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Sport England is committed to the creation of a world-leading community sport environment. This means focusing our investment on organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport. Details of our funded projects from April 2009 to December 2013 are available on the links below.
The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, which was established in September 2017, provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children engage with sport and physical activity. This school-based survey is the first and largest established physical activity survey with children and young people in England. It gives anyone working with children aged 5-16 key insight to help understand children's attitudes and behaviours around sport and physical activity. The results will shape and influence local decision-making as well as inform government policy on the PE and Sport Premium, Childhood Obesity Plan and other cross-departmental programmes. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables.
The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, 2017-2018 commenced during school academic year 2017 / 2018. It ran from autumn term 2017 to summer term 2018 and excludes school holidays. The survey identifies how participation varies across different activities and sports, by regions of England, between school types and terms, and between different demographic groups in the population. The survey measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and less active), attitudes towards sport and physical activity, swimming capability, the proportion of children and young people that volunteer in sport, sports spectating, and wellbeing measures such as happiness and life satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of variables, such as gender, family affluence and school year.
The following datasets are available:
1) Main dataset includes responses from children and young people from school years 3 to 11, as well as responses from parents of children in years 1-2. The parents of children in years 1-2 provide behavioural answers about their child's activity levels, they do not provide attitudinal information. Using this main dataset, full analyses can be carried out into sports and physical activity participation, levels of activity, volunteering (years 5 to 11), etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_set1.csplan).
2) Year 1-2 pupil dataset includes responses from children in school years 1-2 directly, providing their attitudinal responses (e.g. whether they like playing sport and find it easy). Analysis can be carried out into feelings towards swimming, enjoyment for being active, happiness etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_set1.csplan).
3) Teacher dataset includes responses from the teachers at schools selected for the survey. Analysis can be carried out into school facilities available, length of PE lessons, whether swimming lessons are offered, etc. Weighting was formerly not available, however, as Sport England have started to publish the Teacher data, from December 2023 we decide to apply weighting to the data. The Teacher dataset now includes weighting by applying the ‘wt_teacher’ weighting variable.
For further information about the variables available for analysis, and the relevant school years asked survey questions, please see the supporting documentation. Please read the documentation before using the datasets.
Latest edition information
For the second edition (January 2024), the Teacher dataset now includes a weighting variable (‘wt_teacher’). Previously, weighting was not available for these data.
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The Active People Survey commenced in October 2005 and was commissioned by Sports England. The primary objective of the survey was to measure levels of participation in sport and active recreation and its contribution to improving the health of the nation. Sport and active recreation included walking and cycling for recreation in addition to more traditional formal and informal spots. When measuring sports participation the survey not only recorded the type of activity but also the frequency, intensity and duration of the activity.Topics covered in the Active People Survey include:
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, which was established in September 2017, provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children engage with sport and physical activity. This school-based survey is the first and largest established physical activity survey with children and young people in England. It gives anyone working with children aged 5-16 key insight to help understand children's attitudes and behaviours around sport and physical activity. The results will shape and influence local decision-making as well as inform government policy on the PE and Sport Premium, Childhood Obesity Plan and other cross-departmental programmes. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables. The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, 2017-2018 commenced during school academic year 2017 / 2018. It ran from autumn term 2017 to summer term 2018 and excludes school holidays. The survey identifies how participation varies across different activities and sports, by regions of England, between school types and terms, and between different demographic groups in the population. The survey measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and less active), attitudes towards sport and physical activity, swimming capability, the proportion of children and young people that volunteer in sport, sports spectating, and wellbeing measures such as happiness and life satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of variables, such as gender, family affluence and school year.The following datasets are available:1) Main dataset includes responses from children and young people from school years 3 to 11, as well as responses from parents of children in years 1-2. The parents of children in years 1-2 provide behavioural answers about their child's activity levels, they do not provide attitudinal information. Using this main dataset, full analyses can be carried out into sports and physical activity participation, levels of activity, volunteering (years 5 to 11), etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_set1.csplan).2) Year 1-2 pupil dataset includes responses from children in school years 1-2 directly, providing their attitudinal responses (e.g. whether they like playing sport and find it easy). Analysis can be carried out into feelings towards swimming, enjoyment for being active, happiness etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_set1.csplan).3) Teacher dataset includes responses from the teachers at schools selected for the survey. Analysis can be carried out into school facilities available, length of PE lessons, whether swimming lessons are offered, etc. Weighting was formerly not available, however, as Sport England have started to publish the Teacher data, from December 2023 we decide to apply weighting to the data. The Teacher dataset now includes weighting by applying the ‘wt_teacher’ weighting variable. For further information about the variables available for analysis, and the relevant school years asked survey questions, please see the supporting documentation. Please read the documentation before using the datasets. Latest edition informationFor the second edition (January 2024), the Teacher dataset now includes a weighting variable (‘wt_teacher’). Previously, weighting was not available for these data.
