understanding society december 2013 - great britain: the ... · a great deal a fair amount not very...

GreatBritain: the way we live now

December 2013

Ipsos MORI - Understanding Society December 2013

General economic optimism has been rising consistently since the spring after a long period in the doldrums – to its highest level for some years. But people are more pessimistic about their own personal financial situation.

The economy and personal optimism

The recovery

Parties on living standards and the economy

...grow the economy

...best for me personally ...best for the country

... reduce you and

your family’s cost

of living

... ensure that you and

your family benefits from

a growing economy

Despite growing optimism about the national economy, this is not yet translating into a feel-good factor for families’ own standard of living. Just one in seven feel the recent economic upturn has had at least a fair amount of impact on their standard of living, while half say it has had no impact at all. And only slightly more expect economic growth to have much impact on them over the next year.

Which party, if any, do you trust most to...

CONSERVATIVE LABOUR LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

UKIP

The economy, the recovery and living standards

4 5 54 4 3

Conference policies

I am going to read out a number of policies announced by political parties. Which two or three, if any, of the following do you think would be…

*Do you think that your personal financial circumstances will improve, get worse or stay the same over the next 12 months?

Base: 1,019 British adults 18+, 9th – 11th November 2013

Base: 1,004 British adults 18+, 12th -15th October 2013, split sample question- approximately half (c.500) the sample were asked each version

A freeze on gas and electricity prices for 20 months

A freeze on petrol duty for the next 18 months

Raising the income tax threshold so that no-one

earning the minimum wage pays income tax

Free school meals for all children aged under eight

A government scheme to guarantee mortgages for people

buying a home with a deposit between 5% and 20%

25 hours of free childcare per week

50

56

40

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23

22

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44

44

41

33

33

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2431 27

National economic optimism NET 42% / 27% / 27% / 4% +15

Personal financial optimism* NET 23% / 42% / 33% / 3% -10

4% 15% 44% 33% 3%

3% 11% 36% 48% 1%

A great deal A fair amount Not very much None at all Don’t know

Improve Stay the same Get worse Don’t know

Ipsos MORI Economic Optimism Index (net optimism +-%)

What impact, if any, do you feel this growth in the economy has had on you and your family’s standard of living so far?

What impact, if any, do you think the growth in the economy will have on you and your family’s standard of living over the next 12 months?

Do you think that the general economic condition of the country will improve, stay the same or get worse over the next 12 months?

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20

40

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

-64-48

+23+15

IMPACT OF RECOVERY

NOV2013

Infographic: The economy, the recovery and living standards

01.Foreword by Bobby Duffy

02.The way we feel: the national mood in the modern worldWhat do we know about the

attitudes and behaviours of

people living in Britain today?

Daniel Cameron

07.Top advice An interview with Sir Jeremy

Heywood, Cabinet Secretary

Ben Page

13. The way we engage: Political activism in 2013As we see younger

generations becoming less

likely to associate with a

political party what does this

say about British political and

social engagement in the 21st

century?

Gideon Skinner

Tom Mludzinski

18. Switched on or off?What is the public’s

perspective on the UK’s

energy challenges, and what

is the direction of travel?

Edward Langley

23. After Britain?The 2014 Scottish referendum

will undoubtedly mean a

rethink of what it means to be

British.

Sunder Katwala, British Future

26.Keeping fitIs the public open to

behavioural interventions

to help them live healthy

lifestyles?

Louise Park

30. Children of the digital revolutionHow pervasive are information

technologies and how do we

feel about them?

Anne Charlton

Editorial:Gideon Skinner

Chloe Forbes

Bobby Duffy

Daniel Cameron

Information [email protected]

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Scan the QR code below to download an electronic version of this report.

Welcome to the latest edition of the

Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute’s

Understanding Society. In this issue, we

look at the way Britons live now and how

our attitudes, values and behaviours

compare with those in other countries.

The tail end of 2013 has seen

Britain edge into economic recovery and

a relatively strong sense of economic

optimism. But the focus has increasingly

shifted to what type of recovery this

is, who’s feeling the benefit and, in

particular, the growing public concern

about stagnating living standards. We

flagged this much earlier in the year

– the economy has been the national

concern since 2008, but prices have

been the top personal worry – and this

is further illustrated by the infographic at

the front of this publication.

To help us make sense of this

year and the state of British society,

peppered throughout our articles are

findings from our new Global Trends

Survey. This study aims to build a more

comprehensive picture of what matters

to people in Britain, compared with 19

other countries across the world.

The survey has hundreds of

questions covering a diverse range

of subjects including perceptions of

government, our deeper values, views

of some of the key challenges facing

the world and measures of a wide range

of behaviours. We will be reporting

on these findings in much more detail

through 2014 and the data included

here is just a taster of what is to come.

We are also delighted to have an

interview with the Cabinet Secretary,

Sir Jeremy Heywood, Britain’s top civil

servant and the Prime Minister and

Deputy Prime Minister’s most senior

policy adviser. Sir Jeremy considers the

future of the British civil service, the skills

needed to succeed in the civil service

and the role of data in policy-making.

We are also extremely pleased to

have an article on British identity from

Sunder Katwala, director of the think

tank, British Future. He unpicks the

notion of Britishness and its constituent

parts, as well as considering the extent

to which the referendum next year in

Scotland will trigger a further rethinking

of national identities across Britain.

Some of the key topics covered in

this edition include how we understand

success as a nation, our attitudes to

complexity and how optimistic we

feel about the future, compared with

other countries. We also consider our

changing relationships with institutions,

and in particular how our youngest

generation are passively rejecting the

“wholesale” offers from political parties

and other traditional institutions.

The extent to which the public is

open to behavioural interventions – or

nudges – to help them live healthy

lifestyles is also discussed. Nudges

done well can be simple and low-cost

whilst still having a real impact on our

lives, going with the grain of human

behaviour - but the public acceptability

of such approaches still needs to be

considered.

This behavioural focus is also

central to energy policy – but we need

to understand the public’s shifting

beliefs about the causes of climate

change and the viability of renewable

energy sources. Here we take a look

at the public’s perspective on the UK’s

energy challenges, and their own role in

dealing with them.

Finally, we also look at how information

technology affects our lives and the

new concerns it raises. We know that

not all parts of society are embracing

technology to the same extent: within the

huge shifts we have seen in overall take-

up of technology, some patterns seem

set within generations. This has clear

implications for the public sector as it

seeks to move much of its interaction with

citizens online.

We hope you enjoy this update

on our latest thinking on British

public opinion. We remain committed

to sharing the messages from our

research, in the belief that a better

understanding of public opinion and

behaviour will lead to better policy

outcomes and a better society. If you

would like to discuss any of the issues

raised in this report, or wish to learn

more about what we do, please get in

touch. In the meantime, best wishes for

2014.

Bobby Duffy

Managing Director

Ipsos MORI

Social Research Institute

@BobbyIpsosMORI

Foreword

1.

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Figure ONE.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree…‘I measure my success by the things I own’?

Figure TWO.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree…‘I feel under a lot of pressure to be successful and make money’?

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The way we feelThe national mood in the modern world Daniel Cameron

Over recent years the British public’s mood has been shaped to a great extent by the country’s economic performance. The media continues to be dominated by stories about the recession and its aftermath: youth unemployment, more part time and unstable jobs, benefit cuts, house prices, and wider pressures on the cost of living.

As the country finally emerges from

recession there are signs that things

are beginning to change. Concern

about the economy is at its lowest level

since the ‘credit crunch’ (as it was then

called) began in earnest in summer

2008. According to our regular monthly

Issues Index, attention is increasingly

turning to other worries, like the NHS

and immigration. The economy will

continue to be important, particularly if

things take another turn for the worse.

But if the Bank of England is right, and

stronger growth returns next year, the

way people see their lives in Britain will

be less dominated by worries about

the national economy, even if concerns

about personal financial circumstances

look like they will remain for some time

to come.

In the years immediately before the

recession, politicians of all persuasions

talked up the need to take a more

holistic view of what makes for a life

worth living1. They said that focusing on

the economy and individual wealth was

not enough. Instead they argued that

we need to develop a more nuanced

understanding of what drives individual

happiness, before determining the role

government and others should play in

helping to make life more worthwhile

and enjoyable.

Work to develop a set of measures

of national well-being has continued

during the downturn, with the latest

revision to the indicators published

by ONS in September 20132. These

measures of societal well-being are

grounded in research about what makes

individuals feel happy and fulfilled. A

growing economy is not enough on its

own to make a successful country, any

more than increasing personal wealth

is enough to make a life worth living.

Even business leaders are increasingly

making the case that profits on their

own are not enough for successful

companies3.

‘We’ll continue to measure GDP as we’ve always done, but it is high time we admitted that, taken on its own, GDP is an incomplete way of measuring a country’s progress.’

David Cameron, November 2010

As we anticipate a return to priorities

other than the economy, what else can

we say about the attitudes and

behaviours of people living in Britain

today? What is life like for us? And

how are our views changing? Our new

Global Trends Survey aims to build a

more detailed picture of what matters

to people, in Britain and 19 other

countries across the world. There are

hundreds of questions covering a wide

range of topics including perceptions

of government, cultural attitudes,

views of some of the key challenges

facing the world, and measures of

consumer behaviour.

During early 2014 we will be

reporting on these findings in much

greater detail. Ahead of this fuller

analysis, this article pulls together

three themes that emerge from an initial

review of the data – how we understand

success, our views of complexity, and

how optimistic we are about the future.

The meaning of success

In Britain, most of us certainly do

not want to define our personal success

based on the things we own. Just one

in eight (16%) of us agree that we do,

and this view has become slightly less

common since 2008 (20%). What is

most striking though, is the huge range

of attitudes across countries, with

agreement as high as 72% in China.

