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- Citizenship survey - Britons feel they belong
Citizenship survey - Britons feel they belong
| Published | 4 October 2007 |
|---|
Headline findings from a comprehensive survey into citizenship and communities published today shows that the overwhelming majority of people living in England and Wales have a strong sense of Britishness.
Results of the survey - published every two years since 2001 - show that 85 per cent of respondents feel they belong strongly to Britain with Bangladeshis and those over 75 topping the poll at 91 per cent and 92 per cent respectively.
The percentage of people who feel they strongly belong to their neighbourhood is also high at 77 per cent up from 71 per cent in 2003, with 36 per cent of people saying that they belong very strongly.
These findings come from the 2007 Citizenship Survey. Every year almost 15,000 people are asked for their views on issues around community cohesion, discrimination, values, civic engagement and interaction. The biggest survey of its kind, the Citizenship Survey is one of the key tools used by Government to measure the effect of its policies.
The survey reveals that Britain continues to be a cohesive country - 81 per cent of people say that they feel that people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area - and shows that people are actively involved in society with almost three quarters of respondents saying they had volunteered at least once in the last year.
There has also been a significant reduction in the percentage of people from ethnic minorities who feel that they would be treated worse than other races by the police and the prison service since the survey was first carried out in 2001.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said:
"Britain has a great deal to be proud of. This survey shows our commitment to fairness, fair play and civic duty hold true and we live in a society where the overwhelming majority of people get on well together.
"Tolerance and fairness are at the core of British values and it is encouraging that so many people identify so strongly with Britain and are playing such an active role in society.
"But we cannot be complacent. This survey also presents us with challenges and as a government we need to ensure that Britain continues to be a place where people are proud to live and everyone can succeed. That means building on what we have already done to deliver equal opportunities and racial equality and giving people a greater say in way that decisions that affect them are made.
"Immigration causes some people in some communities to be unsettled and concerned and we have to address these concerns head on. We cannot have people talking about issues which their government is unwilling to discuss openly."
The findings for Citizenship Survey: April -June 2007 England and Wales show:
Community Cohesion and belonging
- 81 per cent of people agree that their local area is a place where people of different backgrounds get on well together.
- 85 per cent of people feel they belong strongly to Britain. 77 per cent of people feel they belong strongly to their neighbourhood.
- Older people are more likely to feel a strong sense of belonging to both their neighbourhood and to Britain. Cohesion too is highest amongst the older age groups 75 and over.
Hazel Blears said:
"For centuries individuals from a range of backgrounds have lived side by side with each other, creating a vibrant and diverse nation. The fact that so many people feel such a strong connection to Britain is evidence that there remains more uniting us than dividing us.
"We must not take this for granted though. We must face up to the fact new patterns of migration bring new challenges that we must meet to ensure we build strong and united communities. In the coming weeks, I will be publishing a response to the report from the Commission on Integration and Cohesion setting out what steps need to be taken by central and local government to ensure that we continue to have resilient communities where people can live happily side by side."
Active and empowered communities
- 37 per cent of people feel they can influence decisions affecting their local area. 20 per cent feel they could influence decisions affecting Great Britain. Both measures remain unchanged since 2005 but both have fallen since 2001 where they were at 44 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
- 73 per cent of people of all adults have volunteered formally or informally at least once in the last 12 months, 48 per cent have volunteered at least once a month.
Hazel Blears said:
"The numbers of people volunteering show there is still an appetite for civic engagement - we need to harness that energy.
"Too few people feel they can influence decisions either at a local or national level. There is a general apathy with the political process that we must strive to turnaround around by reinvigorating local democracy.
"That is why the Prime Minister and I have been setting out new ideas to ensure a new form of Government where local people have a stronger voice. We are giving people a greater say in the way that public money is spent, new powers to trigger action from councils on the issues they care about as well as citizens' juries where people will have new opportunities to shape government policy."
Racial discrimination and prejudice
- A fall since 2001 in the number of people from minority ethnic groups who feel that they would be treated worse than other races by the police (from 27 per cent to 23 per cent) and the prison service (from 21 per cent to 15 per cent).
- An increase in the percentage of people who feel that there is now more racial prejudice in Britain than five years ago from 48 per cent in 2005 to 56 per cent in 2007. However, people from minority ethnic groups are significantly less likely than White people to feel that racial prejudice has increased (32 per cent compared to 58 per cent). Furthermore, White people living in more diverse areas are also less likely to feel prejudice has increased.
Hazel Blears said:
"We now have some of the most comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in Europe; targeted interventions in school are raising educational achievement and ethnic employment rates are rising. These are all positive changes but we still have a long way to go.
"Challenging racial prejudice is a collective responsibility. Legislation is vital but this has got to be backed up with actions to change attitudes and improve peoples' experiences. We need to listen to people's fears and address their concerns, challenge misconceptions and breakdown stereotypes. Everyone must have equal access to public services and no one should feel they are disadvantaged because of who they are or where they come from."
The Citizenship Survey has, until now, been carried out every two years. Since 2007 the survey is being conducted on an annual basis with headline findings available every quarter. The figures referred to here are therefore based on the first quarter (April - June 2007) which is made up of a total of 3411 interviews. Subsequent headline findings will be released on a quarterly basis with a full report published once a year.
Notes to Editors
1. The Citizenship Survey is a face to face household survey carried out by Communities and Local Government covering a representative core sample of almost 10,000 adults in England and Wales each year. There is also a minority ethnic boost sample of 5,000 to ensure that the views of these groups are robustly represented. It asks about a range of issues including views about the local area, community cohesion, racial and religious prejudice and discrimination, values, interaction/mixing, political efficacy, civic engagement, volunteering and charitable giving. The survey was first carried out in 2001.
2. The full Statistical Release for the first quarter of the 2007-08 Citizenship Survey can be found here: www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/citizenshipsurveyaprjun2007.
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