Publication - Research and analysis

Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2011: Core Module - Attitudes to Government, the Economy and Public Services in Scotland

Published: 24 June 2012
ISBN: 9781780459110

This report uses SSA data from 1999 onwards to explore changing attitudes to government, the economy and public services. It also discusses findings on who people think should be responsible for providing and paying for particular public services.

Supporting documents

ANNEX A - Detailed Tables

Notes on tables

'*' indicates less than 0.5 percent but greater than zero
'-' indicates no respondents gave this answer
All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number (from 2 decimal places, such that 0.49 rounds down and 0.51 up)

Chapter 2 detailed tables

Table A.1: How much do you trust the UK government to work in Scotland's best long-term interest? (column %)

	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
	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Just about always	2	2	3	2	3	3
Most of the time	21	19	32	23	19	15
Only some of the time	53	52	44	48	51	49
Almost never	21	24	18	24	23	31
(Don't know)	3	3	3	3	3	2
(Not answered)	*	-	*	-	-	-
Sample size	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

Table A.2: How much do you trust the Scottish Government/Executive /Parliament* 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
	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Just about always	10	8	14	14	13	20
Most of the time	46	43	57	47	47	51
Only some of the time	33	37	22	31	31	23
Almost never	7	8	4	5	6	5
(Don't know)	3	3	4	3	2	1
(Not answered)	*	-	*	*	*	-
Sample size	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

*Prior to 2004, the question asked about the Parliament. 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. In 2009, the wording was changed again to ask about the Scottish Government, following the September 2007 name change.

Table A.3: How much do you trust the UK government to make fair decisions? (column %)

	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%
A great deal	2	3	2	3	3
Quite a lot	21	30	17	21	15
Some	46	43	48	44	42
Not very much	23	17	24	23	27
Not at all	6	4	7	7	11
(Don't know)	3	3	2	2	1
(Not answered)	-	*	*	-	-
Sample size	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

Table A.4: How much do you trust the Scottish Government to make fair decisions? (column %)

	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%
A great deal	3	4	4	4	8
Quite a lot	29	42	32	32	38
Some	46	39	46	46	39
Not very much	15	8	13	13	11
Not at all	5	2	3	3	3
(Don't know)	3	4	3	2	1
(Not answered)	*	*	*	-	-
Sample size	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

Table A.5: How much would you say you've seen or heard about the work of the UK government over the last twelve months?

	2004	2005	2006	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%
A great deal	11	12	14	23	21	13
Quite a lot	23	27	27	29	27	32
Some	29	26	26	23	26	26
Not very much	31	29	26	19	21	22
Nothing at all	5	5	6	4	4	6
(Don't know)	1	2	1	1	1	1
(Not answered)	-	*	-	-	-	-
Sample size	1637	1549	1594	1482	1495	1197

Note: this question was not asked on SSA 2007

Table A.6: And how much would you say you've seen or heard about the work of the Scottish Government/Executive* over the last twelve months?

	2004	2005	2006	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%
A great deal	9	7	8	14	11	13
Quite a lot	21	24	27	32	27	36
Some	30	28	31	29	31	27
Not very much	33	34	26	20	26	20
Nothing at all	7	7	7	4	4	3
(Don't know)	1	1	1	1	1	*
(Not answered)	-	*	-	-	-	-
Sample size	1637	1549	1594	1482	1495	1197

Note: this question was not asked on SSA 2007

* Prior to 2009, the question asked about the 'Scottish Executive'.

Table A.7: In general how good would you say the Scottish Executive/Government* is at listening to people's views before it takes decisions?

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Very good	1	3	2	2	4	3	6
Quite good	31	32	34	41	44	41	50
Not very good	41	38	39	35	33	37	26
Not at all good	17	16	14	9	8	11	8
(Don't know)	10	12	11	13	11	8	9
(Not answered)	*	*	-	*	-	-	-
Sample size	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

*From 2004-2007, the question asked about the Scottish Executive. In 2009, the question was amended to ask about the Scottish Government.

