Vale Viewpoint Survey September 2012

Vale Viewpoint Survey September 2012

Results

Background

Vale Viewpoint is the joint LSB citizens’ panel. A citizens' panel is a large, demographically representative group of citizens who have agreed to be regularly surveyed to allow organisations to gain an understanding of members’ preferences and opinions. The Vale Viewpoint panel provides a resource for all LSB partners to consult residents of the Vale of Glamorgan about the way in which they deliver services and form policy.

Members of the panel were recruited by a number of methods between April and July 2012. When the panel launched in September 2012 it had 901 members.

Results

The first survey of the Vale Viewpoint panel was conducted in September 2012. There were 297 responses. This represented a response rate of 33%.

The response rate is disappointing and means that in depth analysis, for example by location or age group, is not possible. The results of the survey do however provide us with an understanding of how Vale residents in general feel about a number of issues.

The panel were asked a series of questions on community safety, volunteering opportunities, customer contact and influencing decisions.

Community Safety

The first section of the survey focused on community safety issues.

To gain an understanding of how residents perceived crime levels in the Vale the questionnaire asked residents “In the last twelve months what do you feel has happened to crime levels in the Vale of Glamorgan?”

53% of respondents felt that crime levels had either decreased or stayed the same. 13% of respondents felt that crime levels had increased.

Residents were then asked a similar question on anti-social behaviour.

47% of respondents felt that anti-social behaviour had either decreased or stayed the same. However, in this instance a greater number, 22%, felt that anti-social behaviour had increased.

It is notable that both questions resulted in a high number of “don’t know” responses. 35% of respondents did not know how they felt about crime levels and 32% did not know how they felt about anti-social behaviour levels. “Don’t know” responses are normally removed from reported figures to give more accurate results but in this instance the quantity of “don’t know”responses makes them very significant as it suggests improvements could be made in how crime and anti-social behaviour figures and the success of community safety projects are communicated to Vale of Glamorgan residents.

The survey then sought to obtain an understanding of how residents felt about the presence of CCTV cameras in the Vale. Respondents were asked the question “There are 73 CCTV cameras in the Vale. How does this make you feel about crime in the Vale?”

64% of respondents felt that the cameras made them feel either a little or a lot safer. This suggests that the use of CCTV cameras makes the majority of residents feel to some extent safer. 33% responded that they felt no different and 2% felt that the cameras made them feel less safe.

These resultssuggest that the use of CCTV cameras is an effective method of promoting a feeling of safety within the Vale.

Respondents were then asked how safe they felt in a number of situations.

Over 99% of respondents felt either very safe or safe while at home alone during the day. 96% of respondents felt very safe or safe at home alone at night.

94% of respondents felt either safe or very safe while walking in their community during the day. However, only 64% of respondents felt safe or very safe while walking in their community at night.

97% of respondents felt safe or very safe driving during the day. 88% felt safe or very safe driving at night.

There were considerably fewer responses to the cycling questions. However, of those that did express an opinion, 79% felt safe or very cycling during the day. While only 46% felt safe or very safe when cycling at night.

The remaining questions in this section focused on the reporting of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Respondents were initially asked to whom they would report anti-social behaviour in their area.

62% of respondents replied that they would use the non-emergency 101 number to report anti-social behaviour. 16% answered that they would report it to the Council. 13% of respondents said that they would contact the emergency services’ 999 number.

Only 8% of respondents said they would not report anti-social behaviour in their area. However, the reasons given when these respondents were asked why they would not report it are more concerning. Over half of all respondentsthat answered previously that they would not report anti-social behaviour went on to state that this was either because they did not think they would be able to get through to anyone who could do anything about the incident or that they feltno action would be taken if they did report it. A further third of respondents, when asked why they would not report anti-social behaviour, stated that they would not report an incident due to fear of reprisal.

12% of residents surveyed reported that they had been a victim of crime in the past 12 months. Of these only 43% reported this to the police. Those that did not report that they had been a victim of crime where then asked why. In this instance the comments were more varied, however, there was a common feeling that reporting an incident would not result in any action being taken.A selection of the comments made is given below.

• The police didn't want to know.
• No point.
• It is usual a gang of about 10 youngsters ages 11-15. They would leave before I had reported them.
• Fear of retribution.
• It was graffiti on our house wall and car. Did not report because have reported similar to no avail.
• Pointless!
• Did not feel need to report.
• It wasn't worth it.
• Why bother!

Volunteering in the Vale

The second section of the survey asked respondents about their views on volunteering and about any voluntary work that they currently undertook.

53% of respondents reported that someone in their household undertook some form of informal or formal volunteering. The results of this question are shown below.

