Home Office figures show widespread satisfaction with schools

Janet Downs's picture
 2
90% of people in the most deprived areas are satisfied with their schools according to figures on The Poverty Site. This level of satisfaction rises to 93% in other areas.

The Poverty Site used statistics from two Home Office Citizenship Surveys to produce an average which showed that the vast majority of people were satisfied with local schools. However, the Government doesn’t seem to have publicised this data widely. Instead, it rubbishes state schools to such an extent that teacher morale has reached an all-time low.

It appears, then, that Secretary of State Michael Gove has hidden good news, just as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley tried to suppress a report which showed that satisfaction with the NHS was at an all-time high. The Government doesn’t want to draw attention to figures which show high public satisfaction with services that it wants to reform – such data undermines its contention that drastic change is needed.

The Government has cancelled further citizenship surveys on grounds of cost despite most current users expressing concerns about their discontinuation. Could this be because the Government doesn’t want to produce figures which might show that satisfaction with public services decreases as public sector cuts begin to take effect?

Whatever the real reason for stopping further citizenship surveys, one thing is certain – the last ones showed that the huge majority were satisfied with their schools.

 
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Comments

Tim Bidie's picture
Sat, 19/05/2012 - 12:43

In the interests of objectivity, the Poverty Site operator is an expatriate and is refreshingly upfront about his politics:

'My name is Guy Palmer and I maintain this site.

The site went live in 2002. It combines three of my major interests, namely:

Statistics: ........

Politics: the occupation of much of my leisure time when I was a young adult (as an active member of the Labour Party).

IT:.......

In 2007, I emigrated to Australia.'

http://www.poverty.org.uk/summary/about.shtml

Janet Downs's picture
Sat, 19/05/2012 - 15:57

Tim - I'm not sure what your point is. Are you suggesting that because the site operator, Guy Palmer, was a member of the Labour party and emigrated to Australia then he is not presenting the Home Office's own figures in an objective manner?

I note that the Palmer used to run a think-tank, the New Policy Institute, which works with the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The Foundation's website describes The Poverty Site as a "key link". It is unlikely that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation would recommend The Poverty Site it it thought the site was not objective.

http://www.jrf.org.uk/work/workarea/child-poverty

The New Policy Institute has also undertaken work for, among others, the Red Cross, Save the Children, and the Office for Fair Trading.

http://www.npi.org.uk/our-work/

Commenting on his experience of running a think-tank, Palmer said:

"But it also taught me that policy is often driven more by Ministerial whim than actual evidence, and that much of the media is only interested in pandering to their readers' prejudices."

How true.

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