Public Perceptions of Scotland After Devolution: Findings from the 2004 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey

ANNEX 3: SURVEY QUESTIONS AND RESULTS

This section contains question text and results for each of the questions in the module and, where applicable, also contains results from previous years. Variable names are in brackets and can be used to identify questions when using raw data.

Table 1
[HincDif2]
Which of the phrases on this card would you say comes closest to your feelings about your household's income these days?

	2002	2004
	%	%
Living very comfortably on present income	n.a.	9
Living comfortably on present income	41	37
Coping on present income	45	41
Finding it difficult on present income	11	10
Finding it very difficult on present income	3	2
(Other answer)		-
(Don't know)		*
Sample size	1665	1637

Note:
The answer category "living very comfortably" was added in 2004.

Table 2
[SNHSIE12]
Thinking back over the last twelve months, that is since (month) 2003, would you say that since then the standard of the health service in Scotland has increased or fallen?

Has the standard of the NHS increased or fallen in last twelve months?	1999	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%
Increased a lot	2	2	2	3
Increased a little	21	21	18	15
Stayed the same	35	29	25	31
Fallen a little	20	26	26	23
Fallen a lot	14	15	20	23
(Don't know)	8	7	8	5
Sample size	1482	1605	1508	1637

Note:
The question wording in each year was:
1999 and 2001 "Thinking back to the UK general election in 1997"
2003 "Thinking back to the last Scottish election in 1999"

Table 3
[SNHSWh12]
What do you think this has been mainly the result of?

	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%
Mainly the result of the UK government's policies at Westminster	53	38	42
Mainly the result of the Scottish Executive's policies	11	21	20
For some other reason	16	17	18
(Both Westminster and Scottish Executive)	4	7	7
(Don't know)	8	8	9
(Not answered)	7	8	5
Sample size	1605	1508	1637

Note:
In 1999 the follow-up question simply asked whether any differences were the result of the policies of the Labour government at Westminster therefore they are not reported here.

Table 4
[EdStIE12]
And what about the quality of education in Scotland? Has it increased or fallen since (month) 2003?

Has the quality of education increased or fallen in last twelve months	1999	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%
Increased a lot	3	3	3	3
Increased a little	23	24	22	23
Stayed the same	32	33	27	37
Fallen a little	17	16	18	15
Fallen a lot	7	5	11	7
(Don't know)	19	19	19	16
Sample size	1482	1605	1508	1637

Note:
The question wording in each year was:
1999 and 2001 "Thinking back to the UK general election in 1997"
2003 "Thinking back to the last Scottish election in 1999"

Table 5
[EdStWh12]
What do you think this has been mainly the result of?

	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%
Mainly the result of the UK government's policies at Westminster	40	30	29
Mainly the result of the Scottish Executive's policies	19	25	28
For some other reason	14	12	15
(Both Westminster and Scottish Executive)	3	7	5
(Don't know)	5	7	7
(Not answered)	19	19	16
Sample size	1605	1508	1637

Note:
In 1999 the follow-up question simply asked whether any differences were the result of the policies of the Labour government at Westminster therefore they are not reported here.

Table 6
[SLivIE12]
And what about the general standard of living in Scotland? Has it increased or fallen since (month) 2003?

Has the general standard of living increased or fallen in last twelve months ?	1999	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%
Increased a lot	2	3	4	4
Increased a little	27	27	30	27
Stayed the same	43	45	36	40
Fallen a little	18	15	17	18
Fallen a lot	6	4	7	6
(Don't know)	5	6	7	5
Sample size	1482	1605	1508	1637

Note:
The question wording in each year was:
1999 and 2001 "Thinking back to the UK general election in 1997"
2003 "Thinking back to the last Scottish election in 1999"

Table 7
[SlivWh12]
What do you think this has been mainly the result of?

	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%
Mainly the result of the UK government's policies at Westminster	53	43	38
Mainly the result of the Scottish Executive's policies	12	18	18
For some other reason	18	16	24
(Both Westminster and Scottish Executive)	6	10	7
(Don't know)	7	8	9
(Not answered)	6	7	5
Sample size	1605	1508	1637

Note:
In 1999 the follow-up question simply asked whether any differences were the result of the policies of the Labour government at Westminster therefore they are not reported here.

Table 8
[TranIE12]
And what about the standard of public transport in Scotland? Has it increased or fallen since (month) 2003?

