Charity Parliamentary Monitor 

The Charity Parliamentary Monitor (CPM) is a regular tracking service of the attitudes of MPs and Peers (from May 2002) to charities and the voluntary sector.  Four waves of data collection are made each year for MPs and one wave for Peers, with the fieldwork being carried out by ComRes (who run the UK’s largest Parliamentary survey panel).  Analysis, reporting and interpretation are created by nfpSynergy.  The CPM helps charities understand the effectiveness of their general communications and their lobbying and campaigning work in particular.  This briefing looks at how the CPM works and the (enormous) benefits of joining the Monitor.

What are the benefits of regular monitoring of the attitudes and awareness of MPs and the Lords?

Many charities focus on MPs and the Lords as a key target group for their campaigns and communications.  Our regular poll provides an excellent way of understanding which messages and campaigns and which charities are effective in their campaigning to Parliamentarians.  Whilst anecdotal information may prove useful in assessing the impact of communications, a structured and regular poll provides an objective benchmark on which to measure campaign success.

MPs in particular are the predictors of future general awareness trends.  MPs are paid to listen to their constituents, to lobby groups and be aware of the wider world.  Any shift in general public awareness will almost certainly be preceded by a shift in the awareness of MPs.

MPs will have a detailed awareness of the specific campaigns and activities of charities that the public will not have.  They will have useful insights into how effective charities are in dealing with their constituency enquiries or briefing for speech in the House.

As the second chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords also plays a key role in legislating, debating and questioning the executive and in acting as a revising chamber for many of the more important and controversial bills.  Therefore, the opinions of Peers are also crucial to charity campaigning and lobbying.

By creating a syndicate, individual charities are able to get more frequent (four times a year) and more detailed information (currently over 20 named charities) than an individual charity would get for the same budget.

Current Participants

The costs of the Charity Parliamentary Monitor

The basic cost of CPM is £6,000 plus VAT for a year (i.e. four polls). Clients who already buy our Charity Awareness Monitor (CAM) members will be charged £5,000 plus VAT.

nfpSynergy will be contracted to ComRes and each of the members of the Syndicate contracted to nfpSynergy.

Timings of the poll

The most recent poll took place in January of this year (the first poll was in November 2000). Retrospective data from earlier polls is also available at an extra cost.

Each poll has data from 140-160 MPs.  We guarantee responses from at least 150 MPs each wave from January 2005.

The package for participants in the poll:

• All the general data from each of the two annual polls of MPs relating to all the charities in the poll (the current participants include: Age Concern, Amnesty International, Barnardo’s, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, The Children’s Society, Citizens Advice, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, IFAW, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Help the Aged, Macmillan Cancer Relief, NSPCC, RSPCA, Save the Children, The Salvation Army and WWF). 
• Each participant will have their name on the list of named charities on the questionnaire.  Each participant can also have the name of a charity of their choice added to the list for comparison purposes.
• An annual opportunity to add an individual question to the questionnaire (at an additional cost), the results of which will be available only to the participant (if they so chose).
• Data tables, a PowerPoint presentation and a written commentary on each piece of research.
• Two annual meetings to feedback the summary of the data and put the information into a wider political context.

What questions are asked?

The core questions at the moment for MPs (and similarly for Peers) are:

• Which charities have impressed you in the last 6 months?
• Which specific campaigns can you recall?
• Please name issues you have received correspondence about
• Have you been to a Parliamentary reception held by a charity in the last 6 months?  If so, can you name any that you remember as being good?
• How do you hear about the work of charities? (Most influential and most frequent)
• Which charity first comes to mind in the following areas of work (prompted list)?
• Have you had contact with the following (named) charities in the last 6 months (constituency contact, Westminster contact)?
• How would you rate their effectiveness?
• Are you aware of the following (specific) campaigns?
• What action(s) have you taken regarding each campaign?
• How do you think charities can lobby MPs and get their message across more effectively in the House of Commons?
• Copies of the questionnaires that went to MPs and the Lords are available on request.

ComRes automatically record the relevant data about each responding MP: political party, date of birth, date of first election, marginality of seat, and region and similarly for each responding Peer: political party, type of Peer, length of time as a member.

We are more than happy to arrange a presentation if you are interested to hear more about the Charity Parliamentary Monitor.  For more information on the CPM, please contact Gemma Tracey.