Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on (a) opinion polling and (b) focus groups in each month since January 2019.
Information on spend for opinion polling and focus groups for the whole department is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The information in the table below has been provided by the Directorate of Defence Communications and Army both of whom have readily available figures broken down by month. The RAF has one payment of £2,000 for opinion polling over the timeframe requested.
| Polling (excl VAT) | Focus Groups (Excl VAT) | Total cost (Excl VAT) |
January 2019 | £32,150 | - | £32,150 |
February 2019 | £28,930 | - | £28,930 |
March 2019 | £12,540 | £13,800 | £26,340 |
April 2019 | - | £6,700 | £6,700 |
May 2019 | - | - | £0 |
June 2019 | £25,430 |
| £25,430 |
July 2019 | - | - | £0 |
August 2019 | - | - | £0 |
September 2019 | £12,540 | - | £12,540 |
October 2019 | £12,890 | - | £12,890 |
November 2019 | £1,550 | - | £1,550 |
December 2019 | £12,540 | - | £12,540 |
January 2020 | £12,890 | - | £12,890 |
February 2020 | - | £12,500 | £12,500 |
March 2020 | £62,090 | £18,500 | £80,590 |
April 2020 | £7,400 | - | £7,400 |
May 2020 | £14,540 | - | £14,540 |
June 2020 | - | - | £0 |
Total | £235,490 | £51,500 | £286,990 |
Polling and focus groups are vital tools within Defence Communications because they provide insight for communications plans and allow us to evaluate the effect of our work. Communication is most effective when the target audience and their behavioural context is understood. By learning more about the general public’s behaviours, intentions, attitudes and communication preferences, Government communications can become more relevant, meaningful and impactful. Effective monitoring and evaluation helps us to articulate the value of communications campaigns and also helps us to improve campaigns on an ongoing basis.