Table A.8: And how good would you say the UK government is at listening to people's views before it takes decisions?

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Very good	1	1	1	*	1	1	1
Quite good	14	15	17	21	17	21	18
Not very good	50	52	49	50	51	51	48
Not at all good	30	25	27	21	23	20	27
(Don't know)	6	7	7	8	7	7	6
(Not answered)	*	*	*	*	-	-	-
Sample size	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

Table A.9: From what you have seen and heard so far do you think that having a Scottish parliament is giving ordinary people…

	1997*	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
	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%
...more say in how Scotland is governed	37	37	47	47	42	60
...less say	5	5	3	3	4	3
...or, is it making no difference	55	55	45	47	50	33
(Don't know)	4	4	4	3	4	4
(Not answered)	*	-	*	*	-	-
Sample size	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

*1997 data source = Referendum study
**1999-2009 data source = Scottish Social Attitudes survey

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 onwards "Do you think that having a Scottish Parliament is giving…"

Table A.10: 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
	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%
...a stronger voice in the United Kingdom	41	43	61	52	49	69
...a weaker voice in the United Kingdom	6	6	4	5	6	3
...or, is it making no difference?	50	49	32	40	42	26
(Don't know)	3	3	3	3	3	2
(Not answered)	*	-	*	*	-	-
Sample size	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

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 onwards "Do you think that having a Scottish Parliament is giving…"

Table A.11: Trust Scottish Government/Executive 'just about always'/'most of the time' to act in Scotland's best interests, by demographic factors, newspaper readership and political attitudes, 2010 and 2011 (cell %)

	2010	Sample size	2011	Sample size	Change 10 to 11
ALL	61	1495	71	1197	+10
Gender
Men	66	662	77	528	+11
Women	56	833	66	669	+10
Education
None	46	337	61	284	+15
Degree/HE	67	498	79	403	+12
Newspaper readership
Tabloid	58	480	67	398	+9
Broadsheet	66	285	79	211	+13
No paper	61	703	73	563	+12
Party identification
Conservative	59	215	70	124	+11
Labour	60	485	70	353	+10
Lib Dem	72	185	69	68	-3
SNP	75	256	84	397	+9
None	44	205	56	147	+12
Other	53	149	54	108	+1
Interest in politics
A great deal/quite a lot	67	491	83	398	+16
Some	63	510	73	351	+10
Not very much/none	52	494	60	448	+8
Constitutional preference
UK govt should make all decisions	30	142	33	64	+3
UK govt tax, benefits, defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	63	418	67	273	+4
UK govt defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	66	468	75	357	+9
Scottish Parliament should make all decisions	66	424	76	473	+10

Table A.12: Belief that Scottish Government is 'very/quite good' at listening, by demographic factors, newspaper readership and political attitudes, 2010 and 2011 (cell %)

	2010	Sample size	2011	Sample size	Change 10 to 11
ALL	45	1495	56	1197	+11
Gender
Men	46	662	60	528	+14
Women	43	833	53	669	+10
Education
None	37	337	54	284	+17
Degree/HE	48	498	62	403	+14
Newspaper readership
Tabloid	37	480	55	398	+18
Broadsheet	51	285	63	211	+12
No paper	48	703	56	563	+8
Party identification
Conservative	37	215	49	124	+12
Labour	43	485	59	353	+16
Lib Dem	55	185	53	68	-2
SNP	58	256	75	397	+17
None	28	205	26	147	-2
Other	48	149	38	108	-10
Interest in politics
A great deal/quite a lot	51	491	71	398	+20
Some	47	510	60	351	+13
Not very much/none	36	494	42	448	+6
Constitutional preference
UK govt should make all decisions	20	142	20	64	0
UK govt tax, benefits, defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	40	418	49	273	+9
UK govt defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	52	468	61	357	+9
Scottish Parliament should make all decisions	52	424	64	473	+12

Table A.13: Belief having a Scottish Parliament gives ordinary people more say in how Scotland is run, by demographic factors, newspaper readership and political attitudes, 2010 and 2011 (cell %)