Britons are in a group who claim lower

material aspirations, alongside citizens

from Sweden, Spain, Canada and the

US. It seems a real and significant split

is emerging between countries like

China, India and Turkey at one end, and

some more developed economies at the

other. The openness to consumer culture

in emerging markets helps explain

why global companies are focusing so

strongly on growth in these countries.

However, there is plenty of evidence

that ‘owning things’ is important in our

culture too. Around £16bn a year is

spent on advertising in the UK4, and

there is an on-going debate about the

influence of advertising and brands on

society5. Our work for the Advertising

Standards Agency and others suggests

that, at a personal level, we generally

value the role products and brands

play in our lives and do not feel unduly

pressured by marketing6. Even so,

we do worry about the wider impact

of consumer pressures on society,

and particularly on children and other

vulnerable groups.7

The Global Trends Survey findings

also suggest that people are feeling

under more pressure to ‘be successful

and make money’. While most of us

continue to disagree that we face


2. 3.

The way we feel

Figure THREE.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree…‘I would like Britain to be the way it used to be’?

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Figure FOUR.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree…‘The world today is changing too fast’?

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Figure FIVE.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree…‘I wish I could slow down the pace of my life’?

pressure to make money (55%), two in

five of us now agree (39%), a significant

increase since before the recession

(27% agreed in 2008). This is linked

to the squeeze on real incomes over

recent years, which has made feeling

financially comfortable more difficult

for all but the wealthiest in society. We

are slightly higher than some of our

European neighbours, but feel under

much less pressure than those in North

America and emerging economies.

Yet these signs of a growing

pressure to make money do not

necessarily translate into a willingness

to take more risks. Overwhelmingly, the

British public think it is better to have a

secure job (57%) than to have a well-

paid one (9%). Even among those who

say they feel under a lot of pressure to

make money and be successful, only

14% think it is better to have a well-paid

job. Perhaps it really is the case that, for

many in Britain, success means having

enough to be comfortable, and feeling

secure about continuing to have enough

in future.

ComplexityIt is a cliché that most of us want

life to be simpler, but it is a theme of

how many Britons perceive their lives.

Most of the British public would like

the country to be the way it used to be.

Nostalgia peaked at the beginning of

the recession in 2008, although now

appears to be dropping slightly as

things start to improve economically.

Another consistent theme is the

notion that life was easier in the past,

irrespective of how true that really is.

Twice as many of us agree that ‘people

led happier lives in the old days when

they had fewer problems to cope

with’ than disagree (61% and 30%

respectively). And the pattern is very

similar when it comes to agreement

that ‘the world today is changing too

fast’ (62%), even if we are among the

least likely to agree across the countries

included in the Global Trends Survey.

This nostalgia for a less complex life

is shared across many countries,

including both developed and emerging

economies. This concern about the

pace of change in nations considered

to be fast-developing success stories

is perhaps counter-intuitive. It seems

the public in these countries are able

to mix pride and confidence in their

development with an awareness of the

downsides and a desire to preserve

what was best about the past8.

Of course it is also worth

remembering that not everyone shares

this view about the past, and that there

are things about modern life we do like.

In Britain, half do not want to slow down

the pace of our lives (51%). Agreement

with this statement is lower in Britain

than in any of the other countries

included in the Global Trends Survey.

Another consistent theme is the notion that life was easier in the past, irrespective of how true that really is.

This suggests our society has

something of a complex relationship

with complexity. Many of us are

nostalgic for a world that changes less

rapidly, and when we think people were

happier. On the other hand, there is

a level of confidence in dealing with

the rapid pace of modern life that is

perhaps surprising given the challenges

it brings to a country like Britain.

Optimism The story on optimism is not

straightforward either. The infographic

at the very front of this publication

summarises public attitudes to the

economy and the effect growth is – and

isn’t – having on our living standards.

Optimism about the general economic

condition of the country has increased,

with 42% now thinking that it will

improve over the next year. But when we

ask the public about personal economic

optimism – whether they think their

financial circumstances will improve, get

worse or stay the same over the next 12

months – just one in four (23%) thinks

things will get better for them personally.

While this is higher than during the

recession (the figure was 14% in March

2011), it highlights the continuing

gap between our expectations of the

economy generally and how we see our

own economic prospects.

But consistent with the view that

money isn’t everything, most of us are

optimistic about ourselves and our

families over the next 12 months (61%).

However, as we think further away from

our immediate experience, our optimism

falls away. Personal optimism bias is a

well-established phenomenon in human

psychology.9 In part this is because we

feel in less control of things outside our


4. 5.

The way we feel

Figure SIX.Q: Looking ahead to the next 12 months, are you optimistic or pessimistic about the following?

The world in general

Very optimistic Fairly pessimistic Don’t knowFairly optimistic Neither optimistic nor pessimistic Very pessimistic

You and your family

The city/town villagewhere you live

Great Britain

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families. Media stories focusing on the

challenges the world faces do not help

either. Nonetheless, the pattern is striking

and largely consistent across countries,

reinforcing the idea that one aspect of

the human condition is to worry about

what happens ‘out there’, even if we

remain optimistic closer to home.

There is much more work to do to

analyse what life in Britain today is like

from the Global Trends Survey. Many of

us hark back to a time when we assume

life was easier, but on a personal

level more of us are content with the

pace of our lives than not. We do not

think success is just about money,

possessions or a great career, but we

do worry about our own economic

prospects in the short term. And it

seems we have more confidence in our

ability to deal with change than might

be expected – an important skill in

adapting to the shifting dynamics of the

modern world.

Many of us hark back to a time when we assume life was easier, but on a personal level more of us are content with the pace of our lives than not.

Top advice An interview with Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary Ben Page

BP: Can you tell us a bit about your current role of Cabinet Secretary and how you approach it?

My role as Cabinet Secretary means

that I am a policy adviser to the Prime

Minister and Deputy Prime Minister

and act as Secretary to the Cabinet,

responsible to all ministers for the

running of Cabinet government.

The most important thing about my

job is that it is impossible to do it without

relying upon my team, the individual

permanent secretaries running their own

departments and Sir Bob Kerslake10 who

runs the civil service.

If you look at my diary, it is a

succession of meetings, some I am

attending as an advisor, some I am

chairing. I have to be able to see the

wood from the trees and be able to spot

the two or three things in an area that

really matter. It is very easy to be sucked

into the detail - there are vast amounts

of paper, huge numbers of emails each

day, many people wanting my time.

That is particularly important when

you are dealing with busy people like

the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime

Minister and you have half an hour with

them. If you are the sort of person who

just sees this as a job 9 to 5, let’s just

maintain status quo and just get out

with no mistakes having been made

at the end of the day, that is a wasted

opportunity. I see this as an opportunity

to help ministers achieve the things they

want to achieve in their time in office.

BP: Do you bring any of your own vision to bear on your role?

On issues about the civil service,

it is important that Bob and I do have

a vision about what needs to change

in the civil service as an organisation

but when it comes to policy, it is very

important that we do not have our own

agenda. Our cue is taken from the

manifestos and the coalition agreement.

That is a place where quite rightly, policy

is set and implementation priorities are

established. It should not matter and

does not matter what my personal views

are. My job is to be a civil servant, if I

wanted to be making decisions I would

be attempting to become a politician.

BP: What would your advice be to someone in their twenties starting out on their career in the civil service?

Good question! My advice would be,

it is a great career, so you made the right

call if you have already decided to join

us. There is no career more varied and

more interesting in any other sector. So

first of all, congratulations!

BP: What is the secret of a successful civil service career?

Ok so if I confine my comments

to the policy civil service if you like,

the Whitehall bit, which is only a small

minority of the overall service. If you

want to be a successful policy advisor,

you really have to be rigorous in your

thinking. You have to be innovative too.

You cannot be stuck in the mud. You

have to be prepared to be out there,

talking to practitioners about what

works. You have to be aware of best the

thinking in academia, think tanks and in

other countries.

You have to be open and you have

to be prepared to stand your ground.

Most ministers I have ever worked with

want fearless and challenging advice.

They do not want yes men or yes

women. Most young people that I meet

are geared up for that and they are not

deferential. They are reasonably tough

minded. That sort of confident mind-

set that someone brings to bear at the

start of his or her civil service career is

exactly what is needed.

BP: One of the trends we see in many occupations, including inside the civil service, is the move towards greater specialisation. How does that affect the civil service overall? Does it help to be brilliant at something or can you be master of several things inside the civil service?

It has never been true that policy

generalists in the civil service are

amateurs; let me just nail that myth

for a second. There is a specialism in

providing policy advice to ministers

or getting legislation through the

House of Commons or the House

of Lords, or helping ministers think

through communications. These are

all specialisms even though we do not


6. 7.

Top advice

think of them as such in our everyday

language in the civil service. We do

need a broader range of specialisms

now than we have ever done before:

digital specialists, commercial

specialists, big data analysts, contract

managers, project managers, as

well as the traditional specialisms of

economists, lawyers, statisticians and

so on.

One of the challenges that we have

in the civil service is to work out what

constitutes a good policy generalist.

How many of those special subjects

do they need to have awareness of?

How far do individual departments

need to have a whole bank of deep

experts or can we rely upon shared

pools of specialists at the centre or

in a department that is available to

others? This is one of the organisational

questions that we grapple with the

whole time.

BP: Do you think having some time in Private Office is essential for anybody climbing the civil service food chain during his or her career?

It is not essential but it is definitely

helpful to understand very clearly how

Parliament works, how ministers work

and the pressures that ministers are

under. It also gives you an ability to see

the wood for the trees, which is a vital

role for any senior person in the civil

service. So you can see in a 20-page

document or PowerPoint the one or two

things that really matter. For learning

those sorts of skills, Private Office is

one way of achieving that.

