The New Place Survey
As local authorities move towards a new 'place-based' approached to delivering services and monitoring performance, so too comes a new way of measuring residents' perceptions of place and satisfaction with public services. The onset of Comprehensive Area Assessment has signalled the end of the triennial BVPI (best value performance indicator) user satisfaction survey as we know it, and in its place comes the new 'Place Survey'.
We already know from Government consultation, and more specifically through our work piloting the new Place Survey on behalf of Communities and Local Government (CLG), that it represents a marked departure from the traditional BVPI approach; with more focus on local area and well-being, and much less on service satisfaction, perceptions of the council and value for money.
How Can Ipsos MORI Help?
The Survey Manual is due to be released by CLG in early June. Given our development work with the pilot studies to date, and our considerable experience with the previous BVPI surveys, Ipsos MORI is ready and waiting for your call.
We are confident that we can meet all the requirements of the Place Survey. Indeed, we think there are key benefits of using a research partner that can provide all the services you require under one roof.
We have the people, the expertise, resources and relevant experience to deliver this research to the very highest standards. We believe our involvement from the outset in the piloting of the questionnaire — and our recommendations in the re-design of a second iteration — place us in good stead to deliver you a research programme that meets the requirements of both the local authority and its partners, and CLG.
We want to quote for conducting your Place Survey. Our experience and quality is such that no procurement process will be complete without an Ipsos MORI quote. Ipsos MORI will be able to offer local authorities:
- Unrivalled experience in the practicalities of carrying out the Place Survey — we conducted more than 140 BVPI General Surveys in 2006/7 (including the other BVPI surveys, we dispatched over 2.5m questionnaires in the last round);
- The flexibility to tailor packages for individual commissioning authorities or consortia working together;
- The ability to use our extensive resources to keep the survey process, from printing, scanning, validation of data, and on to reporting and presentation, entirely in-house;
- Detailed knowledge of the policy background;
- A bespoke mapping service, allowing geographical analysis of perceptions data at the ward, borough, regional and national level to allow for comparison, for example, within and across local authority boundaries;
- Dedicated skills in making best use of the data, including the linking of the findings with other datasets (for example our work on Frontiers of Performance);
- A range of options for each survey, from data processing only through to "full service". Guaranteed peace of mind to know that your Authority will be compliant for all stages of the process.
We would be very pleased to discuss your plans and develop tailored proposals for your authority. To request more details on the Place Survey please contact one of the Ipsos MORI Place Survey team.