Local Government Candidates Survey 2022

4. Methodology

Questionnaire Design

The survey was designed to collect data on all protected characteristics, excluding marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity, reflecting the approach set out in Section 106 of the Equality Act 2010. This therefore includes:

• Age;
• Sex;
• Gender reassignment;
• Disability;
• Race;
• Religion or belief;
• Sexual orientation

In addition, a number of questions on socio-economic status in line with the Fairer Scotland Duty, and questions on previous experience as a candidate / elected representative and caring responsibilities have been included.

In designing the questionnaire a range of factors were considered including that the questions should allow comparison of the profile of election candidates with the Scottish population where possible.

Response rates for similar surveys have been low. In order to seek to maximise the likelihood of candidates responding, the questionnaire was designed to be as short and straightforward to complete as possible, as set out below:

• Candidates may find some questions more sensitive than others. Instructions were therefore provided to respondents making clear that questions are voluntary and if there are any questions they do not want to answer, they could just go on to the next one.
• Questions were designed to be proportionate and gather only as much detail as required to obtain a picture across the protected characteristics.
• Accessibility - ensuring the questionnaires were available in formats that meet the needs of respondents.

The questionnaire has been developed along the lines of equality monitoring forms and diversity monitoring forms that are commonly used in a range of settings. While diversity monitoring forms are commonly used in a range of settings, there is not a single existing suite of agreed questions to use for this purpose^[4], and indeed one of the weaknesses noted in the EHRC's report about the currently available data on election candidates, was the lack of consistency in data collection, and the associated "fragmented picture across protected characteristics with many gaps" ^[5]. In response to this a review was undertaken on key sources of guidance for collecting diversity data, approaches taken by different surveys, and advice was sought from a number of equality and diversity stakeholders.

The full list of questions as well as the rationale for each question and the potential response options can be found at: 2022 Local Government Candidate Diversity Questionnaire (www.gov.scot).

Engagement with stakeholders indicated that an approach that provides both an electronic and a paper-based option for responding would best meet candidate's needs. Therefore the questionnaire was provided (alongside an information leaflet) in the following formats:

1. As an online survey, accessible via a QR code and hyperlink provided on the paper and printable questionnaire taking candidates to an electronic version of the survey to enable them to complete it on their phones or other electronic devices;

2. As a paper form, leaflet and return envelope given out with nomination papers by Returning Officers (marked as non-mandatory); and

3. As a printable form and leaflet available to download online and print (marked as non-mandatory) for those not travelling to collect nomination papers from their council office.

Responses and & Analysis Approach

The survey was launched in February 2022 and remained live until the end of June 2022. Overall 2,548 candidates stood for election and 720 responded to the survey therefore the final overall response rate received was 28.2% This compares favourably to other Local Government candidate surveys, nonetheless we should recognise that as not all candidates responded to the survey, the results presented here refer only to the candidates that did respond and not to all candidates that stood for election (Table 1).

Note: 3 candidates could not be identified by name and therefore their elected status is unknown. Additionally 3 candidates who stood in uncontested seats have been included under the elected status.

The table above demonstrates that elected candidates responded at a somewhat higher rate (30.6%) compared to unelected candidates (25.8%).

Analysing response rates by Local Authority response rates ranged from a low of 13.9% in Clackmannanshire to 71.4% in the Orkney Islands (Table 2).

n = 719 as one unidentifiable candidate did not indicate which Local Authority they were running in

It should be noted that a number of duplicate responses were received due to candidates responding to the survey on more than one occasion. All duplicate responses have been deleted resulting in only one response per candidate. Where there were duplicates the most complete response was retained, if responses were equally complete then the most recent response was retained for analysis.

Unique identifiers were applied to each candidate. In addition, candidates were requested to provide their names to allow cross-referencing against published lists to determine who had been successfully elected. Names were deleted within 30 days of the final dataset being received as stated in the privacy document^[6].

Some candidates chose not to answer all questions, the analysis therefore only includes valid responses for each question and therefore a different base number may exist per variable.

With regards to how the data has been analysed and presented within this report it should be noted that the findings have not been weighted or had confidence intervals applied nor has any statistical significance testing been conducted. There is therefore an unknown margin of error associated with each result.

It should be noted that a percentage may be quoted in the text that combines two or more of the percentages shown in tables or figures. Minor differences between figures shown in the tables and figures and text may occur due to rounding.

Throughout the report candidates that were elected are referred to as either successful or elected and candidates that were not elected are referred to as unsuccessful or unelected candidates. Candidates standing in uncontested seats are reported against overall demographic reports on the respondents as a whole but are removed when analysis compares demographic profiles of those who were successfully elected with those who were unsuccessful.