Has the standard of public transport increased or fallen in last twelve months ?	2004
	%
Increased a lot	5
Increased a little	20
Stayed the same	41
Fallen a little	14
Fallen a lot	8
(Don't know)	13
Sample size	1637

Table 9
[TranWh12]
What do you think this has been mainly the result of?

	2004
	%
Mainly the result of the UK government's policies at Westminster	17
Mainly the result of the Scottish Executive's policies	28
For some other reason	29
(Both Westminster and Scottish Executive)	5
(Don't know)	8
(Not answered)	13
Sample size	1637

Table 10
[EconIE12]
And what about the Scotland's economy? Has it got stronger or weaker since (month) 2003?

Has Scotland's economy got stronger or weaker in last twelve months ?	2004
	%
A lot stronger	3
A little stronger	25
Stayed the same	29
A little weaker	22
A lot weaker	5
(Don't know)	17
Sample size	1637

Table 11
[EconWh12]
What do you think this has been mainly the result of?

	2004
	%
Mainly the result of the UK government's policies at Westminster	28
Mainly the result of the Scottish Executive's policies	28
For some other reason	17
(Both Westminster and Scottish Executive)	6
(Don't know)	5
(Not answered)	17
Sample size	1637

Table 12
[EdSpnd1b]
Which of the groups on this card, if any, would be your highest priority for extra government spending on education?

Priority for extra government spending on education	BSA 2004*	SSA 2004
Priority for extra government spending on education	%	%
Nursery or pre-school children	11	14
Primary school children	20	21
Secondary school children	31	26
Children with special educational needs	23	24
Students at colleges or universities	14	12
(None of these)	1	1
(Don't know)		2
Sample size	1327	1637

* Data for England only.

Table 13
[UKTwelv]
How much would you say you've seen or heard about the work of the UK government over the last twelve months?

How much seen or heard about the work of the UK government over the last twelve months?	2004
	%
A great deal	11
Quite a lot	23
Some	29
Not very much	31
Nothing at all	5
(Don't know)	1
Sample size	1637

Table 14
[ExTwelv]
And how much would you say you've seen or heard about the work of the Scottish Executive over the last twelve months?

How much seen or heard about the work of the Scottish Executive over the last twelve months?	2004
	%
A great deal	9
Quite a lot	21
Some	30
Not very much	33
Nothing at all	7
(Don't know)	1
Sample size	1637

Table 15
[ExecDo]
Here is a list of things the Scottish Executive could try and achieve. Which do you think should be its highest priority, that is the most important thing it should try and do?

What should be Scottish Executive's highest priority?	2004
What should be Scottish Executive's highest priority?	%
Improve standards of education	17
Improve housing	12
Help the economy to grow faster	16
Improve people's health	27
Cut crime	22
Improve the environment	4
Improve public transport	1
(Other)	2
(Don't know)	*
(Not answered)	*
Sample size	1637

Table 16
[ExecList]
In general how good would you say the Scottish Executive is at listening to people's views before it takes decisions?

How good is Scottish Executive at listening to people's views before taking decisions?	2004
	%
Very good	1
Quite good	31
Not very good	41
Not at all good	17
(Don't know)	10
(Not answered)	*
Sample size	1637

Table 17
[UKList]
And how good would you say the UK government is at listening to people's views before it takes decisions?

How good is UK government at listening to people's views before taking decisions?	2004
	%
Very good	1
Quite good	14
Not very good	50
Not at all good	30
(Don't know)	6
(Not answered)	*
Sample size	1637

Table 18
[UKIntNat]
How much do you trust the UK government to work in Scotland's best long-term interest? Please take your answer from this card.

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Just about always	3	1	2	2	2	2
Most of the time	29	16	20	17	19	20
Only some of the time	52	54	55	51	58	50
Almost never	14	26	22	26	20	26
(Don't know)						2
(Not answered)						*
Sample size	1482	1663	1605	1665	1508	1637

Table 19
[NatInNaC]
Still using the card, how much do you trust the Scottish parliament/Executive* to work in Scotland's best interests?

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Just about always	26	9	13	9	10	9
Most of the time	55	45	52	43	52	43
Only some of the time	14	34	29	34	31	37
Almost never	2	9	5	11	4	10
(Don't know)						2
(Not answered)						*
Sample size	1482	1663	1605	1665	1508	1637

*In 2004 an experiment was run whereby half the sample was asked about the Scottish Parliament and half was asked about the Scottish Executive. The change of wording made negligible difference to the responses given therefore the combined results are shown here.

