To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many participants in qualitative work sponsored by his Department mentioned during his Department’s survey work on the proposed personal accounts an interest in investing in social, ethical or environmental funds (a) spontaneously and (b) after prompting. (143549)

In early 2006, the Department carried out in-depth qualitative research on public attitudes to personal accounts¹. Some of the younger participants in this research (aged 20 to 34) spontaneously said that they felt it was important that they are able to invest their money ethically. Respondents were not specifically prompted about whether they were interested in investing in social, ethical or environmental funds. Qualitative research identifies the range of views and experiences people hold and provides insight into attitudes and beliefs. It does not provide statistics, so it is not valid to give numbers of participants who expressed a particular view.

¹ This research was published in the Department’s research report series; Hall S, Pettigrew N and Harvey P, 2006, Public attitudes to personal accounts: Report of a qualitative study, DWP Research Report No. 370