Tuesday 03 April 2012
Following a competitive tendering process, the Policy Council has appointed local company Island Analysis to carry out the 2012/13 Guernsey Household Expenditure Survey.
During April, Island Analysis will begin recruiting households to take part in the survey which will be conducted over a 12 month period from May 2012 to May 2013. Each participating household will be asked to note the amount spent on products and services over a single 14 day period as well as listing major items of expenditure incurred over the previous 3 or 12 months. Households will be offered the choice between completing the survey online in a traditional paper format.
Each quarter, the households taking part (325 households per quarter) will be given the opportunity to enter into a free draw with a top prize of £2,000 and 5 runners-up prizes of £100.
The HES is used to monitor the expenditure patterns of Guernsey households and is key to ensuring that the Inflation Indices (RPI and RPIX) continue to be a good representation of the changes in prices experienced by Islanders. Its primary purpose is to ensure that the weights (or relative importance) of items and groups of items in the Indices reflect typical household spending patterns.
The information collected by the HES is also used to help monitor a number of other important social and economic indicators such as relative poverty and the impact of specific costs, such as fuel, childcare and housing. These indicators are used to inform social and economic policy making and ensure that States decisions can be made based on accurate and up to date information.
Dr Andy Sloan, States Economist, stated:
"We are delighted to appoint a local company to undertake this Survey. Island knowledge and accuracy are very important aspects of the work and these are key strengths of Island Analysis. All members of the Island Analysis team working on the project are local residents and this team will be headed up by Dr Michaela de Vial - Head of Research for the company.
The survey is vital in determining the weightings for the "shopping basket" of items which make up the Retail Price Index and other inflation indices. These indices form the basis of many aspects of island economic and social life including, the level of benefits and pensions payable, salaries and wage levels, pricing levels, etc. Therefore, it affects everybody in the island in one way or another.
We hope that all households invited to take part in the survey will understand the importance of the project and will respond accordingly. The survey is carried out on a totally confidential basis and only aggregated data will be reported."
-ENDS-
Contact Information
Liz Laine, Research and Information Officer, Policy Council
Tel: 01481 717 168
E-mail: policy.research@gov.gg