Table 20
Experiment results:
How much do you trust the…

	…Scottish Parliament to work in Scotland's best interests?	…Scottish Executive to work in Scotland's best interests?
	[NatInNat]	[NatInNax]
	%	%
Just about always	10	9
Most of the time	41	44
Only some of the time	36	37
Almost never	11	9
(Don't know)	1	2
(Not answered)	*
Sample size	807	830

Table 21
[DoesInfC]
Which of the following do you think has most influence over the way Scotland is run?

*Which of these has* most influence over the way Scotland is run:**	1999*	2000	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%	%
The Scottish Parliament / Executive**	41	13	15	17	19
The UK government at Westminster	39	66	66	64	48
Local councils in Scotland	8	10	9	7	20
The European Union	5	4	7	5	6
(Don't know)	8	8		6	7
(Not answered)					*
Sample size	1482	1663	1605	1508	1637

Note:
In 1999 the question wording was: "When the new parliament starts work, which of the following do you think will have most influence over the way Scotland is run"
**In 2004 an experiment was run whereby half the sample was asked about the Scottish Parliament and half was asked about the Scottish Executive. The change of wording made negligible difference to the responses given therefore the combined results are shown here.

Table 22
Experiment results:

*Which of these has* most influence over the way Scotland is run:**	Scottish Parliament	Scottish Executive
	[DoesInfl]	[DoesInfx]
	%	%
The Scottish Parliament / Executive	18	20
The UK government at Westminster	51	46
Local councils in Scotland	20	19
The European Union	5	8
(Don't know)	6	7
(Not answered)	*
Sample size	807	830

Table 23
[OughInfC]
And which do you think ought to have most influence over the way Scotland is run?

*Which of these should have* most influence over the way Scotland is run:**	1999	2000	2001	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%	%
The Scottish Parliament / Executive*	74	72	74	66	67
The UK government at Westminster	13	13	14	20	12
Local councils in Scotland	8	10	8	9	17
The European Union	1	1	1	1	1
(Don't know)		5			3
(Not answered)					*
Sample size	1482	1663	1605	1508	1637

Table 24
Experiment results:

*Which of these should have* most influence over the way Scotland is run:**	Scottish Parliament	Scottish Executive
	[OughInfl]	[OughInfx]
	%	%
The Scottish Parliament / Executive	67	66
The UK government at Westminster	12	12
Local councils in Scotland	17	17
The European Union	1	1
(Don't know)	2	3
(Not answered)	*
Sample size	807	830

Table 25
[VoiceUK3]
From what you have seen and heard so far...

Do you think that having a Scottish parliament is giving Scotland...	1997 Ref	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
...a stronger voice in the United Kingdom	70	70	52	52	39	49	35
...a weaker voice in the United Kingdom	9	7	6	6	7	7	7
...or, is it making no difference?	17	20	40	40	52	41	55
(Don't know)							3
(Not answered)							*
Sample size	882	1482	1663	1605	1665	1508	1637

Note:
The question wording in each year was:
1999 "Will a Scottish Parliament…"
2000 "Do you think that having a Scottish parliament is going to…"
2001-2004 "Do you think that having a Scottish Parliament is giving…"

Table 26
[SayInGv3]
From what you have seen and heard so far...

Do you think that having a Scottish parliament is giving ordinary people...	1997 Ref	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
... more say in how Scotland is governed	79	64	44	38	31	39	31
... less say	2	2	3	4	4	4	6
...or, is it making no difference	17	32	51	56	62	54	60
(Don't know)							3
(Not answered)							*
Sample size	882	1482	1663	1605	1665	1508	1637

Table 27
[AreaQual]
I'd like to ask you what you think makes somewhere a good place to live. If you had to choose just one item from this list, what would it be?

What makes somewhere a good place to live?	1 ^st choice	2 ^nd choice	3 ^rd choice
What makes somewhere a good place to live?	%	%	%
Low level of crime	25	17	11
Access to GPs and local health services	6	9	9
Good quality affordable housing	13	14	9
Good shopping facilities	2	3	4
Access to good public transport	1	4	7
Good schools	6	12	11
Good jobs	6	6	8
Facilities for young children	3	5	7
Strong sense of community spirit	17	9	8
Clean local environment	7	9	12
Public spaces in good condition (e.g. pavements, parks, roads)	1	3	6
Family and friends close by	9	5	5
Access to places to go out (e.g. pubs, restaurants, galleries)	2	2	2
Other answer	1	*	*
(None of these)	*	*	*
(Don't know)	*	*	*
Sample size	1637	1637	1637

Table 28
[AreaImp1]
Now thinking about your local area, if you had to pick just one, which of the things on this is in most need of improvement around here?

