Overview
We hold three County Views surveys a year. The results to the surveys give us valuable information to help us make improvements to services we provide.
This survey ran from 27 November 2023 to 8 January 2024. The survey was available:
- on the Let’s talk Lincolnshire website
- in the County News magazine
- via a dedicated telephone line
We received 479 responses in total of which:
- 304 surveys submitted directly on Let’s talk Lincolnshire website
- 174 by post
- 1 via phone
Findings and conclusions
In each County Views survey, we ask for people’s perceptions of the council in five main areas. The data in this report contains the trends for the new set of questions which we reviewed and changed in November 2022.
In the winter survey we received the following results:
- Being well informed about our service
The percentage of people being very well or well informed about our service has risen from the last survey from 35% to 40%. The percentage of people being not well or not at all informed has fallen 34% to 20%.
- Listening and acting on resident’s concerns
The percentage of people who said we listen and act on resident’s concerns very much so or fairly much so has risen from the last survey from 22% to 31%. The percentage of people who said we do not do much or at all listen or act on resident’s concerns has fallen from 42% to 28%.
- Providing value for money
The percentage of people who said we provide value for money very well or well has risen from 24% to 33%. The percentage of people who said we do not provide value for money well or at all has fallen from 37% to 23%.
- Trusting the council
The percentage of people who said we were very trustworthy or trustworthy as a council has stayed the same from the last survey: 36%. The percentage of people who said we were untrustworthy or very untrustworthy as a council has the same from the last survey: 24%.
- Overall satisfaction with the council
The percentage of people who said they were very satisfied or satisfied with Lincolnshire County Council overall has risen from the last survey from 33% to 40%. The percentage of people who said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with Lincolnshire County Council overall has fallen from 33% to 27%.
To view the survey results in more detail please visit our County Views report page. Here you can see the Power BI report which shows further data in graphs and charts.
Recurring questions
Question one – How informed would you say you are about our services?
Age
61% (35) of respondents aged 44 and under and 37% (138) of respondents aged 45 and over were positive in their answers about how informed they were about our services. 11% (6) of respondents aged 44 and under and 19% (73) of respondents aged 45 and over were negative in their rating. This is the lowest negative rating across all questions when comparing by age.
District
Respondents from North Kesteven district area 60% (47) were the most positive in their answers about how informed they were about our services. Respondents from Boston Borough area 33% (8) were the most negative in their rating. This was the lowest negative rating across all questions when comparing by district area.
Disability
34% (35) of respondents with a disability and 40% (131) of those without a disability were positive in their answers about how informed they were about our services. 25% (26) of respondents with a disability and 17% (55) of those without a disability were negative.
Question two – How much would you say we listen to and act on resident’s concerns?
Age
53% (30) of respondents aged 44 and under and 27% (100) of respondents 45 and older were positive in their rating about listening to and acting on residents’ concerns. Whereas 18% (10) of respondents aged 44 and under and 29% (108) of respondents 45 and older were negative. This was the highest negative rating across all questions when comparing by age.
District
Respondents from North Kesteven 43% (33) were the most positive in their answers about listening to and acting on residents’ concerns. This was the lowest positive rating across all questions when comparing by district area. Respondents from South Holland 38% (11) were the most negative in their rating.
Disability
26% (27) of respondents with a disability and 30% (95) of respondents without a disability were positive in their answers about listening to and acting on residents’ concerns. This was the lowest positive rating across all questions comparing by disability. 35% (33) of respondents with a disability and 25% (83) of respondents without a disability were negative. This was the highest negative rating across all questions comparing by disability.
Question three – How well would you say we provide value for money?
Age
44% (25) of respondents 44 and under and 31% (115) of respondents 45 and over were positive when answering the question about value for money. This was the lowest positive rating across all questions when comparing by age. 9% (5) of respondents 44 and under and 25% (94) of respondents 45 and over were negative.
District
Respondents from North Kesteven 51% (40) were the most positive in their answers about providing value for money. Respondents from South Holland 38% (11) were the most negative in their rating.
Disability
31% (32) of respondents with a disability and 33% (105) of respondents without a disability were positive when answering the question about value for money. Whereas 26% (26) of respondents with a disability and 23% (74) of respondents without a disability were negative.
Question four – How much would you say you trust us as a council?
Age
54% (31) of respondents 44 and under and 35% (132) of respondents 45 and over said we were very trustworthy or trustworthy. 9% (5) of respondents 44 and under and 26% (98) respondents 45 and over were negative.
District
Respondents from North Kesteven 57% (44) said we were very trustworthy or trustworthy as a council. Respondents from Boston Borough 42% (10) said we were untrustworthy or very untrustworthy as a council.
