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11 Local Services

INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

Improving local services within communities in Scotland will ensure equitable access to services and amenities, help those who live there have a better quality of life and ensure a sustainable environment, thereby contributing to three of the Scottish Government's strategic objectives: ⁵⁷Enabling people to increase their wealth and more people to share fairly in that wealth; Help local communities to flourish, become stronger, safer places to live, offering improved opportunities and a better quality of life; Improve Scotland's natural and built environment and the sustainable use and enjoyment of it.

The Scottish Household Survey, among other sources, provides evidence that is used to assess progress towards the national outcomes and indicators attached to these objectives and towards the more detailed strategies that underpin them. Specifically, 'improving people's perceptions of the quality of public services delivered', one of the national indicators included in the Scottish Government's performance framework, is monitored using the results from this survey.

This chapter concentrates on local services and focuses on three distinct elements. It begins by exploring adults' attitudes to their local council and the services it provides, examining differences by their age, income, deprivation and area of residence. It continues by investigating how convenient they find access to a range of local services according to the degree of rurality where they live. The final section highlights levels of recycling of various types of household waste and how this has changed over time. The extent to which recycling differs by type of accommodation, access to a car, housing tenure and household type is also considered.

PERCEPTIONS OF LOCAL SERVICES

The Scottish Government argues that achieving public services that are available and accessible to all, and that users find of acceptable standard, will help to attain a wealthier and fairer Scotland. As a result, improving public perceptions of the quality of public services delivered is a national indicator within the Government's performance framework. Specifically, this is a composite measure comprising public perceptions of local health services, local schools and public transport, focusing on levels of satisfaction with those services.

Table 11.1 shows that 57.8% of adults said they were very or fairly satisfied with all three local services. This figure includes those who expressed 'No opinion' for up to two of the services. These are included because the proportion who expressed 'No opinion' varied according to the service asked about, for example those without children might have no opinion about local schools while being satisfied with all other aspects of local services. The base number quoted therefore also includes people with 'no opinion' for up to two service types.

TABLE 11.1: PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE VERY OR FAIRLY SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY OF LOCAL HEALTH SERVICES, LOCAL SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT COMBINED
2007 data

From June 2007, the question from which this is derived was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all random adults.

Table 11.2 shows that individually, adults were most satisfied with local health services (81.9%), followed by local schools (78.8%). Adults were least satisfied with public transport, although almost 7 in 10 (69.9%) were very or fairly satisfied with that service.

TABLE 11.2: PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE VERY OR FAIRLY SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES DELIVERED - OF THOSE WHO GAVE AN OPINION
Row percentages, 2007 data

From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all random adults.

PERCEPTIONS OF LOCAL AUTHORITY SERVICES AND PERFORMANCE

One of the outcomes sought by the Scottish Government's spending review, which is supported by public service providers under the Concordat between central and local government, ⁵⁹ includes an ambition that public services are of high quality, continually improve, are efficient and respond to people's need. This section continues to examine perceptions of public services. In this case, the focus is on views of local authority performance as a whole and the desire of individuals to have a say in local decision making.

Figure 11.1 presents the percentage of adults that agree (strongly or slightly) with a number of statements about their local authority's performance. Agreement with each of the statements, with the exception of the desire to participate in local decision making, signifies that a local authority is perceived to perform well on that aspect of performance (though not necessarily that the individual attaches importance to good performance on that dimension).

Less than half of adults agree with any of the statements. The highest agreement relates to communication; 48% say the council is good at communicating services and 44% that it is good at communicating its performance. A little over four in ten agrees their local authority is providing high quality services, while around a third believe the council is doing its best with the available money (36%); is addressing key issues that affect the quality of life locally (34%) and is providing services designed to meet the needs of local people (33%). On another aspect of communication, just over one in five agrees their local authority is good at listening (21%). While almost four in ten adults (37%) would like to be more involved in the decisions made by the council that affect their local area, only one in five (20%) perceive they can influence such decisions.

FIGURE 11.1: PERCENTAGE AGREEING WITH VARIOUS STATEMENTS ABOUT LOCAL COUNCIL SERVICES AND PERFORMANCE
2007 data, Adults (minimum base: 10,225)

The results for adults as a whole have been further analysed to identify differences in perceptions of local authority performance by age (Table 11.3). In general, perceptions of council performance improve with age. Those aged 60 and over, and particularly those aged 75 and over, are more likely to agree with the majority of the performance statements while younger people in the 16 to 24 and 25 to 34 age groups (especially the former), are more likely to disagree. Exceptions include being good at listening before taking decisions. In this case similar, that is relatively low, percentages of adults up to the age of 59 agree and this does not rise above 21% for these age groups.

The picture is different when considering the ability to, and desire to, influence decisions. Firstly, the percentage of those agreeing they would like to influence local authority decisions (37%) is higher than those who perceive they can have an influence (20%). Those aged 75 and over are the least likely to perceive they can influence decisions (14%) and they are also the least likely to express a wish to be more involved in making those decisions (16%). There is a sharp decline in wanting to influence decisions between the age groups 60 to 74 (31% agree) and those aged 75 and over (16%).