	2010	Sample size	2011	Sample size	Change 10 to 11
ALL	42	1495	60	1197	+18
Gender
Men	44	662	67	528	+23
Women	40	833	54	669	+14
Education
None	31	337	54	284	+23
Degree/HE	50	498	67	403	+17
Newspaper readership
Tabloid	33	480	57	398	+24
Broadsheet	52	285	68	211	+16
No paper	45	703	61	563	+16
Party identification
Conservative	30	215	51	124	+21
Labour	40	485	61	353	+21
Lib Dem	49	185	58	68	+9
SNP	60	256	78	397	+18
None	34	205	35	147	+1
Other	34	149	41	108	+7
Interest in politics
A great deal/quite a lot	51	491	74	398	+23
Some	41	510	61	351	+20
Not very much/none	34	494	48	448	+14
Constitutional preference
UK govt should make all decisions	8	142	21	64	+13
UK govt tax, benefits, defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	40	418	53	273	+13
UK govt defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	50	468	63	357	+13
Scottish Parliament should make all decisions	47	424	68	473	+21

Table A.14: Belief having a Scottish Parliament gives Scotland a stronger voice in the UK, by demographic factors, newspaper readership and political attitudes, 2010 and 2011 (cell %)

	2010	Sample size	2011	Sample size	Change 10 to 11
ALL	49	1495	69	1197	+20
Gender
Men	51	662	72	528	+21
Women	47	833	65	669	+18
Education
None	37	337	59	284	+22
Degree/HE	60	498	76	403	+16
Newspaper readership
Tabloid	40	480	66	398	+26
Broadsheet	63	285	74	211	+9
No paper	51	703	69	563	+18
Party identification
Conservative	47	215	65	124	+18
Labour	43	485	67	353	+24
Lib Dem	63	185	65	68	+2
SNP	68	256	83	397	+15
None	38	205	45	147	+7
Other	39	149	66	108	+27
Interest in politics
A great deal/quite a lot	59	491	81	398	+22
Some	48	510	74	351	+26
Not very much/none	41	494	54	448	+13
Constitutional preference
UK govt should make all decisions	13	142	26	64	+13
UK govt tax, benefits, defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	52	418	66	273	+14
UK govt defence and foreign affairs, Scottish Parliament everything else	56	468	70	357	+14
Scottish Parliament should make all decisions	54	424	75	473	+21

Chapter 3 detailed tables

Table A.15: What about the Scotland's economy? Has it got stronger or weaker since (month of interview) 2009?

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
A lot stronger	3	2	2	2	1	*	2
A little stronger	25	21	28	28	7	11	16
Stayed the same	29	34	28	36	11	15	16
A little weaker	22	19	18	10	43	41	39
A lot weaker	5	3	2	1	29	23	18
(Don't know)	17	22	21	22	8	9	9
Sample size	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

Table A.16: What about the general standard of living in Scotland? Has it increased or fallen since (month of interview) 2009?

	1999	2001	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Increased a lot	2	3	4	4	3	4	2	3	2	2
Increased a little	27	27	30	27	25	30	27	13	11	9
Stayed the same	43	45	36	40	45	37	41	25	28	19
Fallen a little	18	15	17	18	17	17	16	38	38	39
Fallen a lot	6	4	7	6	4	5	4	16	16	29
(Don't know)	5	6	7	5	7	6	9	4	4	2
Sample size	1482	1605	1508	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

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"
2004 onwards "since (month of interview) (previous year)".