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, which was established in September 2017, provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children engage with sport and physical activity. This school-based survey is the first and largest established physical activity survey with children and young people in England. It gives anyone working with children aged 5-16 key insight to help understand children's attitudes and behaviours around sport and physical activity. The results will shape and influence local decision-making as well as inform government policy on the PE and Sport Premium, Childhood Obesity Plan and other cross-departmental programmes. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables. The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey is a school-based survey (i.e., historically always completed at school as part of lessons. Due to the closure of school sites during the coronavirus pandemic, the survey was adapted to allow at-home completion. This approach was retained into academic year 2021-22 to help maximise response numbers and as the year was still impacted by the pandemic as a result of the requirements for self-isolation. The at-home completion approach was actively offered for secondary school pupils and allowed but not encouraged for primary pupils.The adaptions involved minor questionnaire changes (e.g., to ensure the wording was appropriate for those not attending school and to enable completion at home), and communication changes. For further details on the survey changes, please see the accompanying User Guide document. Academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22 saw a more even split of responses by term across the year, compared to 2019-20, which had a reduced proportion of summer term responses due to the disruption caused by Covid-19.The survey identifies how participation varies across different activities and sports, by regions of England, between school types and terms, and between different demographic groups in the population. The survey measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and less active), attitudes towards sport and physical activity, swimming capability, the proportion of children and young people that volunteer in sport, sports spectating, and well-being measures such as happiness and life satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of variables, such as gender, family affluence and school year.The following datasets have been provided:1) Main dataset – this file includes responses from children and young people from school years 3 to 11, as well as responses from parents of children in years 1-2. The parents of children in years 1-2 provide behavioural answers about their child’s activity levels; they do not provide attitudinal information. Using this main dataset, full analyses can be carried out into sports and physical activity participation, levels of activity, volunteering (years 5 to 11), etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross.csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them).2) Year 1-2 dataset – this file include responses from children in school years 1-2 directly, providing their attitudinal responses (e.g. whether they like playing sport and find it easy). Analysis can be carried out into feelings towards swimming, enjoyment for being active, happiness etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross.csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them).3) Teacher dataset – this file includes responses from the teachers at schools selected for the survey. Analysis can be carried out into school facilities available, length of PE lessons, whether swimming lessons are offered, etc. Weighting was formerly not available, however, as Sport England have started to publish the Teacher data, from December 2023 we decide to apply weighting to the data. The Teacher dataset now includes weighting by applying the ‘wt_teacher’ weighting variable. For further information about the variables available for analysis and the relevant school years asked survey questions, please see the supporting documentation. Please read the documentation before using the datasets. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpages.Latest edition informationFor the second edition (January 2024), the Teacher dataset now includes a weighting variable (‘wt_teacher’). Previously, weighting was not available for these data.
Data source(s): - Sport England (https://www.sportengland.org/know-your-audience/data/active-lives/active-lives-data-tables) Dataset(s) used:- Exercise and Sports Levels (Children and Young People in school years 1-11)Statistic(s) used:Number of people who are active* less than an average of 30 minutes a day in the academic year 2017/18 (*moderate or vigorous physical activity).The datasets report statistics based on administrative areas (Districts). However, those areas’ boundaries have been generalised in this dataset. It is recommended that you overlay the official District administrative boundaries from the Living Atlas on top of this data, to view the accurate boundary lines.
