MP Survey 2005

One of the main findings of the survey by ComRes is that among MPs who have experience of the Trust, the vast majority judges its Fellowships to be “rewarding and worthwhile”.

Although just over one-third of MPs expressed no opinion – reflecting perhaps that they had no direct experience of IPT Fellowships – among the remainder a massive 98% held this positive view.

The poll, conducted from January to February 2005 among a representative sample of 151 MPs on the ComRes Parliamentary Panel, also found some very positive attitudes towards IPT’s broader role.

One area where the Industry and Parliament Trust’s remit comes in for particular praise is the recognition among many respondents that MPs who understand the impact on business of policy decisions generally make better legislators. Almost four in five (79%) agreed with this statement and just eight percent disagreed.

MPs also showed high levels of awareness of the Trust’s role in promoting mutual understanding between MPs and business – 77% agreed, only one percent disagreed while 23% offered no opinion. It is significant that, of those venturing no opinion, most were from the 2001 intake and therefore may not have had as many opportunities as longer serving MPs to engage with the IPT.

The only area where any extent of disagreement was registered was where MPs were asked for their reaction to the statement “without the work of bodies such as the IPT, it would be difficult for some MPs to develop an in-depth understanding of business issues”. Nonetheless even here the majority of MPs (52%) agreed, with around a quarter disagreeing and a further quarter offering no view (including 43% of the 2001 intake).

MPs likely to offer the most positive view of the Trust and its work were those elected between 1982 and 1997. The 2001 intake of MPs stood out as the group least likely to know about the work of the Trust, and it seems likely that many MPs who fall into this category may still be unaware of the full extent of the Trust’s activities.

ComRes conducts parliamentary surveys of this type on behalf of many different kinds of organisation, and relative to the scores received by many other bodies, the Trust’s results are very positive indeed. Clearly MPs hold the Trust in high regard and many understand – and appreciate – its role in bringing together the worlds of business and policy-making. With another new intake of MPs having just arrived, it will clearly be important for the Trust to make early inroads with the “freshers”.

At ComRes, we shall be conducting regular polling to track parliamentary perceptions in order to facilitate the Trust’s work and to help target its resources most effectively.