BP: Thinking about public service reform or indeed the shape of the state, Britain is in a period of fiscal

consolidation. The public sector is handling that pretty well, based on at least the data I look at in terms of public perception11. How do you think the relationship between government and public services has changed over the years? And do you see it changing further in the coming years?

In general, we are all going to

have to become more transparent. The

public will be more and more powerful

in holding public services to account,

either by having budgetary power or

governance power. I see the trend

towards more openness and more

decentralisation.

BP: In your time working in government and public services, you have seen many attempts at reforms of public services. Which policies do you think have been most and least successful?

One generic lesson would be that

reform programmes based on what

frontline practitioners think have a better

chance of being well designed and

properly implemented than those just

conceived purely in Whitehall. It is a

bit of a cliché but involving the people

involved in delivering policy in the

design of policy is an absolute sine qua

non of successful policymaking.

Equally, we have seen under the

current regime, very interesting reforms

involving payment by results contracts.

Transferring the risk to the private sector

or the third sector and greater use of

transparency. I also think the ‘nudge

revolution’ and the work of the Behavioural

Insights Team is incredibly powerful12.

Under the Tony Blair, Michael

We are all going to have to become more transparent. The public will be more and more powerful in holding public services to account, either by having budgetary power or governance power.

Barber13, David Blunkett14 regime

we saw the performance of primary

schools significantly improve over a

short period. That was a top down

approach using targets, which were

successful, at least for a period.

Targets can help when you have abject

performance that needs to be turned

into a basic minimum performance.

It depends on where you are in the

performance trajectory, what technique

is most powerful. Obviously different

governments have their own political

philosophy and a different approach is

required at different times. Depending

on whether you are dealing with trying

to establish floor standards or whether

you are trying to make something good,

better or the best, different techniques

apply. If you are trying to turn good or

average performance into a brilliant

performance, just continuing with

targets from the centre does not really

work. You have to incentivise and free

up the managers of the service to get

truly excellent performance.

BP: You spent three years working at investment bank Morgan Stanley, returning to the civil service in mid-2007. How has that experience shaped your thinking?

It was both a shock to the system

and interesting. It was a very different

environment working in an American

investment bank. It was personally

challenging because obviously I had no

reputation or knowledge in that sector.

The first thing I had to do was go away

and do my professional exams and it

was quite tough going back to school.

So that was interesting but what

did it teach me? You always learn more

about an organisation if you spend a bit

of time outside it. It convinced me that

I actually preferred working on public

policy than making money for other

people. So I learnt a bit about myself.

I also picked up something from

the incessant drive for innovation,

differentiation and creativity that you get

in the best private sector organisations.

Morgan Stanley was constantly

competing for that new idea to convince

companies, chief executives or

chairmen that they had something fresh

to say. That competition occasionally

can spill over into something

undesirable but if suitably harvested, it

can provide very innovative thinking.

Since coming back into the civil

service, I have been quite keen to find

a way of opening up parts of the civil

service’s thinking to external competition.

But you need to do that in a very

cautious way. You do not want to throw

away what the civil service uniquely

brings - a lack of vested interest.

BP: Sounds like you would not be a supporter of the American model where a good proportion of the senior staff change with political regime in power?

I don’t favour that at all. I certainly

benefited from my time in the private

sector and we should have more people

coming in for short spells and such like.

But effectively to review most of the

top tier every five years, or every ten

years, creates major instability around

any changes of government. When we

moved from a long period of a Labour

government to a Coalition government,

the civil service provided some stability.

Reform programmes based on what frontline practitioners think have a better chance of being well designed and properly implemented than those just conceived purely in Whitehall.


8. 9.

Top advice

BP: The civil service did pretty well, I think most people would say.

The civil service did extremely well.

A lot of planning went into that but most

politicians would say that that worked

really well for the benefit of the country.

The other point about that is you

would not attract the best and brightest

to the civil service if they felt there was

a glass ceiling above a certain point

and all the top jobs would go to political

appointees. Despite the fact that our

pay is not the highest people choose

in their droves to come and work for

the civil service. That is because you

can have a whole career in the civil

service, potentially stretching as high as

permanent secretary.

BP: Since the Coalition came to power, big data has been on the agenda. Think-tanks and political researchers believe that a big data revolution will be one of the upcoming global trends. In an age of mass information, do you think this government is equipped to employ big data analytics and use it to aid economic growth and public service improvements? Our latest Global Trends Survey shows the public do have some concerns around data privacy.

There is huge potential but we have

to proceed very carefully, with complete

transparency. The principle should be

that people should control their own

personal data. There is a difference

between personal data and anonymised

data, untraceable back to the individual.

BP: Ipsos MORI found recently in a survey that people said the thing that

would offend them most about a large corporation - be it a supermarket or bank - was not them despoiling the third world, or them paying their bosses trillions, it was actually selling their anonymous data to somebody else15.

You have to have the public’s consent

on this issue. We have to proceed

very carefully and steadily and I would

probably say slowly too. There is more

data sharing we can do and most

people in the country would support that

provided they knew it was happening and

was properly legitimised by Parliament

where necessary. For instance, people get

very frustrated having to give their name

and address multiple times to different

government bodies.

BP: Much has also been made of evidence-based policy-making since 2010. Ipsos MORI conducted a survey for the Royal Statistical Society on public perceptions16. It revealed that the British public are wildly wrong on key economic issues, allowing anecdotal evidence to influence their view of society over objective evidence. For example, out of every £100 spent on benefits, people believe that £20 is fraudulently claimed; the government estimate is 70p. To what extent is it the role of government or the civil service even, to act as neutral arbiters and actually to spend time clarifying misperceptions?

Well it is certainly important that

when we put information out it is as

accurate, informative and well marketed

as possible. We have the Office of

National Statistics and UK Statistics

There is more data sharing we can do and most people in the country would support that provided they knew it was happening and was properly legitimised by Parliament where necessary.

Authority; we have mechanisms in

place when it comes to the data that

is being put out. I do not think you can

necessarily hold us responsible for how

that data is received. We cannot compel

people to read our press releases and

so on.

But we live in straitened times

and we have had to cut our marketing

budgets down. If there are areas

where misperception is causing real

damage to a community or to peoples’

personal health then that would be

an area to prioritise for a public

information campaign.

BP: My hypothesis is that there is, in both government and the private sector, a lot of data and it’s rarely condensed in a helpful way. This is from my professional viewpoint. How do we get more evidence informed policy?

We are better than people give

us credit for when it comes to using

evidence and using data but we need

to be a lot better. There is a view out

there, in some quarters, that the pace

of government these days is much

faster. It is definitely true that the pace

of decision taking has massively

accelerated in my time in government.

Nevertheless, data and evidence are

still very important.

One of the things I am most keen

to pursue as Cabinet Secretary is to

raise the quality of evidence-based

policymaking. So that is partly about

open policymaking and being aware for

example of what front-line practitioners

are doing. You have to have a better

sense of what is happening in other

countries and what the best think-tank

thinking is. Also crucial are the What

Works initiatives and the evidence

centres for social policy that we have

established17.

Dr David Halpern, Head of the

Behavioural Insights Team, is leading

the work for us18. We are aiming for the

centres to match NICE’s record of using

rigorous evidence to shape decisions.

The Education Endowments Foundation

has been designated a What Works

centre to ensure an evidence-based

approach in education policy19. And

we set up four or five other centres that

now have the task of sifting through all

the research work that’s been done,

particularly academic work. The idea is

to run them as control files across the

world and really try to understand which

particular social policy or economic

policy interventions actually have an

effect. This is with a view to making

sure that when we advise ministers

or when commissioners decide what

to commission, they are not wasting

government money. We have a lot less

money to spend than we used to.

BP: To what extent do you think the policy advice that ministers receive before making decisions should be made public or not.

I do not think it should be at all, as

much as I believe in transparency.

BP: I ask because it would be good to see the evidence that ministers were given on which they based their decision.

Our responsibility is to work privately

with ministers so that ministers can

make decisions and then we should

collectively explain the basis on which

We are better than people give us credit for when it comes to using evidence and using data but we need to be a lot better.


10. 11.

Top advice

decisions have been taken. Therefore, I

am all in favour of giving the evidence

and the explanations but I do not

think we should be providing advice

in public. If you force the civil service

to give their advice in public, it will

lead to less candid advice, probably

more risk averse advice and less

innovative advice. And it would blur

accountabilities in my view.

BP: Thank you for your time.

Biography

Sir Jeremy Heywood was

appointed Cabinet Secretary

following the announcement of Sir

Gus O’Donnell’s retirement in

December 2011.

Prior to that, Sir Jeremy Heywood

was Permanent Secretary to two

successive Prime Ministers at 10

Downing Street. He also spent over

three years as a Managing Director

including as co-head of the UK

Investment Banking Division at

Morgan Stanley. Before joining

Morgan Stanley, Sir Jeremy Heywood

occupied a range of senior civil

service roles, including as Principal

Private Secretary to the Prime

Minister (1999–2003).

Prior to that, he had a variety of

senior roles at HM Treasury including

Head of Securities and Markets Policy

and Head of Corporate and

Management Change. He also served

as Principal Private Secretary to

Chancellors Norman Lamont and

Kenneth Clarke and had a spell at the

International Monetary Fund in

Washington DC. His first job in the civil

service was as an Economic Adviser

to the Health and Safety Executive.

If you want to be a successful policy advisor, you really have to be rigorous in your thinking. You have to be innovative too. You cannot be stuck in the mud. You have to be prepared to be out there, talking to practitioners about what works. You have to be aware of the best thinking in academia, think tanks and in other countries.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has more members than all the major political parties in the UK combined20. Our new Global Trends Survey highlights the huge disparity between the public’s involvement with a political party compared with their engagement with charities or campaign organisations. As we see younger generations becoming more individualistic and less likely to associate with a political party what does this say about British political and social engagement in the 21st century?