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Active People Survey commenced in October 2005 and was commissioned by Sports England. The primary objective of the survey was to measure levels of participation in sport and active recreation and its contribution to improving the health of the nation. Sport and active recreation included walking and cycling for recreation in addition to more traditional formal and informal spots. When measuring sports participation the survey not only recorded the type of activity but also the frequency, intensity and duration of the activity. The Active People Survey was replaced by the Active Lives Survey in November 2015. Active Lives is a new survey with a different methodology and intended to measure different outcomes from those in the Active People Survey, however there are similarities as it was important that data could be reproduced on some of the key measures.More general information can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables. For the second edition (October 2015), the data file was replaced with a new version to reflect changes in the Sport England core measure, the ‘1x30’ indicator. The documentation has also been updated.
Key Performance Indicators from Active People Survey (APS).
Data on volunteering, club membership, tuition, organised sport, competition, satisfaction with local sports provision, for local authorities, based on Active People Survey.
KPI 1 Participation is defined as taking part on at least 3 days a week in moderate intensity sport and active recreation (at least 12 days in the last 4 weeks) for at least 30 minutes continuously in any one session. Participation includes recreational walking and cycling.
KPI 2 Volunteering is defined as ‘Volunteering to support sport for at least one hour a week’.
KPI 3 Club membership is defined as ‘being a member of a club particularly so that you can participate in sport or recreational activity in the last 4 weeks’.
KPI 4 Receiving tuition is defined as ‘having received tuition from an instructor or coach to improve your performance in any sport or recreational activity in the last 12 months’.
KPI 5 Organised Competition is defined as ‘having taken part in any organised competition in any sport or recreational activity in the last 12 months’.
KPI 6 Satisfaction is the percentage of adults who are very or fairly satisfied with sports provision in their local area.
Organised sport is defined as the percentage of adults who have done at least one of the following: received tuition in the last 12 months, taken part in organised competition in the last 12 months or been a member of a club to play sport.
A statistically significant change is indicated by 'increase' or 'decrease' and this means that we are 95% certain that there has been a real change (increase or decrease).
For more information on measuring statistically significant change within Active People, see the briefing note on Sport England’s website.
The 'Base' refers to the sample size, i.e. the number of respondents.
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, which was established in September 2017, provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children engage with sport and physical activity. This school-based survey is the first and largest established physical activity survey with children and young people in England. It gives anyone working with children aged 5-16 key insight to help understand children's attitudes and behaviours around sport and physical activity. The results will shape and influence local decision-making as well as inform government policy on the PE and Sport Premium, Childhood Obesity Plan and other cross-departmental programmes. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables. The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, 2019-2020 began as the usual school-based survey (i.e. completed at school as part of lessons). From 20 March 2020, schools, colleges and nurseries were closed in the UK due to the COVID-19 pandemic and remained closed until 1 June 2020, when there was a phased reopening for reception, and Years 1 and 6. The Active Lives survey fieldwork in Spring term finished two weeks early before the end of term, in line with the school closures. Due to the closure of schools, the survey had to be adapted for at home completion. The adaptions involved minor questionnaire changes (e.g. to ensure the wording was appropriate for both the new lockdown situation and to account for the new survey completion method at home) and communication changes. For further details on the changes, please see the accompanying technical report. The circumstances and adaptations resulted in a delay to survey fieldwork re-starting. This means that the data does not cover the full lockdown period, and instead re-starts from mid-May 2020 (when the survey was relaunched). Sample targets were also reduced as a result of the pandemic, resulting in a smaller proportion of summer term responses for 2019-20 when compared to previous years. As part of Sport England’s official publication, an additional Coronavirus report was produced, which outlines changes during the ‘easing restrictions’ phase of lockdown from mid-May to the end of July, comparing the summer term in 2020 with summer 2019. Due to the reduced summer term sample, it is recommended to analyse within term and/or school phase for academic year 2019-20. The survey identifies how participation varies across different activities and sports, by regions of England, between school types and terms, and between different demographic groups in the population. The survey measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and less active), attitudes towards sport and physical activity, swimming capability, the proportion of children and young people that volunteer in sport, sports spectating, and wellbeing measures such as happiness and life satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of variables, such as gender, family affluence and school year. The following datasets have been provided: Main dataset: includes responses from children and young people from school years 3 to 11, as well as responses from parents of children in years 1-2. The parents of children in years 1-2 provide behavioural answers about their child’s activity levels, they do not provide attitudinal information. Using this main dataset, full analyses can be carried out into sports and physical activity participation, levels of activity, volunteering (years 5 to 11), etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross.csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them).Year 1-2 dataset: includes responses from children in school years 1-2 directly, providing their attitudinal responses (e.g. whether they like playing sport and find it easy). Analysis can be carried out into feelings towards swimming, enjoyment for being active, happiness etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross.csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them).Teacher dataset – this .sav file includes response from the teachers at schools selected for the survey. Analysis can be carried out into school facilities available, length of PE lessons, whether swimming lessons are offered, etc. Weighting was formerly not available, however, as Sport England have started to publish the Teacher data, from December 2023 we decide to apply weighting to the data. The Teacher dataset now includes weighting by applying the ‘wt_teacher’ weighting variable. For further information about the variables available for analysis, and the relevant school years asked survey questions, please see the supporting documentation. Please read the documentation before using the datasets. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpages.Latest edition informationFor the second edition (January 2024), the Teacher dataset now includes a weighting variable (‘wt_teacher’). Previously, weighting was not available for these data.
