Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament Monitors

nfpSynergy already carries out tracking research into the attitudes and understanding of Westminster politicians through the Charity Parliamentary Monitor (CPM) and the Attitudes and Awareness Parliamentary Monitor (AAPM). 

However, with the advent of political devolution in 1997 and 1998 in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Westminster no longer represents the breadth of national political decision-making in the UK.

Since October 2003 we have conducted an annual poll of Welsh Assembly Members and Members of the Scottish Parliament, to regularly track political opinion in Wales and Scotland.

Purpose of Research

To help charities and not-for-profit organisations  to understand better how effective their lobbying and communications operations are at the National Assembly for Wales and Scottish Parliament.

What are the benefits of monitoring the attitudes and awareness of MSPs and Welsh AMs?

Many charities, government agencies and public bodies focus on MSPs and Welsh AMs as key target groups for their campaigns and communications in the devolved regions of Wales and Scotland.  Our regular poll provides an excellent way of understanding which messages and campaigns and which charities are effective in their campaigning to Scottish Parliamentarians and Welsh Assembly Members.  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.

By creating a syndicate, individual charities and public bodies and government agencies are able to get more frequent and more detailed information than an individual charity would get for the same budget.

How does the research work?

We will survey MSPs & AMs through ComRes, our main fieldwork agency for parliamentary research.

What questions are asked?

The questionnaires are modelled on the surveys we conduct in Westminster so as to allow for some degree of comparison between results.  If there are particular charities or areas of work that you would like included in the

Timing

We aim to carry out the surveys this November 2007 with results being ready a in January 2008.  Research is repeated annually around November/ December time.

The package for participants in the poll

1. All data from the annual poll relating to all the organisations in the poll.
2. Each participant will have their name on the list of named organisations on the questionnaire.
3. Each participant can also have the name of an organisation of their choice added to the list for comparison purposes.
4. Each participant will be able to nominate a campaign to be included in the questionnaire.
5. A PowerPoint report with all data represented in chart form including commentary.

For further information about the Welsh Assembly Monitor or the Scottish Parliament Monitor, please contact Gemma Tracey.