The British Polling Council welcomes the publication today (Tuesday) of the report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Political Polling and Digital Media. The Council is grateful to the Committee for its careful consideration of the role that opinion polls play in our democracy and of the challenges that currently face the conduct and reporting of polls.

The Council particularly welcomes the Committee’s conclusion that is ‘not convinced of the case for introducing a ban on the undertaking and publication of voting intention polls in the run-up to elections’ together with the Committee’s rejection of the statutory regulation of polls. In so doing, however, the Council acknowledges that this means the polling industry itself has a responsibility to promote best practice in the conduct and reporting of polls, and it is grateful to the committee for the various specific recommendations that it makes for the future work of the Council.

Most immediately, the Council is happy to accept that it should both revise its guidance to journalists on the reporting of polls and should work with other relevant organisations to develop a suitable programme of training for journalists on this subject. It is also happy to affirm its intention to continue its current practice of undertaking a post-mortem on the conduct of the polls after each election or major referendum and reporting its findings; following a public seminar held in February a report on the 2017 election is currently in preparation.

More broadly, the Committee’s recommendations envisage that the Council should adopt a wider remit and fulfill a larger role. At present, the Council is run on a purely voluntary basis with limited resources. The Council will now consider how best to resource its activities in light of the Committees report.

Professor Sir John Curtice, President of the British Polling Council, said, ‘Today’s report is a welcome contribution to a considered, informed discussion of the conduct and reporting of opinion polls in Britain. The Council welcomes the fact that the Committee recognised the weight of evidence put before it that a ban on the publication of polls would neither be desirable nor effective. At the same time, the Council accepts that the polling industry has a duty to promote high standards in the conduct and reporting of polls and will now consider how it, in collaboration with other bodies, can enhance the considerable efforts that it already makes to achieve that objective.’

For further details or to interview Prof. Curtice contact Simon Atkinson (07791 680770; simon.atkinson@ipsos.com) or Aalia Khan (07824 597435; aalia.khan@ipsos.com).

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The British Polling Council (BPC) is an association of polling organisations that publish polls. The objectives of the Council are to ensure standards of disclosure that provide consumers of survey results that enter the public domain with an adequate basis for judging the reliability and validity of the results. Through full disclosure the Council aims to encourage the highest professional standards in public opinion polling and to advance the understanding, among politicians, the media and general public, of how polls are conducted and how to interpret poll results.
2. For further details of the Council see www.britishpollingcouncil.org
3. Details of the House of Lords Select Committee on Political Polling and Digital Media are to be found at Select Committee on Political Polling and Digital Media.