agency, Employment Service and Local Authority staff in London and South Wales to explore their experiences and views of promoting and administering various work incentives measures. This was one element of a wider research project. £15,970 Developing Services for Pensioners Giving customers the opportunity to express their views on service development for The Pension Service. £34,400 Evaluation of Action Teams for Jobs Evaluation of Action Teams for Jobs during its first year of operation. £2,950 Evaluation of the Remote Jobpoints This comprised a small scale quantitative survey of users and non users of remote £62,345 Experiment in Port Talbot and Luton—surveys results from Stage 1 and Stage 2 jobseeking services in two Tesco supermarkets—market research, fed into the development of a larger project termed flexible service delivery. New Deal 50 Plus Regional Marketing Evaluation Purpose of the survey was to evaluate the regional marketing programme for ND50 +. The research provides an overview of how the marketing campaigns have worked and feedback to inform the development of future marketing activity. £10,580 Diversity in Disability To provide a greater understanding of the life experiences of disabled men and women from different minority ethnic groups. £57,429 Evaluation of Community Sentences Withdrawal of Benefits To establish staff views of the implementation of the policy in pilot areas. Group discussions were held with staff from the Benefits Agency, Employment Service and Probation Service. This was in addition to 31 interviews with staff and 55 interviews with offenders. £81,395 Evaluation of the Permitted Work Rules for Incapacity Benefit Claimants To obtain information on the use of the new arrangements by staff who apply them or refer to them in their work. £85,500 Awareness of SENDA To obtain information on the level of awareness among educationalists, disabled young people and their parents. £19,000 Publication Focus Group Consultation of DRC publications. £509 Jobseeker Direct Customer Satisfaction Survey Small scale national quantitative survey of users of Jobseeker Directive, looking at the views of the service and how it could be improved. £30,350 Jobseeker Traffic Survey Large national survey of jobseekers views of Jobcentre Plus services. £67,000 Awareness Day Research Pre and post research to evaluate the effectiveness of the awareness raising campaign. £11,000