Party membership figures are down,

dramatically so compared with the

1950s. A House of Commons Library

Report21 published in December 2012

shows that Conservative membership

has fallen from nearly three million in the

1950s to between 130,000 and 170,000

while Labour membership currently

stands at around 193,000 (down from

more than a million in the 1950s).

Highlighting the very low participation

in party politics, our new international

survey reveals that just 3% of British

adults say they have donated to or paid

a membership fee to a political party.

This compares with four in ten (39%)

who claim to have donated money or

paid a membership fee to a charity or

campaigning organisation. Similarly, just

1% of Britons have volunteered their

time to a political campaign in the last

few years compared with 22% who say

they have volunteered for a charity or

campaign organisation.

The international comparisons tell

a story about the nature of political

engagement in Britain. Whether in

terms of donating money or time,

Britain stands out as being relatively

much more interested in charity work

than getting involved in formal party

politics. In both cases, Britons are

among the countries most likely to say

they have been involved in charities, but

with some of the biggest gaps to their

involvement in politics. While few in

any country say they donate to political

parties, there is more of a range in

terms of volunteering time to political

campaigns, especially when compared

to countries such as India, Turkey, Brazil

and Argentina (perhaps reflecting the

trend in some South American countries

towards participatory democracy, also

seen in attitudes towards feeling able

to influence decisions that Ipsos MORI

has seen in other work22). This pattern

is reflected across a range of other

The way we engage Political activism in 2013 Gideon Skinner Tom Mludzinski


12. 13.

The way we engage

Figure SEVEN.Donating to charity vs donating to political parties

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Figure EIGHT.Volunteering time to charity vs. volunteering time to a political campaign

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%

indicators – for example Britons are

more likely than average to say they

have organised an event for charity,

but less likely to have taken part in a

demonstration or march or attended

a public meeting – again especially

compared with countries such as

Brazil or Argentina. The Charity Aid

Foundation’s World Giving Index

also places Britain fourth out of 146

countries in terms of its propensity to

donate (although, interestingly, we only

come 35th for our volunteering of time)23.

Of course, there are many historical,

structural and cultural differences

between countries that will explain

these differences between countries.

Nevertheless, our focus here is on the

UK, and this research ties into other

findings raising important questions

about the health – and nature – of

political engagement in the UK,

especially among young people.

The clearest expression of political

activism is of course voting and while

the 65% who turned out at the 2010

General Election is up on 2001 and

2005, it is still historically low. In

particular, that less than half of 18

to 24 year olds say they voted in the

2010 General Election is a clear sign

of disengagement – or at least that

most young people simply did not care

enough to bother to vote. Generational

analysis of those telling us that they

do not intend to vote at elections

draws out an interesting “competitive

election” effect, similar to that found

in other research (for example, that

carried out by Julianna Pacheco24).

Our analysis shows that a greater

proportion of the younger generations

(generation Y, and to a slightly lesser

extent generation X) seemed relatively

uninterested by the elections in 2001

and 2005, with the proportions saying

they would not vote increasing following

the 1997 election and not coming down

again until the 2010 election started

to loom on the horizon. This reflects

Pacheco’s research, which shows that

the competitive context is a particularly

important driver of political engagement

among the young, where early

experiences of close fought elections

affect not only immediate voting levels

but can continue to affect levels of

participation in future elections.

Declining levels of party

membership and activity are also no

surprise when we take into account

the findings from the European Social

Survey, which shows two similar

patterns to those noted above: an

increasing lack of engagement in formal

political structures in each successive

generation, and Britain being the most

extreme example of this across major

European countries.

While Britain is not alone with this problem, it is starker here than for many of our neighbours.

What the findings shows is that

party identification over the last ten

years is generally flat by generation; it

is just that the younger generations are

far less likely to feel close to a political

party than older generations. This has

obviously worrying implications for the

future of party affiliation, as the older

generations die out.

But the European comparisons

further suggest that while Britain is not

alone with this problem, it is starker

here than for many of our neighbours.

Germany has similar generational

differences (as does France) – but

even for Germany there is a gap of 28

points between the oldest and youngest

generations, compared with a 36 point

gap in Britain. And in Sweden the gap

is just 15 points.

Of course, this trend hasn’t gone

unnoticed - witness Ed Miliband’s

pledge to extend the vote to 16-17 year

olds25, for example.

And political parties are not alone

in facing these problems of increasing

detachment among successive

generations – almost identical patterns

are seen with religious affiliation and

connection to the welfare state26. Going

back to our original discussion about

the difference between charitable

and political involvement, while young

people are, as might be expected, much

less likely to have donated money to a

charity or a political party than older

people, they are equally as likely to say

they have volunteered time to a charity

(25% of 18-34 year olds vs 20% of

those aged 45+). So is there evidence

here of a rejection of formal institutions

by younger people in favour of inaction,

or in favour of different types of action?

Certainly there are figures to add

to the worrying generational patterns

on party affiliation. The Hansard

Society’s Audit of Political Engagement

series has consistently shown interest,

Political parties are not alone in facing these problems of increasing detachment among successive generations – almost identical patterns are seen with religious affiliation and connection to the welfare state.


14. 15.

The way we engage

Key.

Pre war (before 1945)

Baby boomers (1945-65)

Generation X (1966-1979)

Generation Y (1980-2000)

General elections

Figure NINE.Q: How would you vote if there were a General Election tomorrow? % Would not vote

0

5

10

15

20

25

96Year 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 1312

Figure TEN.Q: Do you feel closer to a particular party than all other parties?% Yes

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0 Year 02 03 04 05 06 1107 08 09 10 12

knowledge and participation in politics

to be lower among young people than

other age groups27. But at the same

time there is much evidence to suggest

that young people simply engage in

politics in different ways. Dr Pippa

Norris’ democratic phoenix hypothesis

argues that a traditional view of political

engagement is insufficient for the

developing variety of ways that political

activism can be expressed, and that

“younger generations, in particular, have

become less willing than their parents

and grandparents to channel their

political energies through traditional

agencies exemplified by parties

and churches, but are more likely to

express themselves through a variety

of more ad hoc, contextual and specific

activities”28. Furthermore, even if there

is a withdrawal from the institutions, it

does not necessarily mean that levels

of trust in the individuals are any lower

– indeed, generational analysis of Ipsos

MORI’s Veracity Index suggests that, if

anything, younger generations are more

trusting of politicians than older ones

(although it seems as if the expenses

scandal reduced that gap in 2009).

So perhaps it is just that formal

political institutions are not doing

enough to enable young people to

ensure their political views are taken

into account – regardless of how

they are expressed. But there is still

a sting in this tail. Firstly, analysis of

the European Social Survey by James

Sloan of the University of London29

suggests yet again that the UK seems

to be suffering particularly heavily from

this problem. The gap between youth

political participation and the level of

participation in the population as a

whole is higher in the UK compared to

other European countries (although,

interestingly, once again engagement

in charitable work and volunteering

is relatively high amongst the British

youth). And the same analysis points

to inequalities in political participation

among young people, with rates of

participation higher among those with

degree level education than for those

who left school without qualifications

(although the difference in participation

in newer forms is less pronounced than

for the population as a whole). Even

if there are reasons to have some

optimism that young people have not

opted out of politics completely, there

may still be a significant group who

remain excluded.

As Michelle Mitchell, then Age UK

Charity Director General, pointed out in our

October issue of Understanding Society30:

“Generation Y do not appear to be organising themselves, presenting a strong voice for the issues that affect them and putting political pressure on the parties to respond

with a policy programme to improve their lives. They could potentially learn from the power of a collective voice. The seeds for that activism and agitation are there; it is not to say younger people are not political, they are. They actively participate in interest groups, they organise extremely effectively through digital networks and communications.”

If this mismatch between how young

people choose to be political active

and the types of political activity that

are most recognised by our system

continues, then there is a danger that

we will miss the opportunity to allow

them to shape the way we live now and

in years to come. The gap between youth political participation and the level of participation in the population as a whole is higher in the UK compared to other European countries.


16. 17.

The way we engage

Figure ELEVEN.Q. As far as you know, do you personally think the world’s climate is changing, or not? (%)

Figure TWELVE.Q. How concerned, if at all, are you about climate change, sometimes referred to as ‘global warming’? (%)

91

Yes

No

Don’t know

2005

2010

2013

4 5

156

78

72

19

9

82 2005

2010

2013

71

60

Figure THIRTEEN.Issues Index: Most important issue: Pollution/Environment

Figure FOURTEEN.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree... ‘The climate change we are currently seeing is largely the result ofhuman activity’?

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96Year 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

Key.

Daily Mail

Daily Mirror

Daily Telegraph

Financial Times

The Guardian

The Independent

The Sun

The Times

Anyone who has seen the US TV series ‘Revolution’ will appreciate just how dependent we are on energy31. The show depicts how society disintegrates when one day the lights go out and do not come back on. Of course, the stars continue to have great hair and dazzling white teeth, so it is not all bad.

In the last six months, both Ofgem

and the National Grid have issued

warnings about the increased potential

for power blackouts in Britain32. The

margins are increasingly tight between

supply and demand as the more

polluting power stations are closed.

However, the latest IPCC report

on climate change also reminds us of

the importance of decarbonising our

energy supplies33. The report states

that it is extremely likely that human

influence has been the dominant cause

of the global warming observed since

the mid-20th Century.

