Headline findings for the Participation Survey (May 2023 to March 2024) (2024)

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Background

This section summarises the key findings from the Participation Survey. More detail can be found in the main report.

During the period May 2023 to March 2024 (2023/24), a representative sample of adults in England were asked about their engagement with a number of sectors during the previous 12 months; therefore, many survey questions cover participation stretching from May 2022 to March 2024, depending on when the respondent participated in the survey. Where questions do not cover the previous 12 months (for example live sports attendance), this is stated in the relevant parts of the report and tables. Comparisons of this year’s 2023/24 results are made against the previous year 2022/23 (covering the period of April 2022 to March 2023).

In 2023/24, DCMS partnered with Arts Council England (ACE) to boost the Participation Survey to be able to produce meaningful estimates at Local Authority level (see data tables). This has enabled us to have the most granular data we have ever had. There are also some new questions and changes to existing questions, response options and definitions in the 2023/24 survey.

Culture

Total engagement (physical or digital) across the cultural sectors was higher in 2023/24 compared to the previous year (2022/23), with the exception of the heritage sector which has remained the same. Total engagement in the arts (91%) was the highest, whilst library engagement was the lowest (30%).

Overall, physical engagement was higher across all cultural sectors than digital engagement.
Museums and galleries saw the largest increase in engagement compared to the other cultural sectors, with an increase of 10 percentage points in total engagement from the previous year

Figure 1.1: Physical and digital engagement in the cultural sectors, England: 2022/23 - 2023/24

	2022/23	2023/24
Arts
Total	90%	91%▲
Physical	89%	90%▲
Digital	28%	36%▲
Libraries
Total	24%	30%▲
Physical	19%	25%▲
Digital	13%	14%▲
Heritage
Total	69%	69% —
Physical	67%	66%▼
Digital	18%	25%▲
Museums & galleries
Total	36%	46%▲
Physical	33%	43%▲
Digital	9%	13%▲

“I’m not interested” and “No reason in particular” were the most common barriers for both physically or digitally engaging with cultural sectors, similar to the previous year.

Domestic tourism

In the 12 months prior to completing the survey, over3 in 5 adults (64%) took a holiday in England in the previous 12 months to being surveyed, a 3 percentage point increase from 2022/23 (60%).

Of these who took a holiday in the England:

A third stayed 1 to 2 nights (35%).
Almost half spent 3 to 6 nights (46%).
Nearly a fifth stayed 7 to 10 nights (15%).
Only 4% stayed more than 10 nights.

Live Sports

Respondents were asked in the last 6 months if they had watched any live sporting events in person,31% of adults reported that they had watched live sports in person in the last six months, 9 percentage point increase from 2022/23 (22%).

Of those live sports, the order of popularity of attendance was:

Men’s football (60%)
Rugby (20%)
Some other type of sport (17%)
Cricket (16%)

These were the most popular sports in the previous year too (excluding Men’s football).

Nearly three quarters (73%) of respondents watched live sports on TV.

Of the live sports on tv, the order of popularity that were most watched was:

Men’s Football (53%)
Women’s Football (34%)
Tennis (30%)

Of adults who attended live sports in person in the previous six months, 25% placed a bet, whereas, of adults who watched live sports on TV in the last 12 months, 16% placed a bet.

Major events

Awareness of the Coronation of His Majesty The King was the highest of all the major events we asked about at89%

Figure 1.2: Awareness of selected DCMS major events, England: 2023/24

Digital

92.7% of adults used the internet. This is a 0.6 percentage point decrease from 2022/23 (93.2%).

0.5% of adults do not own either a smartphone, laptop computer, desktop PC, tablet, smart printer, smart TV, or games console. This is a slight decrease from 0.8% in 2022/23.

36% of adults had taken training in digital or online skills either as part of their work or outside of work. This is a 14 percentage point increase from 2022/23 (22%).

Respondents were asked about their experience when verifying their own identity online.

38% had provided personal information (such as passport number or date of birth) to verify their identity online, a 7 percentage point decrease from 2022/23 (45%).

44%of adults had not verified their own identity online in the last 12 months, a 5 percentage point increase from 2022/23 (39%).

28% of adults had heard of and already used 5G (this is the first year that we’ve collected data on this).

Figure 1.3: 5G awareness, England: 2023/24

In general, adults in England during May 2023 and March 2024 (2023/24) were more comfortable with the government and businesses using data to make and implement better decisions and to deliver services, than using data for administrative purposes or to uncover patterns and trends