Table A.17a: Satisfaction with different aspects of life (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011)

	Job?				Family/personal life?				Standard of living?
	2007	2009	2010	2011	2007	2009	2010	2011	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%		%	%	%		%	%	%
0 (extremely dissatisfied/ unhappy)	1	1	2	3	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	1
1	1	3	3	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	1	*
2	3	1	3	2	*	*	*	*	1	1	*	1
3	3	5	3	4	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	2
4	4	3	4	4	2	1	2	2	3	3	3	2
5	10	10	7	9	3	5	5	4	5	7	7	6
6	9	7	6	8	4	4	4	3	7	8	9	7
7	18	18	23	17	11	9	10	10	17	16	18	16
8	28	28	24	28	23	22	20	22	30	27	27	27
9	15	10	13	11	23	22	23	22	19	18	18	18
10 (extremely satisfied/ happy)	9	15	13	13	31	36	34	35	16	17	16	19
Don't know	*	*	*	*	1	*	*	*	*	*	*	-
Not answered	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	-	*	-	-	-
MEAN1	7.04	7.14	7.08	7.08	8.41	8.46	8.39	8.43	7.79	7.64	7.68	7.77
Sample size	827	765	756	674	1508	1482	1495	1197	1508	1482	1495	1197
Sample size excluding DK/not answered	825	764	755	671	1492	1475	1488	1193	1498	1480	1493	1197

Table A.17b: Satisfaction with life as a whole (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011)

	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%
0 (extremely dissatisfied/ unhappy)	*	*	1	1
1	*	*	*	*
2	*	*	*	1
3	1	1	1	1
4	1	2	1	1
5	5	5	6	5
6	7	5	6	7
7	14	14	14	16
8	30	29	27	26
9	23	23	22	21
10 (extremely satisfied/ happy)	19	21	21	22
Don't know	*	-	*	*
Not answered	*	*	*	-
MEAN1	8.06	8.04	8.00	8.04
Sample size	1508	1482	1495	1197
Sample size excluding DK/not answered	1495	1479	1487	1196

Table A.18: Sample sizes for Table 3.2

	2007	2009	2010	2011
ALL	1498	1480	1493	1197
Employment status
In work/ waiting to take up paid work	828	767	760	611
Education/ training scheme	37	35	44	33
Unemployed	62	75	80	58
Retired	378	416	447	355
Permanently sick or disabled	69	82	63	66
Looking after the home	107	87	85	68
Employment sector
Private	752	608	743	572
Public & voluntary sector	466	467	466	391
Self-employed	148	146	170	135
Household Income
Bottom quartile	268	321	409	322
2	375	288	310	208
3	263	259	263	233
Top quartile	323	331	259	205
Self-rated hardship¹
Living very/fairly comfortably	794	699	796	653
Coping	563	590	445	332
Finding if difficult/very difficult	148	183	238	205

1 - NB the wording of this question was changed in 2010, from asking people whether they were living comfortably, coping or finding it difficult on their income, to asking whether they were living comfortably, struggling, or neither.

Chapter 4 detailed tables

Table A.19: Thinking back over the last twelve months*, that is since (month of interview) 2010, would you say that since then the standard of the health service in Scotland has increased or fallen? (1999, 2001, 2003-2007, 2009-11)

	1999	2001	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Increased a lot	2	2	2	3	2	4	2	4	3	4
Increased a little	21	21	18	15	15	16	17	22	16	18
Stayed the same	35	29	25	31	38	31	45	41	35	39
Fallen a little	20	26	26	23	24	23	20	17	21	19
Fallen a lot	14	15	20	23	12	18	6	8	14	12
(Don't know)	8	7	8	5	10	8	10	8	11	9
(Not answered)	-	-	-	-	*	-	-	-	-	-
Sample size	1482	1605	1508	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

*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"
2004 onwards "Thinking back over the last 12 months".

Table A.20: And what about the quality of education in Scotland? Has it increased or fallen since (month of interview) 2010?* (1999, 2001, 2003-2007, 2009-11)

	1999	2001	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Increased a lot	3	3	3	3	2	4	1	2	3	4
Increased a little	23	24	22	23	23	26	18	20	16	16
Stayed the same	32	33	27	37	39	32	45	38	35	30
Fallen a little	17	16	18	15	12	13	10	15	17	18
Fallen a lot	7	5	11	7	5	5	2	4	6	8
(Don't know)	19	19	19	16	20	20	23	22	23	24
Sample size	1482	1605	1508	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

*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"
2004 onwards "since the (month of interview) (previous year)".