But the security of our energy supply

and the need to tackle climate change

are not the only challenges. Energy

has been something of a political

football during 2013. In the same week

as the IPCC report, Labour leader Ed

Milliband pledged at the party’s annual

conference to freeze energy bills for

20 months, if Labour won the next

general election. And with further price

increases announced in October 2013,

the affordability of supply has become

one of the hottest topics around.

What, though, is the public’s

perspective on the UK’s energy

challenges, and what is the direction of

travel? Ipsos MORI’s own research, as

well as studies we have undertaken for

Cardiff University and Department of

Energy and Climate Change (DECC) help

shed light on this critical policy area.

Challenge 1: Addressing climate change

The public appears to be moving

in a different direction to the scientific

community on climate change. While

the scientists are increasingly confident

about man-made climate change, the

public are less so. A clear majority

still believe that the world’s climate is

changing (72%), but this has declined

from 91% in 2005.This is mirrored by

a fall in concern about climate change

from 82% to 60%.

Switched on or off? The way we view energy and climate change Edward Langley

Most of the British public continue

to think the climate is changing and

are concerned about it, but the trend is

clear. What has prompted this increased

scepticism? Our recent research

suggests that at least three factors are

important: the economic situation, recent

weather patterns and media coverage:

• Ipsos MORI’s Issues Index clearly

shows how the British public placed

greater emphasis on the economy

and unemployment after the financial

crash. This was at the expense of other

issues, including the environment.

Even the level of concern about

the environment amongst Guardian

readers has dropped.

• In addition, our qualitative research

shows that some members of

the public feel the cold winters

experienced in recent years are at

odds with their expectations of what

climate change, or ‘global warming’,

‘should’ feel like. Of course, for

others, the very same weather

patterns provide evidence for

climate change34.


18. 19.

Switched on or off?

Figure FIFTEEN.Q: What are the three most important environmental issues in your country? % Future energy sources and supplies

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MexicoRussiaBrazil

Figure SIXTEEN.Q: From what you know or have heard about using nuclear power for generating electricity in Britain, on balance, which of these statements, if any, most closely reflects your own opinion?

Risks outweigh benefits Benefits outweigh the risks

Year 05 10 13

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

0

• Indiscussions about climate

change, the public also reference

contradictory information in the

media about whether climate

change is happening or not. In turn,

this leaves them feeling confused

over what to believe. Older people,

in particular, sometimes feel they

have heard it all before.

Most people here will remember

after World War Two we were told

we were heading to the next ice

age.’ (respondent)

The British public express more

scepticism than other nationalities. Our

new Global Trends Survey shows that

64% of the British public agree that

the climate change we are currently

seeing is a result of human activity.

This compares to an average of 76%

across the 20 nations surveyed, and the

only nation that is more sceptical than

Britain is the US. Fifty-four per cent of

Americans believe in anthropogenic or

human made climate change.35

Despite the trend over recent years,

the majority of Britons still believe in

climate change, and are concerned

about it. The data suggests that

politicians should not rush to abandon

the green agenda; but there also needs

to be leadership on the issue to deal with

the growing undercurrent of scepticism.

Challenge 2: Keeping the lights on

Energy security is a key environmental

concern for Britons. International Ipsos

data from 2011 highlights this as the

most important environmental issue to the

British public, and one that we are more

concerned about than most other nations.

The British public are not comfortable

with the idea of relying on Mr Putin – or

others – to keep the lights on. Indeed four

in five people are concerned that we will

become too dependent on energy from

other nations (81%) and that supplies of

fossil fuels will run out (78%). This concern

may have led to an increased acceptance

that nuclear power should be part of the

energy mix. In contrast to 2005, Britons

are now more likely to feel the benefits of

nuclear power outweigh the risks, although

opinion remains finely balanced.

The public continue to feel most

favourable towards renewable energy

sources, albeit to a lesser extent than in

2010. We have not explored the reasons

for this slight dip in favourability but it

could be linked to increased concern

over how support for renewables might

affect energy bills, or their aesthetic

impact on the landscape. Even so, it

is clear that Britons continue to favour

renewables and want them to be part of

the energy mix.

Challenge 3: Paying the bills

Labour leader Ed Milliband’s focus

on living standards and higher energy

bills is clearly in tune with public

sentiment. His pledge on a retail energy

price freeze was the most popular of

a number of policy announcements

made during the 2013 party conference

season. Ipsos MORI research showed

62% of the British public felt it was the

best policy announcement for them

personally. Indeed, research for DECC

consistently shows that over 80% of

British bill payers are concerned about

the cost of their energy bills36.

As is often noted by commentators

a key element of reducing our bills is

reducing demand, which requires us

to improve the energy efficiency of our

homes and change our behaviours. Our

research for DECC shows that three in

five energy bill payers agree they could

do more to reduce their energy use.

The British public are not comfortable with the idea of relying on Mr Putin - or others - to keep the lights on.


20. 21.

Switched on or off?

Figure SEVENTEEN.Q: How favourable or unfavourable are your overall opinions or impressions of the following energy sources for producing electricity currently? % Very/fairly favourable

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2005

2010

2013

This raises two questions. For

politicians and policy-makers, do we

have the right policies in place to

support the public to reduce energy

use? Politicians are going into battle

on these questions; since Mr Miliband

announced plans at the Labour Party

conference, the Prime Minister has

retorted with an announcement of a

review of ‘green levies’. And for the

general public, the question is to what

extent are we as users prepared to play

our part to secure the nation’s energy

supply? For the moment, the jury is out

on both questions.

As is often noted by commentators a key element of reducing our bills is reducing demand, which requires us to improve the energy efficiency of our homes and change our behaviours. Our research for DECC shows that three in five energy bill payers agree they could do more to reduce their energy use.

2014 could be a decisive year for Great Britain. Scots will vote, next September, on whether to end three centuries of political union in the United Kingdom. Whatever its outcome, the referendum will trigger a further rethinking of national identities across Britain. Indeed, the 2011 Census results appeared to show that British identity has become a minority pursuit, not just in Scotland, but across England and Wales too.

In the Census, 62% of Scots chose

only ‘Scottish’ as their national identity,

with 18% identifying as both Scottish

and British, and 8% just British. If

that eye-catching result boosted the

morale of the pro-independence camp,

it presented a puzzling paradox too.

If most Scots are Scottish, and only

a minority are British too, shouldn’t

that fertile soil produce stronger pro-

independence sentiment? Might those

national identity Census findings foretell

a referendum surprise in 2014?

This appears unlikely. After all,

Census day across Britain was back in

March 2011, shortly before the SNP won

its Scottish Parliament majority and the

chance to call a referendum. In the two

and a half years before those Census

results were publicly released this

Autumn, poll trends on independence

had been characterised by a

remarkable stability: about one in three

favour independence, with a narrow

majority against, though both the Yes

and No campaigns stress that one in

four voters remain undecided, and that

the result is not a foregone conclusion.

What has been little noticed, north

or south of the border, is the striking

similarity between the Scottish findings

on national identity, and those in

England and Wales.

In Wales, of the 66% who gave

‘Welsh’ as their choice of national

identity, just over a tenth also reported

that they felt British, with 58% choosing

Welsh alone

In England, 60% gave ‘English’

as their sole national identity. Another

20% made ‘British’ their only choice.

In England, this reflected a striking

difference between the British identity

of ethnic minority respondents - 70%

identified themselves as British – and

its apparent absence among the white

majority: seven out of ten identified

themselves only as ‘English’, with fewer

than one in three choosing ‘British’

These findings confirm that the

old National Front street slogan of the

seventies ‘there ain’t no black in the

Union Jack’ was decisively routed, but

with a surprising twist. Taken at face

value, the Census results suggest that

Britishness is clearly now a majority

identity among minorities, but only

a minority identity among the white

majority. Could Britishness have come

full circle in a generation, arriving at a

counter-intuitive destination where there

might only be black in the Union Jack?

This widespread embrace of British

identity by ethnic minorities would not

give us a shared national identity if the

creation of a civic, multi-ethnic identity

triggered majority ‘white flight’ from it.

However, there are good arguments

for not over-interpreting these Census

findings. The figures probably reveal

as much about how people fill out a

Census form as about how we feel

about our national identities.

The national identity question was

a new innovation for the 2011 Census.

Respondents could tick as many boxes

as they wanted from a long list – but

the vast majority chose to tick only

one. Nine out of ten across Britain

After Britain?What impact will the 2014 referendum in Scotland have on what it means to be British? Sunder Katwala


22. 23.

After Britain?

selected one option, including eight

out of ten in Scotland.

This may well reflect a certain level of

box-ticking fatigue when filling out a long

Census form. It would be a mistake to take

this failure to tick a second box as a proof

that two-thirds of people do not identify as

British, given the weight of countervailing

evidence, where most people report plural

identities, with Britishness still playing a

significant, supporting role for majorities

across Britain.

Asked directly about their Scottish

and British identities, 24% say they are

‘Scottish not British’. The most popular

answers are more Scottish than British

(30%) and equally both (31%). Most

surveys of the English and Welsh give

broadly comparable results.

For British Future’s State of the

Nation 2013 survey, by 61% to 19%

Scots told Ipsos MORI that they would

still feel British if the country became

independent, a feeling reciprocated

by the English declaration, by 64% to

14%, that they would never think of the

Scottish as being foreign.

IPPR’s detailed research on

Englishness shows a long-term growth

of English identity, surpassing British

identity in overall salience since 2007.

But that research does not support the

Census finding that British identity is

confined to 30% of the English. How

English and British people feel often

depends on the context. Asked by

IPPR which passport they would prefer

to hold, 59% say British and 41% say

English. Ipsos MORI’s polling for British

Future after the Olympic Games found

81% thought the Games would make

people prouder to be British. By 75%

to 8% people agreed that they showed

Britain to be ‘a confident multi-ethnic

society’, a shared pride which resonated

for minorities and white Britons alike.