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Active People Survey commenced in October 2005 and was commissioned by Sports England. The primary objective of the survey was to measure levels of participation in sport and active recreation and its contribution to improving the health of the nation. Sport and active recreation included walking and cycling for recreation in addition to more traditional formal and informal spots. When measuring sports participation the survey not only recorded the type of activity but also the frequency, intensity and duration of the activity. The Active People Survey was replaced by the Active Lives Survey in November 2015. Active Lives is a new survey with a different methodology and intended to measure different outcomes from those in the Active People Survey, however there are similarities as it was important that data could be reproduced on some of the key measures.More general information can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables.
The Taking Part survey has run since 2005 and is the key evidence source for DCMS. It is a continuous face to face household survey of adults aged 16 and over in England and children aged 5 to 15 years old.
As detailed in the last statistical release and on our consultation pages in March 2013, the responsibility for reporting Official Statistics on adult sport participation now falls entirely with Sport England. Sport participation data are reported on by Sport England in the Active People Survey.
Amendment on 27 January 2016: This publication has been updated in January 2016 to correct data in the Taking Part 2015/16 Quarter 2 statistical release published on 17 December 2015. The only changes relate to figures presented in Figure 7.1. No other figures in the statistical release (or associated data tables) have been affected.
17th December 2015
October 2014 to September 2015
National and regional level data for England.
A series of “Taking Part, Focus on…” reports will be published in April 2016. Each ‘short story’ in this series will look at a specific topic in more detail, providing more in-depth analysis of the 2014/15 Taking Part data.
The latest data from October 2014 to September 2015. Taking Part survey provides reliable national estimates of adult engagement with the arts, heritage, museums, archives and libraries.
The report also looks at some of the other measures in the survey that provide estimates of volunteering and charitable giving and digital engagement.
The Taking Part survey is a continuous annual survey of adults and children living in private households in England, and carries the National Statistics badge, meaning that it meets the highest standards of statistical quality.
These spreadsheets contain the data and sample sizes to support the material in this release.
Metadata The meta-data describe the Taking Part data and provides terms and definitions. This document provides a stand-alone copy of the meta-data which are also included as annexes in the statistical report.
The previous adult quarterly Taking Part release was published on 25th June 2015 and the previous child Taking Part annual release was published on 23rd July 2015. Both releases also provide spreadsheets containing the data and sample sizes for each sector included in the survey. A series of short reports relating to the 2014/15 annual adult data was also released on 12th November 2015.
The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Taking Part data. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.
The latest figures in this release are based on data that was first published on 17th December 2015. Details on the pre-release access arrangements for this dataset are available in the accompanying material for the previous release.
The responsible statistician for this release is Helen Miller-Bakewell. For enquiries on this release, contact Helen Miller-Bakewell on 020 7211 6355 or Mary Gregory 020 7211 2377.
