Meeting the needs of local people Ashley Ames Associate Director - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Meeting the needs of local people Ashley Ames Associate Director MORI Social Research Institute ashley.ames@mori.com

Will the Government deliver on Public Services? Q Do you agree or disagree… “In the long term, this government’s policies will improve the state of Britain’s Public Services” 54% 46% Agree 45% 38% 38% 36% 36% 31% 28% 31% 30% 35% 32%42% 40% 50% 50% 52% 52% 54% 62% 57% 57% 59% Disagree June Oct Nov Mar May Sept Dec Mar Jun Jul Sept Dec 2001 2001 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 Base: 970 British adults, 12-14 December 2003 Source: MORI Social Research Institute Delivery Index

The Big Five: Expectations Trends Q. Thinking about…over the next few years do you expect it to…? %net better 30 20 Education NHS 10 Way area 0 policed -10 Environment -20 Public transport -30 Mar 2002 May 2002 Sep 2002 Dec 2002 Mar 2003 Jun 2003 Sept 2003 Dec 2003 Base: c.1,000 British Adults

Falling perceptions since 1997... Q How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way your local council is running the area? 40 Net satisfaction with Council (+) 32 32 National 30 29 29 27 27 MORI Omnibus 21 21 21 21 20 19 19 16 16 16 16 11 11 10 0 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Year surveyed Base: c 1000 per wave.

Local public realm and liveability - versus national priorities

Trends on Road Maintenance - worse than a few years ago Net satisfied % saying traffic congestion is a bad problem where they live 71 71 70 70 64 64 63 63 50 50 Bucks Dorset 30 30 MORI average Telford 10 10 1995 1995 1996 1996 1997 1997 1998 1998 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2001 2002 2002 2003 2003 -10 -1 Essex -30 -3

Street Cleaning - Satisfaction Trends Net satisfied 70 70 65 65 Leicester 60 60 55 55 Should the Head of 50 50 45 45 Environment 40 40 Resign? 35 35 30 30 25 25 20 20 1993 1993 1994 1994 1995 1995 1996 1996 1997 1997 1998 1998 1999 1999 2000 000 2001 2001

Falling satisfaction with street scene - nearly everywhere Net satisfied 80 80 with street BV Pilots cleaning 70 70 Portsmouth 60 60 Chelmsford Leicester National MORI 50 50 average 40 40 People’s Panel 30 30 Brent Southwark 20 20 Camden 10 10 0 1988 1988 1989 1989 1990 1990 1991 1991 1992 1992 1993 1993 1994 1994 1995 1995 1996 1996 1997 1997 1998 1998 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2001 2002 2002

Priorities for Barking and Dagenham residents in 2004 Most need improving locally 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Important generally Base: All valid BVPI responses

Priorities for Barking and Dagenham residents in 2004 Most need improving locally 70 Low level crime 60 Clean streets 50 Open spaces Facilities for young children Road/pavement repairs 40 Job prospects Activities for teenagers Shopping Health services Low traffic 30 Housing Wages/cost of living Sports/leisure 20 Culture Public transport Education 10 Low pollution Community activities Race relations Access to nature 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Important generally Base: All valid BVPI responses

Better service may imply carefully segmenting your users - completely different from the way public services have developed in the past

How B&D residents view council services How B&D residents view council services Q5 To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements % Disagree % Agree about the Council? I expect better Council services for 7 64 the amount of Council Tax I pay Barking and Dagenham Council makes sure that everybody has equal access 18 51 to its services Other people are more in need of Council 16 49 services than I am I have no need to use most of the 20 44 services that the Council provides The way the Council provides its services 19 42 makes it easy for me to use them 13 40 I am keen to use most Council services Base: All Barking and Dagenham panel members aged 16+, postal survey 10th March to 9th April 2003 (302)

How residents view council services (2) How residents view council services (2) Q5 To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about the Council? % Disagree % Agree It is easier to get in touch with the 25 34 Council than it is to contact other organisations The Council is too remote and 28 24 impersonal The Council is not interested in 32 24 providing services for people like me The Council gives residents good 38 20 value for money There are some Council services that 19 19 I can’t afford to use Base: All Barking and Dagenham panel members aged 16+, postal survey 10th March to 9th April 2003 (302)