Disability
36% (36) of respondents with a disability and 37% (121) of respondents without a disability were positive when answering the question about value for money. This is the highest positive rating across all questions when comparing by disability. 21% (21) respondents with a disability and 27% (85) of respondents without a disability were negative. This is the lowest negative rating across all questions when comparing by disability.
Question five – Overall how would you rate Lincolnshire County Council?
Age
64% (36) of respondents 44 and under and 39% (143) of respondents 45 and over said they were very satisfied or satisfied with Lincolnshire County Council overall. This is the highest positive rating across all questions when comparing by age. 9% (5) of respondents 44 and under and 28% (106) of respondents 45 and over were negative in their rating.
District
Respondents from North Kesteven 61% (48) were the most satisfied with Lincolnshire County Council overall. This is the highest positive rating across all questions when comparing by district area. Respondents from South Holland 45% (13) were the least satisfied with Lincolnshire County Council overall.
Disability
37% (38) of respondents with a disability and 42% (135) of respondents without a disability said they were very satisfied or satisfied with Lincolnshire County Council overall. This is the highest positive rating across all questions when comparing by disability. Whereas 30% (30) of respondents with a disability and 26% (83) of respondents without a disability were negative.
Your thoughts about vaping
In the second part of the survey, we asked about people’s views about vaping.
Question six – Do you smoke or use e-cigarettes (vapes)?
408 respondents (85%) said they do not smoke or use e-cigarettes. 10 respondents (2%) said they currently smoke and 10 respondents (2%) said they smoke and use e-cigarettes (vapes). 39 respondents (8%) said they use e-cigarettes (vapes) as an ex-smoker. Whereas 3 respondents (1%) said they currently use e-cigarettes but have never smoked. 5 respondents (1%) selected prefer not say and 4 respondents (1%) did not provide an answer.
Age
Of non smokers and vapers 46% were aged 65 or over, followed by 39% of respondents aged 45 to 64 and 2% aged 25 to 44.
Of smokers and vapers, 46% of respondents were aged 45 to 64, followed by 31% of respondents aged 65 and over and 22% aged 25 to 44.
Disability
Of non-smokers and vapers, 22% of respondents do not have a disability.
Of smokers and vapers, 32% of respondents have a disability.
District
Of non-smokers and vapers, 20% of respondents were from East Lindsey, 18% were from North Kesteven and 17% were from South Kesteven.
Of smokers and vapers, 39% of respondents were from East Lindsey, 22% from City of Lincoln and 14% from North Kesteven.
Question seven - Did you know that OneYou Lincolnshire offers free nicotine replacement therapy including e-cigarettes (vapes) to smokers to help them quit, as part of their stop smoking service?
310 respondents (65%) did not know that OneYou Lincolnshire offers free nicotine replacement therapy including e-cigarettes (vapes) to smokers to help them quit, as part of their stop smoking service.
160 (33%) respondents knew that OneYou Lincolnshire offered free nicotine replacement therapy including e-cigarettes (vapes) to smokers to help them quit, as part of their stop smoking service.
9 respondents (2%) did not provide an answer.
Of non-smokers and vapers, 31% of respondents said they knew about the service, and 69% of respondents said they did not know about the service.
Of smokers and vapers, 57% of respondents said they knew about the service, and 43% of respondents said they did not know about the service.
Age
When comparing by age, the highest awareness of the service was among respondents aged 45 and over 75% followed by 25% of respondents aged 44 or under.
District
The highest awareness of the service was in East Lindsey 25%, the lowest awareness of the service was in South Holland (5%)
Disability
Of those with a disability 34% knew about the service and 66% did not know about the service.
Question eight - If you currently vape, which e-cigarettes (vapes) do you currently use?
330 respondents (69%) said they do not currently vape.
52 (11%) respondents said they currently use e-cigarettes (vapes) of which
- 39 (8%) respondents use re-fillable e-cigarette only
- 8 (2%) respondents use disposable vapes only
- 5 (1%) respondents use both, re-fillable cigarette and disposable vapes
95 respondents (20%) did not provide an answer. 2 respondents (0.2%) selected prefer not to say answer.
Age
There was no difference in responses among respondents when comparing by age.
Disability
There was no difference in responses among respondents when comparing by disability.
District
There was no difference in responses when comparing by district.
Question nine - What is your opinion on using e-cigarettes (vaping)?
280 respondents (59%) thought it was unsafe, followed by 144 respondents (30%) who thought it was safer than smoking. 6 respondents (1%) thought it was safe and 39 respondents (8%) didn’t know. 10 respondents (2%) not provided an answer.
Of non-smokers and vapers, 69% said it was unsafe, 23% said it was safer than smoking, 8% of respondents did not know.
