Datasets
In the spirit of the US Policy Agendas Project, a principal aim of this research project is the creation of datasets for replication and expansion of study of the policy agenda in the UK by other researchers, practitioners and the public.
The Speech from the Throne (the 'Queen's Speech') 1911-2008
The Speech from the Throne, also known as the King's or the Queen's Speech, is the statement delivered by the monarch, on behalf of the government, at the beginning of each session of the UK Parliament. This sets out the executive and legislative priorities of the government in the forthcoming session. This supplies a powerful signal of the intentions of the executive to the public and acts as a means of setting out the political agenda for the forthcoming year.
The UK Policy Agendas Project coded the full text of the Speech from the Throne at the quasi-sentence level. A quasi-sentence (or policy statement) constitutes an expression of a single policy idea or issue (see Andrea Volkens, 2002, Manifesto Coding Instructions. Discussion Paper FS III 02-201. Berlin: WZB). Often a quasi-sentence is identifiable from the use of punctuation, though it is possible for sentences to include multiple references to policy content (in particular those which list a series of major policy issues or measures).
The transcripts of the speech were blind-coded by two researchers who compared and reconciled their responses; first to ascertain whether each quasi-sentence contained any policy content and then to assign a major topic code and subtopic code to each quasi-sentence. This procedure led to ninety per cent inter-coder reliability for major topics for most years. The coders resolved remaining differences through discussion and project leaders made the final decision in the few cases where coders could not agree.
Acts of UK Parliament 1911-2008
An Act of Parliament is the name for primary legislation enacted by the UK Parliament. These come into effect after royal assent. That is the signing of each Act by the Monarch. The passage of legislation is dependent upon first, second and third readings of the bill. Most bills that are introduced into parliament by the government are passed (there is no vote on the first reading, and votes on the second and third reading are -typically- on party lines, although with exceptions). In practice, the third vote is the only vote that counts as first and second readings and committee stages are procedural. The number of bills that are rejected by the House of Commons is low (we estimate less than 5%).The 1911 and 1949 Parliament Acts enable the House of Commons to override votes of the House of Lords in the next legislative session (so the Lords act as a weak check on the lower house).
The short and long titles of Acts of the UK Parliament were blind-coded by two researchers; assigning a major topic code and subtopic code to each Act. This procedure led to eighty-five percent inter-coder reliability for major topics. The remaining differences were resolved through discussion by the project leaders.
Bills and Hearings of the Scottish Parliament 1999-2008
An Act of Parliament is the name for primary legislation enacted by the Scottish Parliament. These come into effect after royal assent. That is the signing of each Act by the Monarch. The passage of legislation through the Scottish Parliament is different from Westminster. Most bills are introduced into the Parliament by the government (as Executive bills). However, Committees and Private Members can also initiate Bills. The first stage of a Bill’s passage is a Committee stage. A lead Committee conducts hearings into the Bill, takes evidence, and produces a report. The report is delivered to parliament, where it is debated. At Stage 2, the Bill is sent back to the lead Committee which considers amendments. In Stage 3, the final Bill is put to the entire Parliament, where amendments are discussed and voted upon. If passed, the Bill is sent for Royal Assent. There is no second chamber in the Scottish Parliament (such as the House of Lords in Westminster). For this project we have coded both the possible multiple Hearings for each Bill and the Bills themselves, both those that did and did not pass.
The short and long titles of Bills and Hearings of the Scottish Parliament were blind-coded by two researchers; assigning a major topic code and subtopic code to each Bill or Hearing. This procedure led to eighty-five percent inter-coder reliability for major topics. The remaining differences were resolved through discussion by the project leaders.
Prime Minister’s Questions 1997-2008
Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) is a parliamentary convention where the Prime Minister answers questions in the House of Commons from Members of Parliament (including the Leader of the Opposition, in addition to other backbenchers). This was introduced in 1961 and has become a weekly centrepiece of British political life. As part of this procedure, the first question (“number one”) – selected by a random ballot of backbench MPs – is a standard question asking about the Prime Minister’s engagements for the day. After this, MPs can ask a supplementary question that relates to prime ministerial responsibilities or otherwise to most aspects of government policy.
Since 1997, PMQs have been held as a 30-minute session, every Wednesday at 12:00 GMT while the House of Commons is in session. Prior to this, PMQs was held as two 15-minute sessions, on Tuesday and Thursday. This is a prominent and dramatic venue for agenda-setting for the government and opposition parties.
Public Opinion 1959-2008
Data on public attention to issues has been compiled from survey questions asked regularly by the Gallup Organization and Ipsos-MORI, over the period between 1959 and 2008.
Between December 1959 and December 1964, Gallup asked “Which of these is the most important problem facing the country today?”, with a series of prompted responses. From March 1965 Gallup began to ask the question “Which would you say is the most urgent problem facing the country at the present time?”. Between 1973 and November 1997, Gallup also compiled responses on additional responses in the "other important problems" category. Gallup UK discontinued its political polling in May 2001. This dataset is based upon a unique, enhanced compilation of data from surveys reported in British Political Opinion, 1937-2000 (King et al. 2001) and the original Gallup Political and Economic Index (Gallup 1959-2001). The Gallup datests are calculated for the calendar year and for the parliamentary session.
Since 1974, Ipsos-MORI has asked “…what would you say is the most important issue facing Britain today?”, with the follow-up question “…what do you see as other important issues facing Britain today?”. It continues to ask this question as part of its monthly Political Monitor. From 1998 onwards, the location of survey respondents was recorded and, thanks to Ipsos-MORI providing access to the original reports, we are able to use the Scottish respondents to distinguish between national UK opinion, Scottish opinion and non-Scottish UK opinion. This dataset provides unique insight on the issues that concerned the Scottish public between January 1999 and December 2008.
The original Gallup and Ipsos-MORI categories are coded according to the UK Policy Agendas Project coding system, with responses aggregated according to major topic.
Technical details regarding compilation and coding of the Gallup public opinion data are reported in:
Will Jennings. (2009). MIP Dataset Codebook and Technical Note. Manchester: UK Policy Agendas Project