The strongest desire to participate in local decision-making is shown by those aged 25 to 59, 44% of whom would like to be more involved. The gap between desire for involvement and the perception of an ability to influence decisions is largest for the younger adults within this group, those aged 25 to 34; 17% perceive they can influence decisions while 47% agree they would like to be more involved. Among the youngest adults of all, aged 16 to 24, similar levels to those aged 25 to 34 perceive they can influence decision-making (17%) while fewer (37%) want involvement in making those decisions.

TABLE 11.3: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE AGREEING WITH VARIOUS STATEMENTS ABOUT LOCAL COUNCIL SERVICES BY AGE
Column percentages, 2007 data

Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.
* The sum of the bases in the age-breakdown columns is smaller than the overall base because it includes 4 adults who refused to answer and are excluded from the rest of the table.

Table 11.4 examines differences in agreement by net annual household income. On the performance statements, there is less variation between income groups and consistent patterns in the data are less obvious.

When it comes to a perception of being able to influence decision-making, those in the lowest income band are less likely and those in the highest income band are more likely to perceive they can influence decisions (15% compared with 24%). There is little variation among other income bands. One-quarter of those with a household income of up to £10,000 would like to be involved in council decision-making. Thereafter, desire for involvement broadly increases with income. Almost half of those in the highest income band (49%) agree they would like more involvement in the decisions made by their local council.

TABLE 11.4: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE AGREEING WITH VARIOUS STATEMENTS ABOUT LOCAL COUNCIL SERVICES BY NET ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME
Column percentages, 2007 data

Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.
*Includes all adults for whom household income is known or has been imputed.
Household income in the SHS is that of the highest income householder and their partner only.

The SHS also explores differences in agreement with local authority performance by deprivation levels. ⁶⁰ Not surprisingly, variation in agreement is similar to that seen among different household income groups, although the patterns of answers are, in some cases, more obvious. For three aspects of local authority performance: doing its best with the money available, designing services around local people's needs and being good at listening before taking decisions, there is little variation between areas with different levels of deprivation. For the remainder, perceptions of performance tend to decline as deprivation levels increase (for example 44% in the most deprived areas and 53% in the least deprived areas agree 'my local council is good at letting people know about the kinds of services it provides'). Perceptions of being able to influence decisions and the desire to be involved in decision-making vary in a similar way; agreement with both increases as deprivation declines (for example 17% in the most deprived areas and 23% in the least deprived areas agree 'I can influence decisions affecting my local area').

FIGURE 11.2: PERCENTAGE AGREEING WITH VARIOUS STATEMENTS ABOUT LOCAL COUNCIL SERVICES BY SCOTTISH INDEX OF MULTIPLE DEPRIVATION
2007 data, Adults (minimum base: 1,835)

From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.

Finally in this section, the relationship between rurality and attitudes to local authority performance is explored in Table 11.5. In general, degree of rurality shows the least variation in views on local authority performance. In particular, there is relatively little variation in agreement with the two statements concerning communicating about services and performance. Similarly there is also little variation in agreement levels regarding people's perceptions of their council's ability to listen to local people's views before taking decisions.

Equally, differences between adults in different types of area are small in relation to perceiving they can influence decisions and they want to do this. There is a tendency for those in remote areas, both in and out of towns, to agree more than others they can influence decision-making. Those in small towns, either accessible or remote are least likely to want greater involvement.

TABLE 11.5: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE AGREEING WITH VARIOUS STATEMENTS ABOUT LOCAL COUNCIL SERVICES BY URBAN/RURAL CLASSIFICATION
Column percentages, 2007 data

Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.

CONVENIENCE OF SERVICES

One aspect of a strong community is having access to high quality services and amenities. Conversely the strength and vibrancy of communities in areas where facilities and services are lacking is reduced. ⁶¹ Adults were asked how convenient or inconvenient they would find it to make use of a selected range of relatively commonplace services during their normal opening hours, assuming they needed to. In this section the percentage of adults saying they would find access very or fairly convenient is explored, firstly in Scotland as a whole and subsequently within communities in different types of location.

As can be seen in Figure 11.3, the majority of adults would find all of the services convenient if they needed to use them. Over nine in ten (92%) adults would find shopping for small amounts of food convenient, the highest percentage saying this for any of the services. However, under six in ten (57%) adults would find hospital outpatient services convenient, should they need to use them.

FIGURE 11.3: PERCENTAGE WHO WOULD FIND VARIOUS LOCAL SERVICES VERY OR FAIRLY CONVENIENT
2007 data, Adults (minimum base: 10,307)

A consultation paper on tackling poverty, inequality and deprivation as part of implementing the Government Economic Strategy, highlights that a lack of access to services contributes to poverty. ⁶² For example, while the prevalence of poverty varies little between urban and rural areas, there may be differences in the way people experience poverty, as a result of variations in the convenience of access to services.

