Presiding Officer welcomes public attitudes to devolution- National Assembly for Wales releases full survey results

The National Assembly for Wales Commission today (Monday October 13) released the results of one of the most comprehensive surveys undertaken in Wales to gauge attitudes towards devolution and people’s understanding of how the Assembly works.  

The survey was commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales and carried out by Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Welsh Politics in collaboration with GfKNOP.  Over 2,500 people throughout Wales were questioned in June and July 2008.

Key findings within the survey include:

• growing support for the extension of the Assembly’s law making powers;

• public opposition to devolution continues to decline.  Only 15% state that they wish to abolish the Assembly, a percentage that has halved since 1999;

• increased levels of public interest in Welsh politics and the work of the National Assembly for Wales;

• opinion and understanding of the National Assembly is evenly spread across the different regions of Wales;  

• many Welsh citizens are confused about the distinction between the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government;

• clear majority of Welsh people understand the Assembly’s current remit and powers;

• main source of public information about politics in Wales remains television news.

When questioned, 70% of Welsh people supported devolution.  The majority of respondents (39%) wanted Wales to remain part of the UK but to have its own elected Parliament with full law-making and taxation powers.  31% of the people questioned wanted the Assembly to retain its current level of powers and 10% wanted Wales to become a fully independent nation.

Presiding Officer and Chair of the Assembly Commission, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas said:

“The survey’s findings provide the National Assembly for Wales with an invaluable source of information and insight.  I believe that the views gained from the people of Wales reflects a heartening level of interest throughout Wales in the work of the Assembly, and shows growing support for the extension of law making powers to the National Assembly for Wales.  We wanted a level of understanding that was authoritative, current and comprehensive and this report has delivered this.

“As we approach the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Assembly, the report also sets a challenge for us all to reinvigorate our work in the second decade of devolution, and I am sure it will be a catalyst for us all to examine how we can improve our work as Assembly members and our engagement with the people of Wales.”

Copies of the report are available here

Notes to Editors:

1. The Institute of Welsh Politics (IWP) was commissioned by the National Assembly Commission to conduct research into public attitudes towards, and public knowledge of, the National Assembly for Wales, and GfKNOP were sub-contracted by the IWP to conduct the survey.

2. The research sought to address a number of specific topics:
   
   - Measuring broad public attitudes towards the National Assembly and Devolution, and towards giving greater powers to the National Assembly
   - Gauging levels of public interest in, and knowledge of, the National Assembly; and
   - Exploring sources of public knowledge about politics in general, and the National Assembly in particular
   
   
   For all of these matters, the research team was asked to generate data that might be disaggregated by region or by other methods of classification.
   
   

3. The sample for the survey was generated by random digit dialling (RDD), taking in all possible landline numbers in Wales. The sample was stratified by postcode sector across the five electoral regions and potential respondents were screened to check for eligibility. The survey was carried out using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI).

4. A total of 2,538 interviews were conducted across Wales in June and early July 2008. To ensure the sample was representative of the adult population, quotas were set on Age, Gender within working status, and Assembly Region.

5. Survey data were weighted to correct for minor differences between the sample and the population profile. All respondents were offered the choice of being interviewed in Welsh or in English.