The Office for Civil Society is spending £1.5m on the National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises being conducted by Ipsos Mori.

The Survey was first conducted in autumn 2008, and fieldwork is currently under way for the second wave of the survey, with results due in early 2011.

Minister for civil society Nick Hurd said in a recent parliamentary debate that the total net cost of developing and conducting the survey from 2008 to 2010 is £1.5m.

The survey is the largest ever of the sector, and asks about opportunities to influence local decisions, the availability and nature of funding and income, support and guidance, relationships with local statutory bodies, and other factors affecting organisations’ success.

The first wave of the survey ran between September and December 2008. It looked at charities’ attitudes to statutory funders. Some 104,391 organisations were invited to take part and over 49,000 responded. Click here for the results of Wave 1.

The second wave of the survey is taking place in autumn and winter 2010 and will provide insights into the current health of the sector, in addition to a comparison of how things have changed since the first wave in 2008.