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Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. Background: The Place Survey, 2008 is the first survey in a series intended to be conducted on a biennial basis. It provides information on people's perceptions of their local area and the local services they receive. It is one of the largest surveys in Europe, with over 500,000 respondents living in 329 councils in England. The survey supplies the data that inform 18 National Indicators across six Government departments. The indicators are common to all local areas, and measure how well the Government's priorities, as set out in the Comprehensive Spending Review, are being delivered by local government and their local partners. They form an important part of the New Performance Framework for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships. Also collected were data that help monitor eight Departmental Strategic Objective and 11 Public Service Agreement indicators. The main aim of the survey was for unitary and top-tier local authorities to gather robust and reliable baseline information for the 18 National Indicators so that, where an indicator is part of a Local Area Agreement, improvements can be set. The survey is one tool available for councils and their partners to understand the views of local people. It is expected that local service providers will have many ways both of seeking direct feedback on services and of exploring perceptions of the area. The New Performance Framework expects councils and partners to use all evidence at their disposal to build a robust understanding of the area they serve and the people who live there. Within this context, the survey provides a set of national indicators that are common to all areas. However, to be properly understood, these measures will need to be interpreted in their local context and set alongside other local information. Data Notes Although the data file for this study contains a local authority identifier variable alongside...