WIREDGOV

An understanding of public perceptions and expectations of standards in public life is very important to our work. From 2004, we have been conducting 2-yearly surveys keep us in touch with current attitudes, in order to analyse the standards of behaviour the British public feel public office holders should be kept to, the extent to which these standards are believed to be upheld, and the perception of how well the systems put in place to enforce them are operating.

Following the recommendations in the Triennial Review, the latest public attitude survey published on 23 September 2013 will be the final one published by the Committee.

The Committee will, however, continue to conduct smaller pieces of research where appropriate to support its work.

The fifth Biennial Survey of public attitudes towards conduct in public life was launched on Monday 23 September 2013 at the Institute of Government and completes ten years of tracking public attitudes towards standards of conduct in public life.

This latest survey maintained many of the core questions from earlier surveys allowing us to observe continuing trends over a long period and introduced several new questions, with the aim of broadening the examination of public expectations.

Key changes to overall perceptions include:

• Over the lifetime of the survey there has been a substantial decline in the percentage of respondents rating standards as ‘high’ or ‘very high’, while the percentage of those rating standards as ‘quite poor’ or ‘poor’ has steadily increased, showing a clear trend.
• The proportion of the population falling into two groupings characterised by positive attitudes (‘all is well’ and ‘hopeful’) increased from 62% in 2004 to 82% in 2008. During 2010. The year of the MPs’ expenses scandal, the proportion in those positive groups fell to 55%. In the latest survey (2012) a slight improvement – 59% – was registered.
• There is a very high level of confidence expressed in the fairness with which people will be treated by a range of public services in areas where the vast majority of people have most experience of the public sector such as doctors, police, planning officers.
• The analysis of the cumulative data shows that public attitudes are responsive to events and their presentation and that public confidence can be improved as well as damaged by the way in which individuals and groups of individuals behave in public life.
• Over the five surveys, public perceptions of a range of professions to tell the truth demonstrate consistent relative ratings. High court judges and police officers score highly while tabloid journalists and government ministers and MPs in general, score poorly. When compared with other British and European data, levels of trust in these professions are not especially low, except in comparison with the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
• Levels of trust are slightly higher among younger respondents, those from higher social grades and those from ethnic minorities.

Download Public Attitude Survey 2012

Download Public Attitude Survey 2011(pdf 1.27Mb)

Download Public Attitude Survey 2004(pdf 210Kb)

Download Public Attitude Survey 2006(pdf 938Kb)

Download Public Attitude Survey 2008(pdf 4.06Mb)