For any queries contact them or the Taking Part team at takingpart@culture.gov.uk
SUMMARYTo be viewed in combination with the ‘Levels of obesity, inactivity and associated illnesses: Summary (England)’ dataset.This dataset shows where there was no data* relating to one of more of the following factors:Obesity/inactivity-related illnesses (recorded at the GP practice catchment area level*)Adult obesity (recorded at the GP practice catchment area level*)Inactivity in children (recorded at the district level)Excess weight in children (recorded at the Middle Layer Super Output Area level)* GPs do not have catchments that are mutually exclusive from each other: they overlap, with some geographic areas being covered by 30+ practices.GP data for the financial year 1st April 2018 – 31st March 2019 was used in preference to data for the financial year 1st April 2019 – 31st March 2020, as the onset of the COVID19 pandemic during the latter year could have affected the reporting of medical statistics by GPs. However, for 53 GPs (out of 7670) that did not submit data in 2018/19, data from 2019/20 was used instead. This dataset identifies areas where data from 2019/20 was used, where one or more GPs did not submit data in either year (this could be because there are rural areas that aren’t officially covered by any GP practices), or where there were large discrepancies between the 2018/19 and 2019/20 data (differences in statistics that were > mean +/- 1 St.Dev.), which suggests erroneous data in one of those years (it was not feasible for this study to investigate this further), and thus where data should be interpreted with caution.Results of the ‘Levels of obesity, inactivity and associated illnesses: Summary (England)’ analysis in these areas should be interpreted with caution, particularly if the levels of obesity, inactivity and associated illnesses appear to be significantly lower than in their immediate surrounding areas.Really small areas with ‘missing’ data were deleted, where it was deemed that missing data will not have impacted the overall analysis (i.e. where GP data was missing from really small countryside areas where no people live).See also Health and wellbeing statistics (GP-level, England): Missing data and potential outliers dataDATA SOURCESThis dataset was produced using:- Quality and Outcomes Framework data: Copyright © 2020, Health and Social Care Information Centre. The Health and Social Care Information Centre is a non-departmental body created by statute, also known as NHS Digital.- National Child Measurement Programme: Copyright © 2020, Health and Social Care Information Centre. The Health and Social Care Information Centre is a non-departmental body created by statute, also known as NHS Digital. - Active Lives Survey 2019: Sport and Physical Activity Levels amongst children and young people in school years 1-11 (aged 5-16). © Sport England 2020.- Active Lives Survey 2019: Sport and Physical Activity Levels amongst adults aged 16+. © Sport England 2020.- GP Catchment Outlines. Copyright © 2020, Health and Social Care Information Centre. The Health and Social Care Information Centre is a non-departmental body created by statute, also known as NHS Digital. Data was cleaned by Ribble Rivers Trust before use.- Administrative boundaries: Boundary-LineTM: Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.- MSOA boundaries: © Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2021.COPYRIGHT NOTICEThe reproduction of this data must be accompanied by the following statement:© Ribble Rivers Trust 2021. Analysis carried out using data that is: Copyright © 2020, Health and Social Care Information Centre. The Health and Social Care Information Centre is a non-departmental body created by statute, also known as NHS Digital; © Sport England 2020; © Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.CaBA HEALTH & WELLBEING EVIDENCE BASEThis dataset forms part of the wider CaBA Health and Wellbeing Evidence Base.
This page lists ad-hoc statistics released January-March 2020. These are additional analyses not included in any of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s standard publications for Taking Part.
If you would like any further information please contact takingpart@culture.gov.uk.
Data showing that 72% of adults engaged in arts activities outside the home in England in 2018/19 for any purpose, with 38% of adults engaging in at least 3 different types of activity. In their own time or for voluntary work, 59% of adults attended a film at a cinema and 29% attended a theatre.
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These data show the percentage of people who attended live sporting events within the last 12 months in England in 2017/18 and 2018/19. Estimates are broken down by the presence or absence of a long standing illness or disability.
In 2017/18, 29% of people with a long standing illness or disability reported attending a live sporting event in the last 12 months, compared to 42% of those without a long standing illness or disability. The overall rate was 38%.
In 2018/19, 28% of people with a long standing illness or disability reported attending a live sporting event in the last 12 months, compared to 38% of those without a long standing illness or disability. The overall rate was 35%.
The data tables include the upper and lower bound estimates.
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The Taking Part survey has run since 2005 and is the key evidence source for DCMS. It is a continuous face to face household survey of adults aged 16 and over in England and children aged 5 to 15 years old.
