Proposal by the city councilor of Sósíalistaflokkur Íslands on a survey of the city's service provision

Reykjavík City Council agrees to conduct an attitude survey among city residents where questions will be asked about the city's services. Emphasis will be placed on examining residents' attitudes towards how equal access there is to the city's services based on the city's districts, respondents' income, age, and language proficiency. Efforts will be made to survey attitudes towards equality, among other things, regarding whether residents perceive access to affordable housing as 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 that a 5-point Likert scale be used.

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-defined options or with an open answer option. Answers will be requested regarding 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 report).

The survey will also seek to paint a picture of how easy residents find it to engage in 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 find it easy to access and obtain healthy food in their immediate surroundings and based on their economic situation, and how easy they find it 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 provided where residents can express their opinions regarding the questions. It is proposed that these results be summarized based on thematic coding.

By seeking the opinions of city residents, it can be seen whether and how services can be improved and equal access ensured. The Department of Service and Innovation will be tasked with elaborating on the content of the proposal and seeking cooperation with those responsible for conducting 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 commissioned various surveys, or been part of larger surveys over time, where residents' attitudes towards services are examined. This includes a service survey conducted at the end of 2014, where results were published on the Reykjavík City website in February 2015.

The aim was then to survey satisfaction with the services of the country's largest municipalities and to make comparisons, along with changes from previous measurements. That survey was conducted by Capacent, which relied on phone and online surveys. On the one hand, a comprehensive survey was conducted where attitudes towards Reykjavík City as a whole were asked, and then a survey was conducted that examined 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. Reykjavík City's results were examined in comparison to the municipalities as a whole; questions were asked about attitudes towards sports participation, the quality of the environment near homes, 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 overall, 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, where, among other things, satisfaction with the city's services is asked about, focusing on its institutions.Hereyou can see Reykjavík City's service survey which was 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 during the period November 2018-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 aim 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 explore attitudes towards access to services and how equal that access is.

It is proposed that the Likert scale be used, which is commonly used in questionnaires and offers the response options "strongly agree", "somewhat agree", "neither agree nor disagree", "somewhat disagree", and "strongly disagree", but also that respondents be offered the option to skip questions they 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 Department of Service and Innovation will be tasked with assessing how best to proceed and other city departments will be consulted if deemed necessary.

An accessibility survey conducted by the Department of Welfare showed, among other things, that 73% needed assistance to access services, 48% found it difficult to request 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 services from the Department of Welfare 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 Department of Welfare's survey was in five languages. 527 responded in Icelandic, 59 in Spanish, 142 in English, 48 in Arabic, and 34 in Polish. More details about the results of the accessibility survey can be readhere.

It is proposed in this survey that questions revolve around whether residents agree or disagree that they 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 consider access to the service to be 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 schools is equal regardless of parents' economic status, whether access is equal regardless of where in the city the 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.