Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what data her Department holds on the accessibility of arts and culture to children and young people under the age of 16.

Until 2020, DCMS collected data on participation by young people in arts and culture through its Taking Part Survey, and statistical releases from that survey are available on the gov.uk website. The last survey year (2019/20) showed that 96% of children aged 5–10 had engaged with the arts outside school in the 12 months prior to interview, and that 96% of 11–15 year olds had engaged with the arts, either inside or outside school.

In 2021, the Taking Part Survey was replaced by DCMS’s Participation Survey, moving from a face-to-face survey to a push-to-web survey with a larger sample. This captures participation data for people aged 16 and over in England. DCMS has recently undertaken a pilot survey for young people aged between 10 and 19, which will provide data on access to arts and culture for children and young people. We will publish data on this pilot survey next year.

Furthermore, Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Annual Data Survey (available on the Arts Council England website), also provides data on the number of attendances at activities carried out by Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations which is specifically for, by, or with children and young people (aged 0–19). For the most recent published year (2022/23), this shows that there were 3.1 million attendances at performances, 2.5 million attendances at film screenings, 112,000 visits to exhibitions, and 111,000 attendances at festivals. This includes only ‘known attendance’ (i.e. calculated using more precise methods such as ticket sales). Including ‘estimated attendance’ increases this figure significantly.