Attitudes To The Scottish Parliament And Devolution

Ipsos was commissioned by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body to assess attitudes towards the Parliament and devolution. The purpose of the research was to obtain a source of information which would help inform the Parliament's public information and participation strategies. The specific objectives of the research were to:

Ipsos was commissioned by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body to assess attitudes towards the Parliament and devolution. The purpose of the research was to obtain a source of information which would help inform the Parliament's public information and participation strategies. The specific objectives of the research were to:

  • gather information on the impact of the Parliament's access and information work
  • measure progress against the 2004-2007 Scottish Parliament Management Plan strategic priority 'to inform and engage the public and other key stakeholders'
  • track public attitudes towards the Parliament

Key findings:

  • 41% of respondents considered that the Scottish Parliament has been either 'very good' or 'mainly good' for Scotland, with 19% stating that the Parliament has either been 'mainly bad' or 'very bad'
  • 51% of respondents stated that the Parliament either 'could be improved quite a lot' or 'needs a great deal of improvement'
  • Respondents were fairly evenly split on whether the Scottish Parliament has given 'the Scottish people more control over important decisions that will affect Scotland's future'
  • Roughly half of respondents believed that government in Scotland has been more open and accessible since devolution
  • Just under half of all respondents wanted 'more powers to be transferred to the Scottish Parliament'

Full findings and briefing paper on parliament website pdf, 303KB

Technical details

A module of questions was placed on the Ipsos Scottish Social Policy Monitor. This is a multi-client, quarterly survey designed for organisations to collect regular robust data on the characteristics of the Scottish population. The survey is carried out among a representative sample of Scottish adults and is conducted face-to-face in respondents' homes using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing). The wave of the survey in which the Parlaiment questions were fielded was conducted between 26 January and 6 April 2005. A total of 1,003 interviews were achieved.

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