Proposal by the Socialist Party of Iceland city councilor on surveying the city's service provision

Reykjavík City Council agrees to conduct an attitude survey among city residents asking about the city's services. Emphasis will be placed on examining residents' attitudes towards how equal access to the city's services is based on the city's districts, respondents' income, age, and language proficiency. Efforts will be made to examine attitudes towards equality, including whether residents feel that access to affordable housing is good and how access to welfare and school services is arranged. Questions will also examine attitudes towards whether residents believe there is equal access in the areas of health, sports, and leisure, as well as access to environmental quality. It is proposed to use a 5-point Likert scale.

Residents will be asked how much they agree or disagree that it is good to live in Reykjavík, that the diverse housing needs of residents are met, whether respondents experience housing security, and they will be asked to describe their situation in the housing market, either by checking pre-given options or with an open answer option. Answers will be requested on how good residents consider access to welfare services to be. Questions will also be asked about access to preschool and primary school services, considering how residents perceive access based on residents' economic status, the location of the schools, and whether the diverse needs of students are met (see more in the explanatory memorandum).

The survey will also seek to paint a picture of how easy residents believe it is to practice sports and leisure activities in the municipality and its immediate surroundings, and parents/guardians of children aged 18 and younger will be asked how this applies to their children. Respondents will also be asked to state whether they believe it is easy to access and obtain healthy food in their immediate surroundings and based on their economic situation, and how easy they believe it is to attend cultural events in the municipality. They will also be asked about the quality of the environment near their home, whether they consider it good, and whether access to waste sorting is good, as well as waste collection services. At the end of the survey, an open answer option will be offered where residents can express their opinions regarding the questions. It is proposed that these results be summarized based on thematic coding.

By seeking the attitudes of city residents, it is possible to see if and how services can be improved and to ensure equal access. The Service and Innovation Department will be tasked with elaborating on the content of the proposal and seeking cooperation with those who handle the preparation and implementation of surveys if deemed necessary, such as Maskína. Efforts will be made to ensure that the participation rate reflects residents of Reykjavík aged 18 and older.

Reykjavík City has conducted various surveys, or been part of larger surveys over time, examining residents' attitudes towards services. This includes a service survey conducted at the end of 2014, the results of which were published on the Reykjavík City website in February 2015.

The goal was then to examine satisfaction with the services of the country's largest municipalities and to compare them, along with changes from previous measurements. That survey was conducted by Capacent, which relied on telephone and online surveys. On the one hand, a comprehensive survey was conducted asking about attitudes towards Reykjavík City as a whole, and then a survey was conducted that examined city residents' attitudes towards services in different districts of the city. 984 Reykjavík residents aged 18 and older responded to the comprehensive survey, and 1031 Reykjavík residents aged 18 and older responded to the survey on services in districts.

Questions were asked about the municipality's services and how satisfied or dissatisfied residents were with the services. The results for Reykjavík City were examined in comparison to the municipalities as a whole, questions were asked about attitudes towards sports participation, the quality of the environment near home, how the municipality handles cultural affairs, services related to waste collection in the municipality, preschool and primary school services, how the municipality's services were as a whole, and how services were for families with children. Questions were also asked about planning issues, services for senior citizens, and services for disabled people in the municipality.Hereyou can see the results from Capacent regarding services in Reykjavík at the end of 2014, published on the Reykjavík City website in February 2015.Hereyou can see the results from Capacent regarding services in the districts of Reykjavík City.

Maskína has also conducted service surveys for Reykjavík City, which, among other things, ask about satisfaction with the city's services and focus on its institutions.Hereyou can see Reykjavík City's service survey conducted by Maskína at the end of 2017. It showed that Reykjavík residents were particularly satisfied with the city's swimming pools and cultural institutions.Hereyou can see Reykjavík City's service survey conducted by Maskína between November 2018 and January 2019.

Here, it is proposed that a survey be conducted where questions seek to examine how residents perceive access to the city's services. The goal will be to examine how equal residents believe their access to services is based on income, districts, and other factors. This goes further than examining whether residents are satisfied or dissatisfied with the services, and to what extent they are dissatisfied or satisfied, and seeks to examine attitudes towards access to services and how equal that access is.

It is proposed to use the Likert scale, which is often used in questionnaires and offers the response options “strongly agree”, “somewhat agree”, “neither agree nor disagree”, “somewhat disagree”, and “strongly disagree”, but also to offer the option to skip questions that respondents do not wish to answer. It is important that the survey be translated into several languages so that it reaches as many people as possible, and the Service and Innovation Department will be tasked with assessing how best to do this and will consult other departments in the city if deemed necessary.

An accessibility survey conducted by the Welfare Department showed, among other things, that 73% needed assistance to access services, 48% had difficulty asking for services, 82% experienced a friendly attitude from staff, 57% found it easy to reach a counselor, 60% found the waiting time for services acceptable, and 60% found the application process clear and accessible.

The survey was sent out on March 22, 2021, to 4,009 email addresses of users who had received welfare services in the past year in the following service categories: children and families with children, disabled or chronically ill children, disabled people, and individuals and families. The survey was open until April 7, and a total of 810 responses were received. The response rate was therefore 20%. The Welfare Department's survey was in five languages. 527 responded in Icelandic, 59 in Spanish, 142 in English, 48 in Arabic, and 34 in Polish. More information about the results of the accessibility survey can be foundhere.

It is proposed in this survey that questions relate to whether residents agree or disagree that residents have good access to the service components offered by the city and mentioned in the proposal. A more detailed explanation follows here regarding access, i.e., whether residents believe access to the service is good, i.e., regarding the time it takes to provide the service. Regarding preschool and primary school services and access, it is proposed that survey questions ask about residents' attitudes towards whether they believe access to preschool and primary school is equal regardless of parents' economic status, whether access is equal regardless of where in the city families live, and whether there is equal access for the diverse needs of children attending the schools.

Information on how good or bad residents' access to Reykjavík City's services is essential to ensure more equal access and thus work towards equality.