The number of British people who say they trust civil servants to tell the truth has more than doubled since 1983, a new survey by Ipsos MORI has revealed.
According to the organisation – which has conducted the survey annually since 1983 – 55% of the British public trust civil servants to tell the truth compared to the 25% that said they trusted officials in 1983.
The survey is based on the responses of 1,116 adults across Britain who were asked whether they trust key professions – doctors, teachers, scientists, clergy/priests, the police, civil servants, journalists and politicians generally – to tell the truth.
Bobby Duffy, director of the Social Research Institute at Ipsos MORI said: “This long-running study shows that trust levels are not fixed, and do shift as the context changes – which is seen particularly in the increasing trust in scientists and civil servants and decreasing trust in the clergy. ”
The results of the survey were welcomed by cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood.
He said in a blog: “This is encouraging – particularly when trust in other institutions has been declining – but further increases in public trust and confidence depend on our delivering on our reform priorities, which will help to deliver consistently excellent public services and a modern, efficient and highly skilled civil service.”