Surestart projects take a crèche course in surveys
June 2005
June is National Surestart Month and an opportunity for Surestart initiatives to raise awareness of how they can help parents and children. The Surestart programme is now well established across the country and user research is becoming an important focal point for local organisations.
Surestart aims to help parents provide their children with the vital resources to give them the best possible start to life. Surestart projects work to enhance the supply and choice of services such as childcare, early education and healthcare.
Like all modern public sector work, the onus is on providing high quality, best value services for users. Increasingly Surestart groups are using surveys to help them achieve best value by assessing the needs of families and the effectiveness of services in meeting those needs. Surveys are simple yet highly effective tools to gather information on user needs and preferences, service usage and satisfaction.
A growing number of Surestart programmes are using Snap software to carry out their survey work. The software enables them to conduct professional surveys quickly and easily so they can concentrate their efforts on service delivery. One such programme is Surestart BHT, based in Bradford, who has used Snap to survey families who use crèche facilities. This ongoing survey has provided the programme with valuable data on the most popular venues, the activities of the parents, and how using the crèche has contributed to the development and learning of the children.
For more information on how Snap Surveys can help Surestart programmes improve their services to families please contact 0207 747 8900