So the Census results do capture

one key finding – projecting which

identity has primacy in bold primary

colours – but the Census is not an

effective method for capturing the

nuances of national identity in a multi-

national polity.

Scottishness is a ubiquitous identity

in Scotland. Knowing that somebody is

a proud Scot tells us little about whether

they intend to vote Yes or No, because

the referendum is an argument between

Scottish patriots with differing visions

of where Scotland’s best interests lie.

Scottish Social Attitudes surveys show

that ‘Britishness’ is more contested

– and does correlate significantly to

referendum voting intentions, while

Scottishness does not.

Englishness, largely absent from

public discourse beyond the sporting

stadium for so long, is more contested.

There is a fair measure of liberal

ambivalence about the rising salience

of Englishness: some are allergic to

expressions of Englishness, fearing this

will be a grievance-driven reactionary

force. This caricatures the opinion of

those who express an English identity,

though a challenge to the narrowly

metropolitan assumptions of London

opinion is among the drivers of English

identity, in north and south alike. Yet

the left-liberal fear that Englishness

remains ethnically defined is out-of-

touch with how attitudes are shifting.

British Future’s research finds that white

and non-white citizens reject the idea

of an ethnically defined Englishness, by

margins of three to one. The growth of

non-white Englishness has been gradual

and generational, and our public

vocabulary has yet to catch up with

it. English identity is now increasingly

being claimed by clear majorities of the

English-born children and grandchildren

of the first generation of post-war

migrants who felt they were welcomed

as citizens into the British fold, but were

less likely to feel Englishness was open

to them.

The historic tendency of the English

to conflate British and English identity

– usually oblivious to Celtic chagrin

– has been eroded since devolution.

Yet this strengthening of Englishness

arguably makes the English-British more

like the Scottish-British and the Welsh-

British. British identity persists, but may

become a more conscious, civic coming

together - for high days and holidays, as

with the Jubilee and Olympic summer

of 2012, or the solemn ceremonies of

Remembrance – even as the everyday

emphasis in politics and culture is

shifting towards Scottish, Welsh and

English identities. Next year will be a

year in which identity matters, not just

through Scotland’s referendum, but

Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games, the

more inclusive ‘football-Englishness’ of

the World Cup, politicians grappling with

what the UKIP insurgency means, and

the solemn British commemoration of

the First World War Centenary. Expect

2014 to tell a story about how our

identities interact that goes deeper than

which Census boxes we tick.

BiographySunder Katwala is the director of

British Future (www.britishfuture.org). He

has previously worked as a journalist.

He was general secretary of the Fabian

Society think-tank from 2003 to 2011,

and was previously a leading writer

and internet editor at the Observer, a

research director of the Foreign Policy

Centre and commissioning editor for

politics and economics at the publisher

Macmillan. He celebrated his 10th

wedding anniversary with his wife,

Stacy, in 2011, and is the proud father

of four children, Zarina, Jay, Sonny

and Indira. His support for Everton and

Southend United football clubs reflects

an upbringing in Cheshire and Essex,

though he was born in Doncaster,

Yorkshire, to parents who came to

Britain from India and Ireland, to work

for the NHS.


24. 25.

After Britain?

Keeping fitIs the public open to behavioural interventions to help them live healthy lifestyles? Louise Park

Figure EIGHTEEN.Q: Which of the following statements best reflects your thinking about the NHS? (%)

6072

2013

2012

The NHS is a symbol of what is great about Britain and we must do everything we can to maintain it

The NHS was a great project for its time but we probably can’t maintain it in its current form

3021

Neither / don’t know

107

Figure NINETEEN.Q: It is the government’s responsibility to influence people’s behaviour to encourage healthy lifestyles (%)

5248

4746

4541

4039

36

3432

303030

2927

2624

12

RussiaSouth Korea

ArgentinaIndiaSpainItaly

BrazilGermany

PolandAverage

South AfricaSwedenBelgium

TurkeyGreat Britain

JapanAustralia

FranceCanada

US

35

The growing pressures on the NHS gives the government a strong rationale for encouraging people to live healthier lifestyles. But to what extent is the public open to government intervention? And what can (or should) be done to foster their support?

The demands on the NHS are well-

rehearsed. A number of factors are

working together to squeeze service

provision, including constrained public

spending, the increasing costs of care

as a result of an ageing population, and

more expensive technology. The good

news for all of us is that more and more

medical conditions can be successfully

managed and treated, but this too adds

to the burden.

And then there are the public health

challenges. For example, in the context

of all these other demands, how will the

NHS be expected to cope when 47% of

men and 36% of women are expected

to be obese by 202537?

Signs are that the public is starting to

recognise the considerable challenges

facing the health service. The proportion

agreeing that the NHS ‘will face a severe

funding problem in the future’ has been

steadily increasing and now stands at

88%38. And though people still uphold

the NHS as a symbol of what is great

about Britain, there is a movement (albeit

slow) towards expecting that the NHS

cannot be maintained in its current

form39. Indeed, the public is beginning to

anticipate the need for difficult decisions,

with almost half agreeing that, ‘if people

choose not to take care of their health,

the NHS should be able to limit the

treatment it offers them for free’ (47%

versus 33% who disagree)40.

Should government intervene?

Finding ways to encourage people

to take better care of their health could

be one way to reduce the future burden

placed on the NHS. Some would feel

uncomfortable with this kind of focus,

arguing that people do not always have

free choice over their behaviour. Others

would point out that a reduction in

conditions associated with preventable

illnesses will naturally be offset by the

increased demands of a population that

lives longer.

But what do the British public think

about government intervention in their

lifestyle choices?

Evidence from our Global Trends

Survey shows that, as a nation, we are

divided on whether the government

should get involved in people’s lifestyles

or not. Around one third of us in Britain

believe the government should not be

‘interfering’ in people’s lifestyles (35%),

but another three in ten (30%) feel that

the government has some responsibility

for encouraging the adoption of healthy

lifestyles, leaving a final third with no

view either way (35%). Views are more

polarised than in many other countries,

where opinion is often balanced one

way or the other. The range of views

is striking – from 52% supporting

intervention in Russia, to 12% in the US.

Our other work on behaviour change

shows a similar pattern, with deep

suspicion in the US about government

having a role in private decisions.41

Whether or not we support

government involvement, we clearly

believe responsibility for maintaining a

healthy lifestyle remains in the hands

of individuals, at least to a large

extent. Only five per cent of the British

public strongly believe it is the job of

the NHS to keep people healthy – this

compares to a far greater proportion

(39%) who strongly believe it is the

individual’s responsibility to keep

themselves healthy42.

Whether or not we support government involvement, we clearly believe responsibility for maintaining a healthy lifestyle remains in the hands of individuals.


26. 27.

Keeping fit

Figure TWENTY-ONE.To what extent do you support or oppose <an additional/ a 20%> tax being added to the cost of all sugary soft drinks (such as sugar-sweetened colas, lemonades and energy drinks) in an effort to reduce obesity in the UK? (%)

Unspecified tax

Strongly support Tend to oppose Don't knowTend to support No views either way Strongly oppose

16

20% tax

20 29 13 20 2

18 24 20 16 20 3

36 32

41 35

Figure TWENTY.Q: What, if anything, do you think government should do? (Average over all four policy areas) % Strongly support/tend to support

92Provide information

87Provide incentives

69Make behaviour more expensive/ difficult

62Ban behaviour

88Make companies act against behaviour

How can the government secure public support?

The acceptability of government

interventions matters. Levels of

acceptability may impact on the

effectiveness of an intervention,

particularly if the intervention relies on

public uptake of a scheme or product.

And the fact that any interventions are

debated in parliament and the media

also affects the likelihood of these

policies being introduced.

Research shows that the more

‘forceful’ the intervention, the less

acceptable it is to the public43. There is

little objection to government providing

information on how to live a healthy

lifestyle. However, the evidence suggests

information provision alone is ineffective

in modifying risky behaviours44. Public

acceptability diminishes quickly when it

comes to interventions at the opposite

end of the spectrum, for example those

that restrict choice45.

If behavioural interventions are

classified into ‘shove’ and ‘nudge’

categories – what about a potential

‘hug’ from government? How open are

people to the idea of financial incentives

for positive, healthy behaviours? One

recent example of this is the trial of

incentivising new mothers to breastfeed

through the use of shopping vouchers46.

In general, using public funds to

provide a financial incentive to reward

healthy behaviour is not welcomed by

the public. Opposition to this principle

far outweighs support (51% versus

21%)47. It raises too many objections

that may be difficult for policy-makers

to successfully navigate. In recent

research using our Ipsos MORI

Levels of acceptability may impact on the effectiveness of an intervention.

Connects online community, the concept

of financial incentives provoked strongly

negative responses in relation to

fairness (‘why should they be rewarded

for smoking?’) and questions over the

policing of schemes (‘money is usually

effective as a reward but I can’t imagine

how you would enforce it’). Instead,

people expressed a preference for other

interventions – often a reduction in the

costs of living a healthy lifestyle.

So what about how interventions are

framed? How does public acceptability

change depending on the presentation

of interventions?

When asked to comment on the

concept of a fizzy drinks-tax, a common

response was, ‘why should those who

are of normal weight have to pay this

tax?’ Yet the public appears to be more

accepting of an additional tax when

the proposition is framed clearly. For

example, defining the hypothetical

scenario as a 20% tax increase sees

support increase slightly to 41%

(from 36% when the tax rise remains

unknown). While the difference is

relatively small, having the specifics

seems to move some of those who

would otherwise have no views either

way towards having an opinion.

Little research exists in this area.

