The Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, started in 1999, is an annual

survey of public opinion An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, funded by the public purse. Conducted by the Scottish branch o
NatCen Social Research
in conjunction with the Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, it is largely funded by the Scottish Government and its agencies. The 1999 survey also functioned as the Scottish Parliament Election Study.

2010 Survey

The 2010 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey core finding was that just 28% of respondents supported

Scottish independence Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about. S ...

, a lower level than in two recent social attitude studies. A majority support " devo max" (maximum

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...

) with 60% of respondents wanting the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

to control Scotland's £18 billion

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

bill (including power over public pensions and benefits), and a majority (59%) also supported

taxation levels A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

being decided in Edinburgh rather than London. This goes further than the conclusions of the Calman Report. The survey found that most Scots only supported powers over defence, foreign affairs and

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to control either the interest rate payable for very short-term borrowing (borrowing by banks from each other to meet their short-term needs) or the money supply, often a ...

remaining with the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

References

Scottish society Opinion polling in Scotland 1999 establishments in Scotland Government research Household surveys Annual events in Scotland Recurring events established in 1999 {{Scotland-gov-stub