New Deal for Business – metrics subgroup report: business and industry surveys - capturing core business measures

5. Example economic/business survey questions

Geographic Footprint and Business Specific information

• Which local authority in Scotland is your business headquartered?
• Which sector best describes your activities? ( Responses can be made as granular as possible to get the best coverage)
• How many staff do you currently employ? ( options can be varied based on typical survey respondent, sector characteristics etc. )

Business Sentiment/ Economic sentiment (forward looking expectations)

• Allowing for normal seasonal influences, what are your business performance expectations for the next 3 months?
• How do you expect your firm to be performing over the next 12 months?
• Thinking about your company’s future business activities, excluding any seasonal variation, over the next 6 months, what do you expect to happen to
  • Volume of business Activity (Higher, lower, same)
  • New Business Activity ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Value of Business Activity- Turnover/Revenues ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Employment levels (Higher, lower same)
  • New Capital investment ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Export Activity (Higher, Lower, same)
• What’s your outlook on the following costs pressures over the next 12 months
  • Total Business Costs ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Wages ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Input Costs ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Total employee costs ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Import costs ( Higher, lower, same)
  • Cost of borrowing ( higher, lower, same)
  • Energy costs – electricity, gas and fuel ( Higher, lower, same)
• Over the next year- how much do you expect average prices to change? (Respondents can be asked to enter a number, or given options with numbers within the survey)
• Over the next year- how much do you expect average wages to change?
• What factors are limiting your ability to increase sales and production? (Select all that apply)
  • Insufficient demand (domestic/ foreign)
  • Shortage of skilled labour
  • Shortage of working capital
  • Limited physical space
  • Product distribution constraints
  • Shortage of unskilled, semi-skilled labour
  • Shortage of input products
• Thinking about the growth in Scottish/UK economy, what’s your outlook for economic growth over the next 12 months? Do you think that growth will be ( Very weak, weak, moderate, strong, very strong)

Topical Questions (care needs to be exercised to ensure the questions remain neutral)

• How much has your business been affected by the Scottish Government’s tax policy ( Not at all, A little, A fair amount, A lot)
• How are the income tax levels in Scotland affecting your ability to attract/retain skilled labour? ( No affect, Easier to attract/retain skilled labour, harder to attract/retain skilled labour)
• To what extent do you believe the recent UK Government changes to employer National Insurance Contributions will affect your business? ( Not at all, A little, A fair amount, A lot)
• What effect, if any, is the availability of affordable housing for current and potential employees having on your availability to recruit and retain staff? ( Significantly positive. Some positive, no effect, some negative, significantly negative).