Opinion Leader Research

Mrs. May
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contracts were awarded by his Department to Opinion Leader Research in each year since 1997; and what was (a) the title and purpose, (b) the cost to the public purse and (c) the dates of (i) tender, (ii) award, (iii) operation and (iv) completion and report to the Department in each case.

Mr. Bob Ainsworth
Opinion Leader has carried out research for Supporting Britain’s Reservists and Employers (SaBRE)—the MOD marketing and communications campaign that aims to gain and maintain the support of the employers of reservists. The research entitled “Opinion Leader Attitudes into Reserve Forces” was quantitative research to capture and track opinion leader attitudes and supportiveness towards volunteer reserves. It was carried out in four waves with summary findings provided to SaBRE on 22 December 2004, 11 July and 21 October 2005 and 2 June 2006. Turnaround for each wave from commission through to delivery was two months. The first wave cost was £1,800 with successive waves costing £1,900 each. These research contracts were awarded and paid for by the Central Office of Information (COI) on behalf of SaBRE. They were not tendered as COI rule it uneconomical to tender projects under £10,000.