Since the public is starting to recognise

the need to respond to the pressures

facing the NHS, more should be

done to involve people fully in the

rationale behind different government

interventions. There is a need to

understand how interventions can be

better aligned with individuals’ views

and preferences on the one hand, and

how the benefits of a healthier lifestyle

can be convincingly communicated on

the other.

‘The problem being if we don’t do

something to reverse the unhealthy

styles of living, we will all be paying in

the long-term’ (online respondent)


28. 29.

Keeping fit

Figure TWENTY-TWO.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree…‘We need modern technology because only this can help to solve future problems’?

Chin

a

Turk

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Indi

a

Russ

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Sout

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Braz

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Japa

n

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rita

in

Aver

age

Pola

nd

Aust

ralia

Italy

Sout

h Ko

rea

Ger

man

y

Spai

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Arge

ntin

a

Belg

ium

Can

ada

Swed

en

Fran

ce


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

25

62

28

61

Figure TWENTY-THREE.Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree…‘I cannot imagine life without the internet’?

Chin

a

Sout

h Af

rica

Gre

at B

rita

in

Turk

ey

Indi

a

Pola

nd

Ger

man

y

Aust

ralia

Swed

en

Aver

age

Belg

ium

Sout

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rea

Japa

n US

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ce

Can

ada

Spai

n

Russ

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Braz

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Italy

Arge

ntin

a


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1827

6676

Figure TWENTY-FOUR.Q: Own a smartphone by gender and age September 2013 (%)

Males

Males AB

Males C1

Males C2

Males DE

Females

Females AB

Females C1

Females C2

Females DE

57 79 78 71 62 36 15

61 79 92 86 73 47 23

63 82 84 76 70 34 14

53 79 71 58 60 34 9

47 76 67 56 43 20 7

48 77 71 70 45 27 11

55 87 84 80 52 44 23

54 84 80 77 47 26 6

42 75 62 60 41 18 7

39 67 61 56 38 11 7

70-100% 50-69% 0-49%

All 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Figure TWENTY-FIVE.Q: Accessing the internet by gender and social grade September 2013 (%)

Males

Males AB

Males C1

Males C2

Males DE

Females

Females AB

Females C1

Females C2

Females DE

86 98 97 94 89 80 63

95 100 100 100 100 93 86

94 99 98 99 96 90 74

82 99 95 96 85 74 41

71 92 95 76 71 50 31

81 92 95 94 92 77 48

93 100 98 97 100 93 76

88 98 96 99 93 90 56

76 88 95 91 92 66 34

66 86 90 84 75 53 24

70-100% 50-69% 0-49%

All 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Children of the digital revolutionOur changing views of technology Anne Charlton

Modern life is becoming increasingly technology and data driven. When historians come to look back on these early years of the information technology era, and the subsequent economic and social changes through which we are living, they will likely rank this period alongside the other greatest periods of human change.

One measure of this is the internet

economy’s contribution to UK GDP,

which currently stands at 8.3%.

Forecasts predict that this share will

increase to 12.4% by 201648. Google

executive chairman, Eric Schmidt,

identified the UK as ‘among - if not

the - world leader in this,’ in a speech

at London’s Science Museum last

spring49. This importance of embedding

the internet in British life is not lost on

the Coalition government either. Most

recently, for instance, a Department of

Culture, Media and Sport report showed

that for every £1 the government invests

in rolling-out superfast broadband and

improving access to it, the UK economy

will benefit by £2050.

The Government also acknowledges

the benefits of information technology

to the public sector. The Cabinet Office

estimated in its Digital Strategy that

moving services from offline to digital

channels would save between £1.7 and

£1.8 billion a year51. And the information

technology revolution has helped to

usher in the age of Big Data. Very large

datasets amassed by public services in

the course of their operation can now

be examined and used to improve the

efficiency of services. Policy Exchange

estimates that ‘achieving cutting-edge

performance [in this way] could in time

save the public sector up to £16 billion

to £33 billion a year – equivalent to £250

to £500 per head of the population’52.

But what of the impact of these

changes on the individual? How

pervasive are these new technologies

and how do we feel about them? How

do we perceive they are influencing our

daily lives?

According to our new Global

Trends Survey three-quarters (76%)

of those surveyed feel that technology

generally makes life better and three in

five (62%) would agree that we need

modern technology because this can

help solve future problems. The future

problems and technological solutions

may not be certain now, but the majority

of those in Great Britain appear to

be enthusiastically embracing the

possibilities technology brings.

The past three decades have seen

an unprecedented rise in the use

of technology on a personal level.

According to Ipsos MORI’s Technology

Tracker, over four-fifths (84%) of the

British public now say that they have

access to the internet, an increase

of 23 percentage points since 2007.

Over half of Britons (55%) now have

the ability to stay constantly online via

their smart phones, a growth of 19

percentage points since 2011. And,

three in ten of us (30%) have adopted

tablet technology since the iPad first

came to the market53. Many of us now

live multiscreen lives it seems.

But this comes with new worries.

Our Global Trends Survey shows that

although three-quarters (76%) of online

Britons say that they could not imagine

life without the internet, around half

(45%) say that they cannot keep up

with new developments in technology

because of the speed of change. And

those who feel more comfortable with

the pace of change are, of course, the

younger generations, such that adoption

of information technology is not yet


30. 31.

Children of the digital revolution: our changing views of technology

Figure TWENTY-SIX.Q: How do you access the internet? Please include all ways you ever access the internet. % No access

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0 Year 08 09 11 1210 13

Figure TWENTY-SEVEN.Q: In which of these ways have you used the Internet in the last three months? % Buy products and services online

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0 Year 08 09 11 1210 13

Key.Pre war (before 1945)

Baby boomers (1945-65)

Generation X (1966-1979)

Generation Y (1980-2000)

Figure TWENTY-EIGHT.Q: In which of these ways have you used the Internet in the last three months? % Download/stream music

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0 Year 08 09 11 1210 13

Figure TWENTY-NINE.Q: In which of these ways have you used the Internet in the last three months? % To visit social networking sites, or to look at or/and to take part in discussion forums or blogs

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0 Year 09 11 1210 13

uniform across society. It is worth

keeping in mind that these are findings

from an online survey and thus only

a good approximation of the general

working age population. Respondents

may, however, be more predisposed

to information technology than they

otherwise would if the survey had been

conducted by other means.

Although over time we are seeing

more people moving online and

embracing smart phone technology,

Ipsos MORI’s Technology Tracker shows

that still, those in lower social grades

and older people are less likely to have

access to the internet or own a smart

phone. Gender also appears to be a

factor, as fewer women appear to be

online or smartphone owners.

All of this poses challenges for

the public sector since not everyone

is experiencing the digital revolution

to the same degree. Bridging the

‘digital divide’ is indispensable as

the government adopts a ‘digital by

default’ approach to implementing

welfare reforms and seeks to generate

cost savings by moving to online

communication with service users.

Another way of looking at the ‘digital

divide’ is through a generational frame,

to see whether some cohorts are being

left behind or whether their behaviour

with respect to digital technology

is changing over time. Generational

analysis54 shows different generations

have different levels of access to these

new technologies. The ways they use the

technology they have are also different.

First off, we see that the pre-war

generation are the most likely not to

have embraced information technology

at all. Although the numbers continue to

reduce, in 2013, over half of all of the

pre-war generation (56%) say they have

no access to the internet, compared to

20% for the baby boomers and 9% and

6% for generation X and Y respectively.

The gap between pre-war and other

generations remains consistent such that

for many in our oldest generation, their

lives will be completely untouched by the

internet. Similarly, they are less likely to

have a computer in their household, to

own a laptop or a smart phone.

The pre-war generation are less

likely to use the internet to buy products

and services online than generations

X and Y and the baby boomers, all of

which are significantly more au fait doing

so. In 2013, only 24% of the pre-war

generation said they bought products and

services online, compared to over half for

generations X (65%) and Y (58%), and

the baby boomers (54%). It is interesting

to note that when it comes to buying

products and services online generation

X are leading the way here, slightly

ahead of generation Y. This may be due

to finding themselves living busy lives,

juggling children and jobs, and finding

buying online a time saving device.

However, it is not just the pre-war

generation who have not wholeheartedly

embraced information technology and

all that it can enable us to do. Let’s take

streaming music from the internet as an

example. Ahead of other generations are

generation Y with 42% streaming music

from the internet, compared to three in ten

(31%) of generation X and only 16% and

3% for the baby boomers and the pre-war

generation respectively. Looking at the

patterns of behaviour over time, we see

a distinct cohort effect where the extent

to which a generation has embraced

streaming music is different and already

appears set. Perhaps for generation X

and even more so for the baby boomers,

we are seeing some cultural norms of

needing to ‘own’ the music in a more

conventional sense playing out?


32. 33.

Children of the digital revolution: our changing views of technology

Again, we see this cohort effect

when we look at those who say they visit

social networking sites. Generation Y

are striding ahead with seven in ten of

them (71%) visiting the likes of Facebook

or Twitter, compared to just over half

(56%) of generation X, three in ten (30%)

of baby boomers and only 8% of the

pre-war generation. Unlike our previous

example, we do see more signs of an

upward trend for the baby boomers,

although the pre-war generation seem

unlikely to take up social networking to

any significant extent.

Further worries present themselves

in the form of data privacy. The

government’s Independent Review

of Public Sector Information (2013)

acknowledges, ‘Data allows us to

adapt and improve public services

and businesses and enhance our

whole way of life, bringing economic

growth, wide-ranging social benefits

and improvements in how government

works’55. While we may have become

more enthusiastic about these

possibilities, laws around data

protection and personal data have

been an increasing battleground since

the increase in digital data storage by

public services and private companies.