In the context of relatively high perceptions of convenience for all services, Table 11.6 shows that, for most of the services listed, adults who live in rural areas are less likely to say services would be convenient to access than those in small towns and urban areas. This is particularly the case for public transport (for example 53% of adults in remote rural areas find public transport convenient compared with 87% of those in large urban areas) and dentists (for example 54% of adults in accessible rural areas say dentists are convenient compared with 72% in other urban areas). Adults in small remote towns tend to be more likely to say that services would be convenient to access, if required, than adults in any other areas.

Hospital outpatient departments are least likely to be seen as convenient across all areas of Scotland. Conversely shopping for small amounts of food or grocery shopping is the most convenient for people regardless of the type of area in which they live.

TABLE 11.6: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE FINDING SERVICES VERY OR FAIRLY CONVENIENT BY URBAN/RURAL CLASSIFICATION
Column percentages, 2007 data

Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all random adults.

RECYCLING

The final section of this chapter concentrates on recycling a range of household waste items, firstly across Scotland as a whole and over time, then in more detail by different types of accommodation, car access, tenure and household type.

Table 11.7 shows the percentage of households that reported recycling waste items in the previous month in 2007 and how this has changed since 2003. Considering current recycling first, recycling services are used by the majority (84%) of households in Scotland. The items most households recycled in the last month are newspapers, magazines, paper and cardboard (81%) with two thirds of households recycling glass bottles and jars (67%). Over half of all households recycled metal cans (59%) and plastic bottles (58%) in the last month.

The percentage of adults recycling at least some of the different types of waste has increased considerably since 2003, linked among other things to the increase in recycling services over that period. The percentage of households recycling metal cans and plastic bottles has increased the most; in both of these cases in 2007 over four times as many households recycled at least some of them as did so in 2003.

TABLE 11.7: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE RECYCLING ITEMS IN THE PAST MONTH BY YEAR
Column percentages, 2007 data

Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.
In previous years the questions asked whether or not the household recycled each of 4 items (yes or no). In 2007 this was changed to how much (all/most/some/none) was recycled. There was also a change to the items 'glass bottles' became 'glass bottles and jars' and 'plastic' became 'plastic bottles'.

Recycling of the items is clearly related to the type of property in which households live, reflecting the differing availability of recycling services to residents in different types of property (Table 11.8). For example, 92% of households living in a house or bungalow recycle one or more of these items compared with 55% for those living in high rise flats.

The same relationship is true for the individual waste items between accommodation types; households living in houses or bungalows recycle the most followed by flats (other than high rise) and lastly by high rise flats. ⁶³ The relationship between household waste items within accommodation types remains the same regardless of accommodation; for example newspapers and similar materials are the most recycled household waste items in houses or bungalows and flats of all types.

TABLE 11.8: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE RECYCLING ITEMS IN THE PAST MONTH BY ACCOMMODATION TYPE
Column percentages, 2007 data

* 'All' includes households living in caravans or other accommodation.
Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.

Households with access to a car are more likely to recycle, for example nine in ten households with access to a car recycle compared with a little over seven in ten (71%) without access to a car. This is the case regardless of accommodation type (Table 11.9).

The relationship between accommodation type and recycling seen in Table 11.8 remains regardless of whether a household has access to car or not; a higher percentage of those living in houses or bungalows recycle at least one of the household waste items than in flats. The same relationships are found for every type of household waste.

TABLE 11.9: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE RECYCLING ITEMS IN THE PAST MONTH BY ACCOMMODATION TYPE WITHIN ACCESS TO A CAR
Column percentages, 2007 data

'All' includes households living in caravans or other accommodation.
Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.

Table 11.10 shows the percentage of households recycling at least some of each waste item and of at least one of them according to whether they own or rent their accommodation.

Given the relationship between accommodation type and recycling seen in Table 11.8 and the fact that there are links between type of accommodation and tenure, it would be expected that variations in recycling by tenure might reflect variations in type of accommodation. It can be seen from Table 11.10 that owner occupiers, the majority of whom live in houses or bungalows, are more likely to recycle. Levels of recycling are similar between renters from the social and private rented sector, with the exception of glass bottles and jars, which are more often recycled by private renters.

TABLE 11.10: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE RECYCLING ITEMS IN THE PAST MONTH BY TENURE*
Column percentages, 2007 data

* Revised October 2008

Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.

Recycling also varies according to household type. A lower percentage of single adult and single parent households, and to a lesser extent single pensioner households, recycles each of the waste items and at least one of them, than does any other household type. This is likely to be linked to the type of tenure and the associated accommodation type of these households. ⁶⁴ (Table 11.11)

Older smaller households report the highest levels of recycling overall and for three of the four waste items; for example, over nine in ten (92%) recycle at least one item and a similar proportion (91%) recycles newspapers and other pulp products. Once again this is likely to be linked to accommodation type and tenure of such households. Large and small families report the highest levels of recycling plastic bottles, which may be related to usage, although this is not covered in the SHS.

TABLE 11.11: SUMMARY TABLE - PERCENTAGE RECYCLING ITEMS IN THE PAST MONTH BY HOUSEHOLD TYPE
Column percentages, 2007 data

Columns add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed.
From June 2007, this question was asked of three quarters of the sample. From January to May 2007, it was asked of all households.

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