As detailed in the last statistical release and on our consultation pages in March 2013, the responsibility for reporting Official Statistics on adult sport participation now falls entirely with Sport England. Sport participation data are reported on by Sport England in the Active People Survey.
21 July 2016
April 2015 to March 2016
National and Regional level data for England
A series of “Taking Part, Focus on…” reports will be published in October 2016. Each ‘short story’ in this series will look at a specific topic in more detail, providing more in-depth analysis of the 2015/16 Taking Part data.
The Taking Part survey provides reliable national estimates of adult engagement with the arts, heritage, museums, archives and libraries. Latest data are from April 2015 to March 2016.
The report also looks at some of the other measures in the survey that provide estimates of volunteering and charitable giving and digital engagement.
The Taking Part survey is a continuous annual survey of adults and children living in private households in England, and carries the National Statistics badge, meaning that it meets the highest standards of statistical quality.
These spreadsheets contain the data and sample sizes to support the material in this release.
The previous adult biannual Taking Part release was published on 17th December 2015 and the previous child Taking Part annual release was published on 23rd July 2015. Both releases also provide spreadsheets containing the data and sample sizes for each sector included in the survey. A series of short story reports was also released on 28th April 2016.
The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Taking Part data. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.
The latest figures in this release are based on data that was first published on 21st July 2016. Details on the pre-release access arrangements for this dataset are available in the accompanying material for the previous release.
The responsible statistician for this release is Helen Miller-Bakewell. For enquiries on this release, contact Helen Miller-Bakewell on 020 7211 6355 or Mary Gregory 020 7211 2377.
For any queries contact them or the Taking Part team at takingpart@culture.gov.uk
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The Taking Part survey collects data on many aspects of leisure, culture and sport in England, as well as an in-depth range of socio-demographic information on respondents. The survey is commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in partnership with three of its non-departmental public bodies (Sport England, Arts Council England and English Heritage). The survey was first commissioned in 2005 as a face-to-face household survey of adults (16+) in England. Since then it has run annually and has also been developed to include further elements, including a child element and a longitudinal element.This study is subject to restrictive Special Licence (SL) access conditions as it contains additional detailed geographic variables (ACORN Group and ONS Urban Rural Classification). The End User Licence (EUL) version which is the same, but excludes these detailed variables, is available from the UK Data Service under SN 8378. Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL data have more restrictive access conditions; prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version.
Latest edition
For the fourth edition (January 2024), the data and documentation for the web panel have been updated.
Main topics covered by the survey include: the arts, museums and galleries, libraries, archives, heritage, sport, volunteering, charitable giving, general free time activities, digital activities, special events (currently the First World War commemorations), community participation, personal well-being and demographics. Almost all of these topics appear in the main adult and child data sets, and in the longitudinal data sets. First World War and personal well-being are not covered in the child dataset (although children aged 11-15 were asked about their level of happiness).
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Active People Survey commenced in October 2005 and was commissioned by Sports England. The primary objective of the survey was to measure levels of participation in sport and active recreation and its contribution to improving the health of the nation. Sport and active recreation included walking and cycling for recreation in addition to more traditional formal and informal spots. When measuring sports participation the survey not only recorded the type of activity but also the frequency, intensity and duration of the activity. The Active People Survey was replaced by the Active Lives Survey in November 2015. Active Lives is a new survey with a different methodology and intended to measure different outcomes from those in the Active People Survey, however there are similarities as it was important that data could be reproduced on some of the key measures.More general information can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables. Variables no longer available on the Active People Survey A number of questions were dropped from the Active People Survey for the last six months of its lifespan, due to dual running with the new Active Lives Survey. So, there is no data available for them in the APS10 dataset. The questions dropped covered: Reasons for participation; Sport provision; Change in participation; Likelihood to do more sport; Gender identity; Sexual identity; Volunteering by individual sport. Some other variables are also unavailable, for example D14B (How is your health in general?) and D14ar (Overall how satisfied is your life nowadays?), but may still be referenced in the documentation.
Release date 17 June 2010
April 2008 to April 2010
England
Local Authority level data
17th December 2009
The previous release can be found http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/6530.aspx" class="govuk-link">in the UK government web archive.
