The second set of findings from the Community Life Survey – a valuable new survey set up to provide Official Statistics on issues that are key to encouraging social action and empowering communities, including volunteering, charitable giving, community engagement and well-being - have been released.
The cumulative findings from quarter 2 and 3 (covering Aug 2012 – Jan 2013) show a similar picture to quarter 2, but a statistically significant increase in the proportion of people who gave money to charity in the four weeks prior to interview were seen. In the four weeks prior to interview 74% of people had given to charity in August 2012 – January 2013, compared with 72% in 2010-11.
Other findings include:
• Levels of both formal and informal volunteering have increased on 2010-11, following a decline in levels of volunteering in recent years,
• There appears to be a strong sense of community spirit with 78% of people reporting they belong strongly to their neighbourhood and 55% of people reported a very strong sense of belonging to Britain, an increase from 51% in 2010-11.
• There is a strong appetite for community engagement - three quarters of people interviewed felt that it was important for them personally to feel that they can influence decisions in their local area, but there are some barriers to note here as only 38% felt that they could influence decisions affecting their local area.
For further information, visit: http://communitylife.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
To explore the data, visit: http://communitylife.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/explore-the-data.html