Scottish Household Survey 2021 - telephone survey: key findings

6. Public services

Satisfaction with public services

In 2021, 55% of adults were satisfied with all three of the main public services (local health services, schools and public transport). This is a combined measure of the three services and gives an indication on the 'quality of public services'. The indicator is based on the percentage of adults who said that they were very or fairly satisfied with all three services, or with one or two services if they had no opinion on the other service(s) (Table 6.13).

55% represents a significant decrease in combined satisfaction from 2020, where combined satisfaction was 61% (Table 6.13). The decrease was mainly driven by a drop in satisfaction with local health services (from 88% in 2020 to 78% in 2021) (Table 6.1). The high satisfaction levels in 2020 may have been influenced by positive perceptions of the response of local health services to COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic.

Looking at each public service individually, 78% of adults were satisfied with local health services (Table 6.1); 74% of adults were satisfied with local schools (Table 6.5); and 70% of adults were satisfied with public transport (Table 6.9).

Satisfaction with public services by service users

Service users were more satisfied with local schools and public transport than the whole adult population, but there was no difference in satisfaction with local health services between service users and non-users (Tables 6.4, 6.8, and 6.12).

Satisfaction with public services by urban and rural areas

58% of adults living in large urban areas were satisfied with the quality of public services (local health services, schools and public transport combined), in comparison to 48% of adults living in remote rural areas (Table 6.14). This is influenced by a large difference in satisfaction with the quality of public transport. Adults living in large urban areas were much more satisfied with the quality of public transport (78%) than those in remote rural areas (44%) (Table 6.10).

Satisfaction with public services by level of deprivation

Satisfaction with the quality of public services (local health services, schools and public transport combined) did not vary significantly by level of deprivation, as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). 58% of adults in the 20% least deprived areas were satisfied, compared to 55% of adults living in the 20% most deprived areas (Table 6.15).

Perceptions of local councils

Survey respondents were asked to agree or disagree with various statements about their local council. The statement respondents agreed with most was that their local council does the best it can with the money available (50% of adults agreed) (Table 6.16). However, this opinion varied greatly across age groups. 38% of 16 to 24 year-olds agreed with this statement while a significantly greater 60% of those aged 75 or over agreed (Table 6.17). Adults from the 20% least deprived areas were somewhat more likely to agree with this statement (51% of adults) than adults from the 20% most deprived areas (46% of adults) (Table 6.18).

Approximately one quarter of adults (24%) felt they could influence decisions affecting their local area. At the same time, more adults want to be more involved in the decisions their council make that affect their local area (44% in 2021 compared to 39% in 2020) (Table 6.16).

The highest proportion of adults who said they wanted more involvement in council decisions affecting their local area were in the age groups 25 to 34 (52%) and 35 to 44 (53%). In contrast, adults aged 75 and over were significantly less likely than all other age groups to want this (26% of adults in this age group) (Table 6.17). Adults from the 20% least deprived and 20% most deprived areas were equally interested in being more involved in the decisions their council make (44% of adults from both areas) (Table 6.18).

Adults from the 20% least deprived and 20% most deprived areas had differing views on whether their local council addresses the key issues affecting quality of life in their local neighbourhood. 42% of adults from the 20% least deprived areas agreed to this, while only 31% of adults from the 20% most deprived areas agreed to this (Table 6.18).