The Department has contracted with Opinion Leader Research through the Central Office of Information (COI) Market Research Framework on 15 occasions since 2001. The details of those contracts are shown in the following table.
In addition, the Department also contracted with Opinion Leader Research through its own tendering processes to deliver, as part of the 10 Year Childcare Strategy, Parents’ Forums aimed to inform the consultation process on the strategy. The cost was £70,172.14. It was tendered in January 2005 and awarded on 25 January 2005. The project was carried out and a report on findings delivered to the Department on 23 March 2005.
Details of contacts with Opinion Leader Research prior to 2001 are not held centrally and to gather that data in order to answer this question would incur disproportionate costs.
Title and purpose of the project Cost (£) Date to tender Date of award Date carried out Date completed/findings put to Department Student Funding Strategic qualitative research, as part of a review of student funding in England, to understand fully how the current system is perceived and to pre test a number of alternative approaches 41,300.00 Direct Selection (option available for Framework Agreements) September 2001 October- November 2001 November 2001 HE Positioning Research Research as part of the review of student fees and loans to assess attitudes to the current arrangements and how best to communicate with key stakeholders 102,050.00 Direct Selection because it was a continuation of work they had completed in this area August 2002 September to October 2002 October 2002 Secondary School Positioning W1 Consultation to establish how key audiences perceive future changes to secondary education 53,800.00 December 2002 Mini tendered to three organisations on the framework December 2002 January to February 2003 February 2003 Supermarket research Consultation exercise to test parents reactions to the concept and to some communications ideas 19,960.00 December 2003 Mini tendered to three organisations on the framework December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 Supermarket research follow up Research to assess the success of the pilot of the Parent Know How stand in 15 ASDA stores around London 59,950.00 July 2004 Mini tendered to three organisations on the framework August 2004 September 2004 November 2004 Supermarket pilot pre-test Creative development research to pre-test the look and feel of two design routes being used for a pilot for distributing information about education and related issues to parents via supermarkets 10,750.00 Direct select linked to previous project work July 2004 July 2004 July 2004 Supermarket pilot research pre-test Exit interviews on parent information booklet stands in supermarkets 18,500.00 Direct select—Continuation of Pilot evaluation from last year July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 Supermarket research Pilot campaign evaluation for the Parent Know How stand in 40 ASDA stores 113,900.00 Not tendered—Second part of ongoing research August 2005 September- October 2005 November 2005 Supermarkets qualitative Booklets Research Qualitative research to understand the overall appeal of the full range Parent Know How leaflets in terms of look, layout and content 17,040.00 Not tendered— Part of the Supermarket Research run by OLR October 2005 September -October 2005 October 2005 London Challenge Qualitative research to explore parents views of London schools and to generate and explore initial ideas for a communications campaign on behalf of London schools 12,000.00 Direct select OLR already working on a linked project October 2005 October 2005 October 2005 Supermarkets Follow up phase 2 Consultation to assess the success of the pilot of the Parent Know How stand in 40 ASDA stores throughout the country 14,500.00 Direct selection Continuation of an ongoing project March 2006 March 2006 March 2006 Every Child Matters Creative Development research to test messaging alternatives relating to its Every Child Matters campaign 48,372.50 Direct selection March 2006 April to May 2006 May 2006 Skills Challenge Public Debate Deliberative event to start a process of engagement leading to the Governments response to the Leitch Review later in the year 130,625.00 January 2007 Mini tendered to three organisations on the framework February 2007 February 2007 February 2007 Parental engagement with local authorities Research to explore good practice in parental engagement, both for the specific local authorities who are taking part in the research and to disseminate to local authorities in general 89,933.00 June 2007 Mini tendered to three organisations on the framework June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 Children’s Plan deliberative consultation Deliberative events across England and wider community consultation, to inform the development of the Children’s Plan 318,401.00 August 2007 Mini tendered to three organisations on the framework September 2007 October to November 2007 November 2007