Obtaining information Obtaining information Q7 How interested, if at all, are you in using the following methods to obtain information and services provided by the Council or other public organisations? % Uninterested % Interested Telephone 14 70 19 64 One Stop-Shop 28 53 Information Points 38 36 Computer connected to the Internet Digital TV with interactive services 48 29 57 12 Mobile phone connected to the Internet Base: All Barking and Dagenham panel members aged 16+, postal survey 10th March to 9th April 2003 (302)

Paying for a Council service Paying for a Council service Q22 Looking at the options below, how willing would you be to use each method to pay for a Barking and Dagenham Council service % Unwilling % Willing 22 66 By letter/post 22 66 Face-to-face 38 48 By telephone 54 23 Through the Council’s website Through a touchscreen kiosk in a public 60 17 place 61 17 By email 64 13 By text message Base: All Barking and Dagenham panel members aged 16+, postal survey 10th March to 9th April 2003 (302)

Contacting the public sector in the Future - a Possible Scenario Projected % Observed 80 Telephone 60 Internet/E-mail 40 20 Face-to-face Written 0 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Base: All residents (MORI Benchmarking Network)

Segmenting different types of residents Frequent Low level, out of communicators hours users (30%) (24%) • Internet/phone • With children • Home owners • Heavy service users • In work Housing Flexible service dependants (24%) users (22%) • Views steered by housing services • Higher social classes • Older, less-likely to work • Want to be kept • More reliant on face-to- informed by council face

Big implications for leaders of organisations

The growing importance of “Honesty” The growing importance of “Honesty” Q What are the most important factors you take into account when making a judgement about a company? (Spontaneous) 40 Quality of Product/Service 30 Honesty Customer care 20 10 0 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Base: General Public

The rise of ethics.... % 1985 4% 2002 31% Proportion who report boycotting products for ethical reasons Source:ESRC

Trust who? Trust who? Q Now I will read out a list of different people. For each, would you tell me whether you generally trust them to tell the truth or not? Doctors 91% Teachers 87% Professors 74% Judges 72% Clergymen 71% TV/newsreaders 66% Scientists 65% The Police 64% Ordinary man/woman in street 53% Pollsters 46% Civil servants 46% Local Councillors 35% Managers in the NHS 35% TU officials 33% Managers in local government 29% Business leaders 28% Government Ministers 20% % Trust Journalists 18% Politicians generally 18% Base: 2,141 British adults aged 15+, Feb 2003

What are What are the public the public looking looking for? for?

Do you have these qualities? Do you have these qualities? Q Which three of these qualities, if any, do you feel are most important in a public leader? Honest 38% Trustworthy 37% Good communicator 26% Competent 24% Experience of public life 19% Accessible 18% Integrity 18% 16% High moral standards Professional 16% Efficient 15% Base: People’s Panel Wave 5 - All (1,086)

Communications Communications help help

Satisfaction with Council vs Satisfaction with Council vs Level of Level of Information Information Net satisfaction with Council (+%) 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 -40 -30 30 -20 -10 10 0 10 20 30 40 How well informed the public are kept (+%)

Familiar? “Nobody could explain clearly what the authority claimed to stand for. Even within primary documents such as the Best Value Plan there is limited information ”

Familiar? This is an authority that tends to see public relations as an overhead

Staff Advocacy

Advocacy - self fulfilling prophecy? % who strongly agree that they would speak highly of the authority to others outside the organisation 63% 63% 44% 44% 44% 44% 42% 42% 39% 39% 25% 25% Overall Excellent Good Fair Weak Poor Base: All respondents (500), interviewed 24 July - 15 August 2003

People in Excellent Councils have higher job satisfaction... % very satisfied with job 52% 52% Excellent 42% 42% Good 35% 35% Fair 35% 35% Weak Poor 32% 32% Base: All respondents (500)