Table A.21: And what about the standard of public transport in Scotland? Has it increased or fallen since (month of interview) 2010? (1999, 2001, 2003-2007, 2009-11)

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Increased a lot	5	2	7	4	4	4	3
Increased a little	20	19	22	23	19	14	13
Stayed the same	41	36	34	38	41	45	39
Fallen a little	14	16	12	12	15	12	14
Fallen a lot	8	6	7	6	4	6	7
(Don't know)	13	21	18	17	18	19	23
(Not answered)	-	*	-	*	-	-	-
Sample size	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

Table A.22: Satisfaction with they way the NHS runs nowadays (1999, 2005-2007, 2011)

	1999	2005	2006	2007	2011
	%	%	%	%	%
Very satisfied	9	7	6	10	12
Quite satisfied	46	33	39	41	44
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	17	16	18	14	20
Quite dissatisfied	19	27	29	22	17
Very dissatisfied	7	16	8	11	6
Don't know	1	*	1	1	1
Not answered	*	-	*	*	-
Sample Size	1482	1549	1594	1508	1197

Chapter 5 detailed tables

Table A.23: Who has most influence over the way Scotland is run? (1999-2007, 2009-2011, %)

	1999*	2000	2001	2003	2004	2005
	%	%	%	%	%	%
The Scottish Government/Executive/ Parliament	41	13	15	17	19	23
The UK government at Westminster	39	66	66	64	48	47
Local councils in Scotland	8	10	9	7	20	15
The European Union	5	4	7	5	6	8
(Don't know)	8	8	-	6	7	7
(Not answered)	-	-	-	-	*	*
Sample size	1482	1663	1605	1508	1637	1549
	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%
The Scottish Government/Executive/ Parliament	24	28	33	37	38
The UK government at Westminster	38	47	39	45	38
Local councils in Scotland	18	8	11	7	13
The European Union	11	9	10	7	7
(Don't know)	9	7	7	5	4
(Not answered)	*	*	-	-	-
Sample size	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

*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"

Table A.24: Which do you think ought to have most influence over the way Scotland is run?

	1999	2000	2001	2003	2004	2005
	%	%	%	%	%	%
The Scottish Government/Executive/Parliament*	74	72	74	66	67	67
The UK government at Westminster	13	13	14	20	12	13
Local councils in Scotland	8	10	8	9	17	15
The European Union	1	1	1	1	1	1
(Don't know)	-	5	-	-	3	4
(Not answered)	-	-	-	-	*	*
Sample size	1482	1663	1605	1508	1637	1549
	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%
The Scottish Government/Executive/ Parliament *	64	71	72	74	73
The UK government at Westminster	11	14	13	16	13
Local councils in Scotland	19	9	11	6	11
The European Union	1	1	*	1	1
(Don't know)	4	4	3	3	2
(Not answered)	*	*	-	-	-
Sample size	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

*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. In subsequent years (2005-2007), the question asked solely about the Scottish Executive.

Table A.25: Views on what standards in the health service in last 12 months are mainly the result of…

	2001	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Mainly the result of the UK government's policies at Westminster	53	38	42	39	32	34	23	32	31
Mainly the result of the Scottish Government/Executive's² policies	11	21	20	23	25	23	30	28	31
For some other reason	16	17	18	14	18	17	21	18	17
(Both Westminster and Scottish Executive)	4	7	7	5	7	4	9	4	4
(Don't know)	8	8	9	9	10	13	9	7	7
(Not answered)¹	7	8	5	10	8	10	8	11	9
Sample size	1605	1508	1637	1549	1594	1508	1482	1495	1197

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.

1 NB 'Not answered' includes those routed past this follow-up question because they answered 'don't know' when asked whether standards had increased or fallen in the last 12 months. However, they are included in the base here so that the figures are representative of the views of the population as a whole as to who is responsible for public service standards in the last 12 months.