Only 37 per cent of UK adults feel they can influence local decision making

However, almost three quarters (73 per cent) of UK adults felt that it was important to have an influence while 44 per cent said they would like to be more involved in decisions made by councils affecting their local area.

The Citizenship Survey covers the first two quarters of the 2010/2011 period (April-September 2010) and questions public opinion in four key areas: community action, community spirit, harassment and discrimination and attitudes to violent extremism.

The 'community action' part of the survey contained statistics tracking volunteering habits amongst UK adults. Over half of the respondents (54 per cent) had volunteered informally (gave 'unpaid help as an individual to people who are not relatives') in the 12 months prior to interview and 27 per cent were informally volunteering at least once a month.

Levels of informal volunteering once a year have been decreasing annually from 68 per cent in 2005 to 54 per cent in 2009/2010.

Mark Nayler

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