Unpaid work for a charity or community group / Fundraising for a charity or community group / Any work to help promote or raise awareness of a charity or community group / Providing care, company or help around the house for someone who is not a relative / Transporting or accompanying someone who is not a relative
19% / 15% / 10% / 6% / 6%
Doing shopping, collecting a pension or paying bills for someone else who is not a relative / Babysitting or caring for someone else's children / Giving advice to someone or helping someone else access information or advice / Writing letters or filling in forms on someone else's behalf / Representing someone (for example talking to a Council official) / Other
4% / 7% / 12% / 8% / 4% / 10%

This suggests there is a great deal of informal volunteering currently taking place in the Vale.

92% of all respondents felt that volunteers had a positive impact on their community and the same number felt that more should be done to encourage volunteering in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Respondents were then asked what would encourage them to undertake voluntary work. By the far the most common response was if more information were available on volunteering opportunities. 41% of respondents that did not currently undertake any voluntary work said they would consider doing so if they were made aware of volunteering opportunities in the Vale. This could potentially represent a very large resource for the Vale if volunteering opportunities were more effectively promoted.

A significant number of respondents also suggested that the possibility of gaining accreditation or qualifications from voluntary work would encourage them to start. The potential for this should also be investigated.

Respondents were also asked about their awareness of some of the groups working to promote voluntary work in the Vale. 33% of all respondents had heard of the Vale Volunteer Bureau, 17% had heard of Vale Centre for Voluntary Services and 15% had heard of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action. These results also suggest that more needs to be done to raise the profile of voluntary services in the Vale.

Contacting Us

The third section of the survey sought to gain an understanding of customer contact preferences.

Panel members were asked whether they had contacted any of a list of LSB partners and associated groups in the last twelve months. The results are shown below.

Vale of Glamorgan Council / 71% / Cardiff and the Vale UHB / 28%
South Wales Police / 26% / Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board / 6%
Cardiff and the ValeCollege / 6% / VCVS / 5%
South Wales Fire Service / 5% / Creative Rural Communities / 3%
Environment Agency / 3% / Communities First / 2%

80% of respondents had contacted at least one LSB partner organisation in the past 12 months. This suggests that partners are collectively having some level of dialogue with a large proportion of Vale residents. The potential of this customer contact should not be underestimated.

The organisation contacted by the largest number of respondents was the Vale of Glamorgan Council. This suggests that the Council would be the organisation best placed to direct residents towards information provided by other partners.

Respondents were then asked what their preferred method for contacting public organisations would be for a series of requests. The results allow us to draw some interesting conclusions about preferred channels.

The preferred method of respondents for booking an appointment or service, for making a detailed enquiry and for making a complaintis by phone. However, for all other options there is a clear preference for electronic methods (email and online); 57% of respondents would rather find basic information by sending an email or looking online; 50% of respondents would prefer to use electronic methods to register with an organisation or for a service; 38% would prefer to use online methods to respond to consultations; and 45% would prefer to use these methods to amend personal details.

These results show that while other methods are still being used and so must not be neglected online channels of communication must be further developed and adequately promoted.

88% of respondents said that they would make a complaint if they received bad customer service when contacting an organisation. Nearly half of the respondents that offered a reason why they would not make a complaint stated that they did not feel this would have any impact. This perception that public organisations do not react to the views and experiences of residents was a common theme in the final section of the survey.

Influencing Decisions

The final section of the survey sought to ascertain how confident the panel were that they could influence the way in which public organisations worked.The results suggest that there is still a large amount of work to be done in this area.

43% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “Public organisations want to know my opinion”. Only 33% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I can influence decisions in my local area” and only 17% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “Public organisations act on my feedback”.

These results illustrate a general feeling of cynicism towards public organisations in the Vale that must be addressed.

Conclusion

The results of the first Vale Viewpoint survey offer an insight into how residents in the Vale feel about a range of issues. In addition to this the data gathered allows us to indentify a number of opportunities to improve the way in which LSB partners provide services to Vale residents.

The results of the survey suggest that there is cause for the LSB to consider how partners can work collectively to improve the way in which;

1. community safety figures, especially low or decreasing rates of crime and anti-social behaviour, are communicated to residents;

1. volunteering opportunities are promoted in the Vale;

1. residents are encouraged to use electronic/online methods to contact public organisations in the Vale;

1. opportunities for residents to engage with partners and influence decisions, including via the Vale Viewpoint panel, are promoted

It is important that the results of this survey are acted upon and that meaningful feedback is provided to those residents that took part. Doing so will challenge some of the negative perceptions held by Vale residents and also help to ensure the continued response of participants and encourage an improved response rate from the panel to future surveys.