What is in most need of improvement around here?	2004
What is in most need of improvement around here?	%
The level of crime	11
Access to GPs and local health services	6
The amount of good quality affordable housing	15
The amount of good shopping facilities	6
Access to good public transport	7
Quality of schools	3
Quality of jobs	10
Facilities for young children	16
The sense of community spirit	5
Cleanliness of the local environment	6
The condition of public spaces (e.g. pavements, parks, roads)	6
Family and friends close by	1
Access to places to go out (e.g. pubs, restaurants, galleries)	2
Other answer	2
(None of these)	3
(Don't know)	1
Sample size	1637

Table 29
[AreaImWh]
Who do you think should mainly be responsible for improving this?

Who do you think should be responsible for improving this?	2004
	%
People who live in the area	9
Local council	49
Scottish Parliament	12
Scottish Executive	8
UK Government	6
Local health board	2
The police	5
Local businesses	3
Other	1
(Don't know)	1
(Not answered)	1
Sample size	1637

Table 30
Have you ever done any of the things on this card as a way of registering what you personally thought about an issue?

Have you done any of these things as a way of registering what you thought about an issue?	Variable name	2004
	Variable name	%
No, have not done any of these	[donones]	26
Contacted an MP or MSP	[domps]	24
Contacted a government department directly	[dogovs]	11
Responded to a consultation document	[doresps]	13
Attended a public meeting	[domtgs]	31
Contacted radio, TV or a newspaper	[dotvs]	9
Signed a petition	[dosigns]	59
Raised the issue in an organisation I already belong to	[doraiss]	8
Gone on a protest or demonstration	[doprots]	13
Attended an event organised as part of a consultation exercise	[doevents]	10
Spoken to an influential person	[dospks]	15
Formed a group of like-minded people	[dogrps]	5
Joined an existing organisation	[dojoins]	9
Actively took part in a campaign (e.g. leafleting, stuffing envelopes etc)	[doactivs]	9
Given money to a campaign or organisation	[domoneys]	27
Sample size		1637

Note:
Column sums to more than 100 as respondents could pick more than one.

Table 31
Knowledge Quiz

	SE makes most decisions about how money should be spent on health service in Scotland	SE decides level of unemployment benefit paid to people in Scotland	Scottish Parliament has around 70 elected members	Scottish Executive is just another name for Scottish Parliament
Variable name	[quizhlth]	[quizuben]	[quizmsp]	[quizsesp]
	%	%	%	%
Definitely true	12	2	6	10
Probably true	40	17	41	31
Probably not true	22	29	6	13
Definitely not true	4	27	7	18
Can't choose	22	23	39	26
(Not answered)	1	2	2	2
Sample size	1514	1514	1514	1514

Table 32
[ImVot]
How important do you think it is to vote in ….

	Scottish Parliament elections?	UK House of Commons elections?	Local council elections?	European Parliament elections?
Variable name	[imvotsp]	[imvotuk]	[imvotloc]	[imvoteu]
	%	%	%	%
Very important	47	49	49	35
Fairly important	31	30	31	29
Not very important	11	10	11	19
Not at all important	5	4	4	9
Can't choose	6	6	5	7
(Not answered)	1	2	2	2
Sample size	1637	1637	1637	1637

Table 33
[UsePTran]
How often do you travel by public transport, such as buses, coaches or trains?

	2004
	%
Every day or nearly every day	16
2-5 days a week	13
Once a week	10
Less often but at least once a month	16
Less often than that	22
Never nowadays	22
Can't choose	1
(Not answered)	*
Sample size	1637

Table 34
[UseNHS]
In the last twelve months have you or a close family member visited an NHSGP or been to an NHS hospital as an inpatient or outpatient?

	2004
	%
Yes-just me	25
Yes-not me but close family member	23
Yes-both	41
No-neither	10
(Not answered)	1
Sample size	1637

Page updated: Thursday, August 18, 2005

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