Shapps aims to axe 'intrusive' Place Survey

The housing minister has signalled his intention to scrap a nationwide survey that gauges residents' perceptions of their areas and local services.

The biennial postal Place Survey, which is carried out by every local council and questions half a million people, asks for recipients’ perceptions of local services, such as how satisfied they are with their area, whether they feel people of different backgrounds get on with one another and whether they believe they can influence local decisions.

But Grant Shapps described the survey’s questions today as "highly intrusive and personal", and said axing the survey would free up councils to concentrate on delivering services.

"The idea that council bureaucrats are forced to turn themselves into amateur-pollsters in order to ask a range of highly intrusive personal questions about their residents seems entirely out of place," he said.

"I’m actively looking at whether we can block this year’s round of intrusive town hall surveying, thereby freeing up councils to focus on looking after the far more vital task of providing frontline local services instead."

The survey was launched in 2008 by the Labour government to give local councils "a citizen’s perspective" on services in their local area and to help councils to plan services. The second survey would have collected 13 national indicators and was planned to take place this autumn.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said the department wrote to local authorities in June recommending they did not to proceed with preparations for the survey.
 

www.regen.net 19/07/2010