12.  It is important for Government, central and local, to increase its knowledge of what community cohesion is and the factors that influence it. One vehicle for achieving this is the Home Office Citizenship Survey. The survey is carried out biennially and interviews are conducted with a representative sample of 10,000 adults, across England and Wales with an additional booster sample of 5,000 adults from black and minority ethnic groups—one of the largest of its kind allowing for comparisons between different ethnic groups.

  13.  In addition, to this main survey, CCU has commissioned a HOCS Local Areas Boost. Twenty local areas (comprising roughly of a couple of wards) across England and Wales have been selected for their diverse social and economic circumstances. In each area, 500 interviews will be conducted with local residents in order to capture how community cohesion is working at the very local level. The 20 areas are located within the following local authorities:

Birmingham.

City of Bristol.

Burnley.

Calderdale.

City of Kingston upon Hull.

Kingston upon Thames.

Lambeth.

Luton.

Manchester.

Newham.

Nottingham.

Peterborough.

Preston.

South Buckinghamshire.

Southampton.

Sunderland.

Swansea.

Tewkesbury.

Wellingborough.

Wolverhampton.

  14.  Findings from both these surveys, due in spring 2004, will help improve our understanding of community cohesion in a number of ways:

  15.  The main survey, which will ask respondents some core community cohesion questions, will provide a national benchmark for comparison with local areas.

  16.  Sophisticated statistical analysis will provide a clearer idea of the factors that are significantly associated with cohesive and non-cohesive communities.

  17.  Findings from the 20 local areas surveyed will be supplemented by local demographic data and local level intelligence to provide in-depth knowledge of community cohesion in different types of localities. Other local areas interested in measuring community cohesion will be able to compare their performance with local areas with similar economic and social characteristics.

  18.  There is a commitment to run these surveys again in 2005 that will allow us to measure any improvements in community cohesion over the two years.