Scottish Social Attitudes 2015: Attitudes to Government, the National Health Service, the Economy and Standard of Living
This report provides the findings of the core module of the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2015 on attitudes to government, the National Health Service, the economy and standard of living.
Footnotes
1 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/46/contents
2 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/11/contents/enacted
3 http://scotlandreferendum.info/
4 https://www.smith-commission.scot/smith-commission-report/
5 http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/scotland.html
7 For full details, including time series data, see Tables A2.1 to A2.16 in Annex A.
8 In 1999 the question wording was 'How much would you trust a Scottish parliament to work in Scotland's best interests?'
9 Trust to act in Scotland's best interest is measured on a 4-point frequency scale ranging from 'just about always' to 'never'. Trust to make fair decisions relates to the strength of trust and the answers are on a 5-point scale ranging from 'a great deal' to 'not at all'.
10 The question on how good local councils are at listening to people's views before taking decisions has been asked in 2010 and 2015 only.
11 The question on how good your local council is at listening before making decisions was only asked in 2010 and 2015.
12 In 1999 the question wording was 'Will a Scottish Parliament give ordinary people in Scotland more say in how Scotland is governed, less say or will it make no difference?'
13 In 1999 the question was: 'When the new parliament starts work, which of the following do you think will have most influence over the way Scotland is run?'
14 The figure for the European Union was 1% or less in every year when the question was asked.
15 Reid, Waterton & Wild 2013, Ormston & Reid 2012, Ormston & Reid 2011, Ormston 2010, Ormston 2008, Ormston & Sharp 2007c, Curtice 2007, Given and Ormston 2007b, Bromley and Given 2005
16 Factors explored were: age, gender, education, income, social class, area deprivation (measured by the Scottish Index of Deprivation), urban rural classification, political party identification, constitutional preference, interest in politics, national identity (as measured by where people place themselves on a scale from 'Scottish not British' to 'British not Scottish') and left-right scale.
17 In relation to whether people thought having a Scottish Parliament gives ordinary people more say in how Scotland is governed, there were no significant differences by age, gender or education.
18 Differences by education were only marginally significant.
19 The sample size for Liberal Democrats supporters was small in 2015 and so findings for this group are not reported.
20 Those described as identifying as Scottish chose either 'Scottish not British' or 'more Scottish than British' and those described as identifying as British chose either 'British not Scottish' or 'more British than Scottish'.
21 For full details, including time series data, see Tables A3.1 to A3.15 in Annex A.
22 In 2015, the list included the following answer options: improve standards of education; improve housing; help the economy grow; improve people's health; cut crime, improve the environment; improve public transport; reduce inequality.
23 Note: not all columns add to exactly 100% due either to rounding or because of small proportions saying either 'don't know' (0.4% in 2015) or giving some other top priority (3% in 2015).
24 Measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). SIMD 2012 measures the level of deprivation across Scotland - from the least deprived to the most deprived areas. It is based on 38 indicators in seven domains of: income, employment, health, education skills and training, housing, geographic access and crime.
25 There were no significant differences between subgroups for those who chose education and health as the highest priority.
26 The question was also asked in 1999 but then not again until 2005.
27 26% said that the standard of the health service has fallen 'a little' and 14% that it has fallen 'a lot'.
28 Figures for who gives 'credit' for improvements in the health service are not included in the report. The sample size for those believing standards in the health service in Scotland have increased (12%) is too small to support this analysis.
29 8% said falling standards in the health service were due to the policies of both 'the UK and Scottish Governments'.
30 The difference between 2011 and 2015 was marginally significant.
31 1% said the economy had got 'a lot' stronger and 25% said it had got 'a little' stronger.
32 28% said the economy had got 'a little' weaker and 6% said it had got 'a lot' weaker.
33 1% said the standard of living had increased 'a lot', 18% said it had increased 'a little'.
34 13% said the standard of living had fallen 'a lot', 29% said it had fallen 'a little'.
35 The only factor associated with believing that the economy had weakened was political party identification. 46% of Conservative supporters compared with 40% of Labour supporters and 30% of SNP supporters thought that the economy had weakened in the last twelve months.
36 7% answered that the economy had strengthened due to the policies of 'both the UK and Scottish Governments'
37 10% answered that the economy got weaker because of ' Both Westminster and Scottish Government'
38 26% said that the standard of living has increased because of 'some other reason', 4% said it was due to the policies of 'both the UK and Scottish Governments'
39 17% said that the standard of living had fallen because of 'some other reason', 10% said it was due to the policies of 'both the UK and Scottish Governments'
Contact
Email: Donna Easterlow
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