Of smokers and vapers, 82% said it was safer than smoking, 8% of respondents did not know. 7% respondents said it was unsafe.
Age
There is no difference in responses among respondents when comparing by age.
Disability
There is no difference in responses among respondents when comparing by disability.
District
There was no difference in responses when comparing by district.
Question ten - Whether you use e-cigarettes (vapes) or not, how would you dispose of an e-cigarette that is no longer needed?
133 respondents (27%) I didn’t know how to dispose of an e-cigarette that is no longer needed. 109 (22%) respondents said they would put it in the general waste bin at home or a litter bin in the street. 100 (20%) respondents would take it to the battery recycling point at a shop. 77 (16%) respondents would take it to the recycling centre (tip). 31 respondents (6%) said they would put it in the recycling bin at home. 29 (6%) selected other. 13 respondents (2%) not provided an answer.
The suggestions within the other option included the following responses:
- Vape shop / shop they bought the e-cigarette / supermarket - 4 responses
- General waste bin/litter bin – 3 responses
- Tip / WEEE(Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) point – 3 responses
- To be disposed separately by litter pick organiser – 1 response
Of non-smokers and vapers, 31% of respondents said they did not know, 23% said they would put it in the general waste bin at home or a litter bin in the street and 20% said they respondents would take it to the battery recycling point at a shop.
Of smokers and vapers, 32% of respondents said they would take it to the battery recycling point at a shop. 27% of respondents said they would put it in the general waste bin at home or a litter bin in the street. 23% of respondents they would take it to the take it to the recycling centre (tip) which indicates a slight difference when comparing to overall results.
Age
There is no difference in responses among respondents when comparing by age.
Disability
There is no difference in responses among respondents when comparing by age.
District
There was a slight difference in top three responses among respondents from South Kesteven district. 28% of respondents from South Kesteven district area said that would take it to the battery recycling point at a shop. 25% of respondents said they did not know how to dispose of an e-cigarette that is no longer needed and 19% of respondents said they would put it in the general waste bin at home or a litter bin in the street.
Who took part and next steps
The survey asked participants to provide additional information about themselves. This included:
- district or area participants were from
- whether they consider themselves to have a disability,
- their age and
- ethnicity
Those questions were voluntary, and the results help us check if we are reaching a representative section of society.
Breakdown by age
Most respondents were 65 or over 198 (41%) followed by 179 (37%) respondents aged 45 to 64. There were 49 (10%) respondents aged 25 to 44, seven respondents (1%) aged 16 to 24 and one respondent (0.2%) 15 or under.
Breakdown by local council area
The highest number of responses came from East Lindsey 100 (21%), followed by North Kesteven 78 (16%) and City of Lincoln 68 (14%). The fewest came from Boston Borough 24 (5%) and South Holland 30 (6%), which reflects the usual trend.
Disability
103 people identified as having a disability which is 22% of all respondents. The disability rate for Lincolnshire is 27.6%.
Ethnicity
424 (89%) respondents identified as being from a White background. Three respondents (1%) identified as being from a Mixed ethnic background. Two respondents (0.4%) identified as being from Other ethnic group. One respondent (0.2%) identified as being from Asian background and one (0.2%) as being from Black background.
Next steps
We ask the questions so we can reflect and act on the feedback we receive. We have shared the results with Lincolnshire Trading Standards and the Lincolnshire Tobacco Control Board who identified the following actions that partner organisations will take:
- Encourage more smokers to swap smoking for vaping:
Raise awareness of the offer of free reusable vapes as part of the nicotine replacement therapy offered by One You Lincolnshire on the smoke-free pathway. - Reinforce the message that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking cigarettes:
The Board felt that, despite smokers and vapers generally knowing that vaping is less harmful than smoking, non-smokers who believe it is more harmful may discourage friends or relatives from swapping to vaping. The health benefits of vaping when compared to smoking needs to be woven into communications about smoking across the board, including Non-Smoking Day and Stoptober. - Increase the number of vapes that are correctly recycled:
All batteries and electrical items have the potential to cause a fire if they are disposed of incorrectly. Due to the popularity of disposable vapes, it is felt the risk of these causing a fire in a waste vehicle or at a recycling centre is heightened.
Waste services is working with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue to create a video and associated comms to demonstrate the potential vapes have for causing a fire if they are disposed of incorrectly. Each Household Waste Recycling Centre will have an individual container on site for residents to dispose of used vapes and this will be promoted.
Refillable vapes given by One You Lincolnshire to smokers now have come with a card advising users of the correct disposal techniques, and One You will email recipients with further advice for how to dispose of these correctly in Lincolnshire.