Overall satisfaction with public services (National Survey for Wales): April 2012 to March 2013

Key findings

Satisfaction with the education system in Wales is substantially affected by parents’ perceptions of the performance of their children’s own schools – suggesting that improving perceptions of performance at this level could have a marked impact on satisfaction with education overall.

Controlling for other factors, we found that satisfaction with local authority services can be explained by views on the maintenance of the local area – but also by views about local authorities’ (LAs) dissemination of information on their performance.

Across the board, feelings of worthwhileness and happiness are consistently associated with higher satisfaction levels. Being more educated is generally associated with lower levels of satisfaction with service provision, while characteristics such as being unemployed or from a non-white ethnic group, tend to predict higher levels of satisfaction.

In a European context, satisfaction with public services in Wales is comparatively high – with average satisfaction with the national government being the 4th highest in Europe and levels of satisfaction with education and health services standing at 7th and 8th respectively. Satisfaction levels also tend to be higher than those reported in the United Kingdom as a whole.