National Survey for Wales (quarterly survey): October to December 2020

38% of people have had a GP appointment since April 2020. 51% of these appointments were over the phone, compared with 48% in person. Overall, 87% of people were satisfied with the care received at their last appointment, however 81% who had telephone appointments said they were satisfied, compared to 92% of those who had face to face appointments.

Hospital appointments showed a similar pattern. Among those who had a face-to-face outpatient appointment, 93% were satisfied, compared with 78% of those who had telephone appointments.

16% of people report that they have had, or think they have had, COVID-19. This is a similar result to that from the September 2020 monthly survey.

88% of parents with a primary school-age child say the school is finding ways to support children with learning, and 95% say that the school has kept them informed about its plans around the coronavirus situation.

93% said they are satisfied with their child’s primary school. This level of satisfaction has not changed since 2019-20, before the pandemic.

43% of parents report that they have helped their child every day with letters, reading or writing, and 20% with mathematics. Over 90% of parents say they feel confident in helping their child with reading and writing in English and in mathematics. Parents are less likely to feel confident in helping their child with reading and writing in Welsh, with around a third of parents saying they feel fairly or very confident in doing so.

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53% of primary school-age children are said to have their own computer, laptop or tablet available for school work, and 40% have access to a shared device. 

78% of parents with a secondary school-age child say the school is finding ways to support children with learning. 89% say they are satisfied with their child’s secondary school; as with primary schools, this is no different from pre-pandemic levels of satisfaction.

74% of parents with a secondary school-age child report they support their child with their school work at least once a week.

74% of secondary school-age children have their own computer, laptop or tablet available for school work and 25% have access to a shared device.

97% of children aged between 5 and 15 are said by their parents to use the internet at home, school or elsewhere. 94% of parents say the child’s teachers have spoken about online safety. Of these, 46% say teachers speak about it often and 50% occasionally.

Parents who have a child aged 5 to 15 were asked the methods they use to control the child’s internet use (see Chart 2). The most common methods were talking to them about internet safety and security (79%), keeping sight of what they are doing online (73%) and blocking certain sites (70%). They were also asked where they go for information or advice on child online safety. The most popular sources were using Google or another internet search engine (50%), other parents and friends (18%), and the child’s school (18%).

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56% of people reported they are in employment (including self-employment). This includes the 2% of people who reported being on furlough. 4% of people said they are unemployed.

21% of people have seen a change in their employment status, including those who have lost work or changed the number of hours they work, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

12% of people report being lonely. Levels of loneliness have remained consistent throughout the pandemic, but are lower than in 2019-20, when 15% of people were lonely. However it is worth noting that respondents in 2019-20 self-completed their answers to these questions, unlike the telephone respondents and people may have been less willing to report loneliness to an interviewer.

78% of people report high or very high satisfaction with life. This is lower than in 2019-20, when 83% of people said the same. 85% of people say they feel that things they do in life are worthwhile. 24% of people said they had high levels of anxiety the previous day, which is higher than in 2019-20 when 20% of people felt this. 76% of people said they felt happy the previous day. These measures of well-being have remained at a similar level since May 2020.

1% of people said they had received food from a food bank in the previous 12 months due to a lack of money. This is lower than when we last asked about it in 2018-19 (when 3% said they used food banks); however, in 2018-19 respondents answered the question by self-completion. People may have been less willing to report food bank use in the latest survey, when they were asked over the phone. A further 1% of people said they would have liked to receive food from a food bank but haven’t.

1% of people said they had not had a substantial meal or had skipped a meal due to lack of money on at least one day in the previous fortnight.

1% of people said they are falling behind on at least some bills, and a further 3% are keeping up but finding it a constant struggle.

12% of people said they have received Universal Credit in the previous 3 months, compared with 9% in 2019-20.

5% of people said they had volunteered to help with the COVID-19 situation in the previous 4 weeks. This has decreased since the first part of the pandemic: during the period May to September, 8% of people said they had volunteered in the previous 4 weeks. Of those who volunteered during October to December, 81% are planning on continuing to volunteer for at least a further 6 months or as long as needed.

Telephone interviews were carried out with a random sample of people who had previously taken part in the National Survey for Wales face-to-face. Detailed charts and tables of results are available in our interactive results viewer. For information on data collection and methodology please see our quality report.

National Statistics status

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.

It is Welsh Government’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in June 2020 following a compliance check by the Office for

Statistics Regulation (letter of confirmation). These statistics last underwent a full assessment (full report) against the Code of Practice in 2013.

Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:

• provided more detailed breakdowns in the results viewer and made it easier for users to compare results across years
• updated the survey topics annually to ensure we continue to meet changing policy need
• made regression analysis a standard part of our outputs to help users understand the contribution of particular factors to outcomes of interest

Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)

The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. The 46 national indicators were laid in March 2016. The National Survey collects information for 15 of the 46 indicators.

Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.

Statistician: Alice Roebuck
Telephone: 0300 025 0061
Email: surveys@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099

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SB 7/2021