Around two-thirds of Britons are

concerned about how companies

use information collected about them

online (69%), with a similar proportion

concerned about how the government

will use online information it holds about

them (64%). Moreover, Ipsos MORI work

for Deloitte shows that of all the things

that would make people consider not

use a company again, failing to keep

safe or losing people’s personal data

topped the list, followed by selling

anonymous data about customers to

other companies56. It appears that

misuse of data by companies are worse

than exploiting overseas workers or

damaging the environment.

The scale and range of data

about our behaviour is only going

increase in the coming years - and the

debate about its use will only intensify.

Indeed, this topic of privacy versus

personalisation is something Ipsos

MORI will address further in 2014.

Undoubtedly, information technology

and social media have changed how

younger generations in particular

communicate, connect, engage

and share. Most of us welcome the

opportunities technology brings to us

as individuals, and the government has

a vision of realising the potential of

technology for British society and the

economy. However, there remains the

dual need to reassure Britons that their

data privacy is respected and to ensure

that those perhaps most in need of the

state’s services are not left out as the

ways we use and rely on technology

develop.

The scale and range of data about our behaviour is only going increase in the coming years - and the debate about its use will only intensify.

1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5003314.stm;

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/11/

happiness-science-measure-life

2 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/

well-being/index.html

3 http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/why-making-money-is-

not-enough/

4 http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jul/11/uk-

marketing-budgets-ipa-bellwether-report

5 http://www2.le.ac.uk/study/why-us/discoveries/the-

influence-of-brands-and-celebrity-culture-on-children

6 http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/~/media/Files/

ASA/Misc/ASAHarmOffenceReport.ashx

7 http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/

publications/1441/Childrens-Wellbeing-in-UK-Sweden-

and-Spain.aspx

8 http://www.slideshare.net/IpsosMORI/emerging-markets-

and-the-changing-lobal-order-is-there-a-new-model-of-

development

9 Weinstein, N.D. Unrealistic optimism about future life

events. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 39, 806–820 (1980).

10 Sir Bob Kerslake is Permanent Secretary for the

Department for Communities and Local Government.

Since 1 January 2012, he has also been Head of the UK

civil service, where he gives professional and corporate

leadership to the civil service.


researcharchive/3081/Public-at-tipping-point-on-attitude-

towards-cuts-poll-shows.aspx

12 The Behavioural Insights Team, often called the ‘Nudge

Unit’, applies insights from academic research in

behavioural economics and psychology to public policy

and services. In addition to working with almost every

government department, they work with local authorities,

charities, NGOs, private sector partners and foreign

government, developing proposals and testing them

empirically across the full spectrum of government

policy. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/

behavioural-insights-team

13 Sir Michael Barber is a British educationist and Chief

Education Advisor to Pearson. In the past, Sir Michael

served as a partner and head of the global education

practice at McKinsey, advisor to UK Prime Minister

Tony Blair and a global expert on education reform and

implementation of large-scale system change. He has

worked for over 20 years in education and government

reform and improvement.

14 Rt Hon David Blunkett MP is a British Labour Party

politician. He rose to become Education and Employment

Secretary, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions

Secretary in Tony Blair’s Cabinet following Labour’s

victory in the 1997 general election.

15 http://www.slideshare.net/IpsosMORI/big-data-

opportunity-and-concerns

16 http://www.slideshare.net/IpsosMORI/perils-of-

perception-perception-gaps ; http://www.ipsos-mori.com/

researchpublications/researcharchive/3188/Perceptions-

are-not-reality.aspx ; http://www.ipsos-mori.com/

researchpublications/researcharchive/3188/Perceptions-

are-not-reality.aspx

17 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/

attachment_data/file/136227/What_Works_publication.pdf

18 As What Works National Adviser, David Halpern will

support the development of the What Works centres,

ensuring that they meet the required standards and

deliver on time. He will also set up and chair the What

Works Network Council to promote the network’s

approach across government, advising ministers and

government leaders on the effectiveness of good

evidence in policy and spending decisions. https://www.

gov.uk/government/news/david-halpern-appointed-as-

what-works-national-adviser

References


34. 35.

19 http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/sir-

peter-lampl-welcomes-designation-of-sutton-trust-and-

eef-and-what-works

20 “Nature needs a voice”, RSPB, http://www.rspb.org.uk/

Images/Nature%20needs%20a%20Voice_tcm9-237123.

pdf

21 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05125

22 http://www.ipsos-mori.com/DownloadPublication/1361_

sri-one-world-many-places-june-2010.pdf

23 https://www.cafonline.org/publications/2012-publications/

world-giving-index-2012.aspx

24 Pacheco, J. Political Socialization in Context: The Effect

of Political Competition on Youth Voter Turnout in Political

Behaviour, Vol. 30 No 1 (2008)

25 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24229366

26 http://www.ipsos-mori-generations.com/Religion ; http://

www.ipsos-mori-generations.com/Pride-in-welfare-state

27 http://www.ipsos-mori-generations.com/welfare

28 http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Acrobat/APSA%20

2002%20Democratic%20Phoenix.pdf

29 James Sloan, The ‘Outraged Young’: How Young

Europeans are Reshaping the Political Landscape in

Political Insight, Volume 4, Issue 1, pages 4–7, April 2013


publications/1613/Understanding-Society-October-2013-

Generations.aspx

31 http://www.nbc.com/revolution/

32 https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/75232/

electricity-capacity-assessment-report-2013.pdf

33 http://www.ipcc.ch/index.htm#.UnpyrHARBiM

34 Ipsos MORI research for Defra: Programme of research

on preparedness, adaptation and risk

35 Anthropogenic climate change refers to the production of

greenhouse gases emitted by human activity.


researcharchive/3033/Public-Awareness-Attitudes-and-

Experience-of-Smart-Meters.aspx

37 Tackling Obesities: Future Choices 2nd Edition –

Modelling Future Trends in Obesity and Their Impact on

Health. Foresight, Government Office for Science, 2007.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/bispartners/foresight/docs/

obesity/17.pdf

38 Ipsos MORI/ Department of Health: Public perceptions of

the NHS, December 2012. 1,004 English adults aged 16+

39 Ipsos MORI/ Foundation Trust Network. September/

October 2013. 1,244 English adults aged 15+

40 Ipsos MORI. August 2013. 1,015 British adults aged 15+

41 Ipsos MORI: Acceptable Behaviour. February 2012.

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/

publications/1454/Acceptable-Behaviour.aspx

42 Ipsos MORI. April 2010. 1,646 British adults aged 15+




44 Label, nudge or tax? A review of health policies for risky

behaviours. Galizzi, M. Journal of Public Health Research

2012, volume 1:e5




46 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24900650

47 Ipsos MORI. October 2013. 480 British adults aged 15+

48 ‘The Connected World’, Boston Consulting Group, 2012

49 http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/04/

features/londons-moment


attachment_data/file/257006/UK_Broadband_Impact_

Study_-_Impact_Report_-_Nov_2013_-_Final.pdf

51 http://publications.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/digital/

strategy/#executive-summary

52 http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/

the%20big%20data%20opportunity.pdf

53 http://www.ipsos-mori.com/DownloadPublication/1587_

Ipsos-Mediact-Tech-Tracker-Report-Q3-2013.pdf

54 For further information on Ipsos MORI’s generational

analysis across a range of topics, please visit: www.

Ipsos-mori-generations.com


attachment_data/file/198752/13-744-shakespeare-review-

of-public-sector-information.pdf

56 http://www.ipsos-mori.com/_emails/sri/

understandingsociety/july2012/mobile/no5.html

FIGURE References

1. Source: Ipsos Global Trends Survey

Base: 16,039 adults across 20 countries (1,000 GB),

online, 3-17 September 2013, data is weighted.





Base (2013): 1,000 adults, online, 3-17 September 2013,

data is weighted. (1997-2008) C; 1,00 0 adults








Base: 1,000 GB adults, online, 3-17 September 2013,

data is weighted.




8. Source: Ipsos Global Trends Survey -



9. Source: European Social Survey

All data points represent >200 responses

10. Source: European Social Survey

All data points represent >200 responses

11. Source: Nuclear Power, Ipsos MORI/Cardiff University/

UKERC, 2013

Bases: 2013: 973 British adults, aged 15 and over, 8th -

26th March 2013; 2010: 1,822 British adults, aged 15 and

over, 6th January - 26th March 2010; 2005: 1,491 British

adults, aged 15 and over, 1st October – 6th November

2005


UKERC, 2013





2005

13. Source: Ipsos MORI Issues Index, 1996-2012




15. Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor Base: Between 500-1010

respondents per country, February 2 - 14 2011

16. Source: Cardiff University / Ipsos MORI





2005


UKERC, 2013





2005

18. Source: Ipsos MORI/ Foundation Trust Network (2013)/

British Future (2012)

Base: Sept/Oct 2013 1,118 adults 16-75 living in

England, face-to-face Nov 2012 2,515 GB adults 16-75,

online




20. Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor

Base: c.500 - 1,000 residents aged 16-64 (18-64 in the

US and Canada) in each country, November 2010


36. 37.

References

21. Source: Ipsos MORI

Base: 481 (unspecified)/ 526 (20%

tax) GB adults 15+, October 2013

22. Source: Ipsos Global Trends

Survey

Base: 16,039 adults across 20

countries (1,000 GB), online, 3-17

September 2013, data is weighted.

23. Source: Ipsos Global Trends

Survey

Base: 16,039 adults across 20

countries (1,000 GB), online, 3-17

September 2013, data is weighted.

24. Source: Ipsos MORI TechTracker

Base: c. 4,000 GB adults aged 15+

25. Source: Ipsos MORI TechTracker

Base: c. 4,000 GB adults aged 15+

26. Source: Ipsos MORI Observer





38.

About Ipsos MORI’s Social Research Institute

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