The 2020 Scottish Household Survey asked adult respondents to what extent they trust seven Scottish public institutions.

All of the institutions included in the question were trusted by the majority of respondents.

Although we cannot use the 2020 data to create the baseline for the NPF indicator, the SHS findings are presented here for information.

Respondents were most likely to say that they trusted the Health System: 93% of adults trusted it while just 6% distrusted it.

In 2020, 74% of adults said that they trusted the Scottish Government, while 21% said that they distrusted it.

Respondents were least likely to say that they trusted the Civil Service (67%) or Local Government (67%).

Care must be taken when making comparisons between institutions because the percentage of adults saying they don’t know or are not sure if they trust each institution varies widely. For example, 21% of respondents said that they didn’t know whether or not they trusted the Civil Service, compared with only 1% of adults for the Health System.