Natural England - Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment
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Monitor of engagement with the natural environment
Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment
People enjoy the natural environment in many different ways. These include visiting the countryside, enjoying green spaces in towns and cities, watching wildlife and volunteering to help protect the natural environment.
Natural England, Defra and the Forestry Commission commissioned a new survey called Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) to provide baseline and trend data on how people use the natural environment in England.
Survey content - what is included in the survey
MENE collects a range of information about people’s visits to the natural environment. This includes the type of destination, the duration of the visit, mode of transport, distance travelled, spend, main activities and motivations for the visit. It collects data on people that do not visit the natural environment, and the reasons for this.
The survey also collects information about other ways that people engage with the natural environment, for instance watching wildlife and volunteering to help protect the natural environment. This will help develop understanding of how people interact with the natural environment and will support many projects that work with people.
Results from year 1
Annual Report from the 2009-10 survey - presents the main findings from the first year of the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment Survey. The summary data tables (as an annex to the annual report) provide cross tabulations of all survey questions against standard socio-economic variables.
Technical Report - provides full details of the survey methodology including approaches to sampling, grossing and weighting, and estimates of confidence intervals.
Official statistics
The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 brought all ‘official statistics’ under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. The purpose is to improve public trust and confidence in official statistics by increasing transparency and independence in the way they are produced.
There are a number of factors which led to MENE’s designation as official statistics. Firstly the results are part of an intended time-series; secondly the methodology was chosen to return nationally representative results; thirdly it was designed to assess the impact of previous policy interventions; and finally it was felt that some of the outputs would attract public attention.
For further information about how Natural England complied with the provisions in the Statistics & Registration Services Act 2007, see MENE: compliance with the Statistics & Registration Services Act 2007 
.
For further information about official statistics email stephen.herbert@naturalengland.org.uk
Any queries about the reuse of survey data, the commissioning of bespoke analysis or the possibility of adding questions to the survey programme should be directed to Ben Nichols, Natural England’s MENE Project Manager - ben.nichols@naturalengland.org.uk or 0300 060 0406.
Survey methods - how the survey is being run
The survey is being carried out face to face as part of an in-home omnibus survey. Every year at least 40,000 interviews are undertaken and around 800 respondents are interviewed every week. Fieldwork is being conducted by TNS Travel &: Tourism and started in March 2009.
The survey uses a quota sampling method to ensure that respondents are representative of the adult population (16 years and over) of England. Respondents’ answers are recorded using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software on portable computers.
Survey outputs – the timing of findings from the survey
Fieldwork started in March 2009. The first annual report was published on 6 September 2010 alongside a technical report and summary data tables which cover the 2009-10 survey. The information within the annual report is categorised as official statistics, and its production and publication accords with the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. The second annual report on the survey findings will be published by Autumn 2011.
Previous surveys
England Leisure Visits Survey 2005 The survey showed an estimated 3.6 billion leisure trips in England in 2005, down from 5.4 billion in 2002/03.
GB Leisure Day Visits Survey 2002/03 The survey reports participation in leisure day visits by the adult population (16 years and over) and estimates the scale and value of visits for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). It provides information on how often people undertake leisure visits, how much they spend, what they do and the characteristics of visits and visitors.