In June 2008, local authorities agreed Local Area Agreements (LAAs) with Government and their partners. The LAAs include targets to improve public services and the quality of life for people living and working in the area. Local authorities chose 35 targets from a possible 198 in the National Indicator Set. The set was reduced to 188 in April 2008 and was reviewed again in April 2010, with the set reduced by a further 18 indicators. Indicator NI 10, visits to museums and galleries, was removed from the set leaving DCMS with three National Indicators (NIs) within the Set:
NI 8 Participation in sport and active recreation
NI 9 Use of public libraries
NI 11 Engagement in the arts
Data will continue to be collected on visits to museums and galleries and will be presented alongside the final assessment of National Indicators 9 and 11 in December 2010.
This report presents interim progress for those local authorities that selected National Indicator 8. Data published for County Councils and those authorities that have boosted samples will be based on Active People Survey data from the latest 12 month rolling period (April 2009 to April 2010). For the other authorities, the NI8 statistic will be based on the latest rolling 24 month period (April 2008 to April 2010) giving a sample size of 1000.
The report is accompanied by a workbook containing baseline and interim progress estimates for the indicator.
For details on NI 8, participation in sport and active recreation, please refer to http://www.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey.aspx" class="govuk-link">Sport England’s website.
The estimates are available in the Excel workbook and will open in a new window. A map is also provided, showing participation across the unitary and district authorities of England.
http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/research/NI8-June2010-thumb.gif" alt="map showing sporting participation by local authority">
The document below contains a list of DCMS Ministers and Officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Active People survey data. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/research/EarlyAccessforBriefingJune2010.pdf" class="govuk-link">Pre-release access list (PDF 10kb)
This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.
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Data on total minutes of exercise, club membership, sports event attendance and opportunity to be physically active to Local Authority District level. Figures also provided for male and female.
The Active Lives Survey (ALS) commenced in November 2015. It replaces the Active People Survey, which ran from 2005 to 2015. The survey provides the largest sample size ever established for a sport and recreation survey and allows levels of detailed analysis previously unavailable. It identifies how participation varies from place to place, across different sports, and between different groups in the population. The survey also measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and inactive), the proportion of the adult population that volunteer in sports on a weekly basis, club membership, sports spectating and wellbeing measures such as happiness and anxiety, etc. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of demographic information, such as gender, social class, ethnicity, household structure, age, and disability.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic developed rapidly during 2020 and 2021. Fieldwork for the Active Lives survey continued throughout the pandemic, which covered periods Nov 2019-20 and Nov 2020-21. The data from Nov 2021-22 onwards covers periods without any coronavirus restrictions.
More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables.
Data Formats
Users should note that the Active Lives data are deposited in SPSS format. The UKDS also provides the data in Stata and tab-delimited formats, but due to the differing nature of the SPSS and Stata software packages and the structure of the Active Lives data, Stata users may experience some issues with labels or variable formats. We therefore recommend that users analyse the data in SPSS where possible.
Latest edition information
For the second edition (February 2025), the data file was resupplied, with an updated County Sports Partnership variable (CSP_2025), an updated inequalities metric variable (equalities_metric_2024_GR4), and new cultural activities variables (library visits, arts participation/visits, frequency) included.
The Participation Survey started in October 2021 and is the key evidence source on engagement for DCMS. It is a continuous push-to-web household survey of adults aged 16 and over in England.
The Participation Survey provides nationally representative estimates of physical and digital engagement with the arts, heritage, museums & galleries, libraries and archives, as well as engagement with tourism, major events, live sports and digital.
The Participation Survey is only asked of adults in England. Currently there is no harmonised survey or set of questions within the administrations of the UK. Data on participation in cultural sectors for the devolved administrations is available in the https://www.gov.scot/collections/scottish-household-survey/" class="govuk-link">Scottish Household Survey, https://gov.wales/national-survey-wales" class="govuk-link">National Survey for Wales and https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/statistics-and-research/culture-and-heritage-statistics" class="govuk-link">Northern Ireland Continuous Household Survey.
The pre-release access document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Participation Survey data. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours. Details on the pre-release access arrangements for this dataset are available in the accompanying material.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR. OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-code/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
The responsible statisticians for this release is Oliver Maxwell. For enquiries on this release, contact participationsurvey@dcms.gov.uk.
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Sport England is committed to the creation of a world-leading community sport environment. This means focusing our investment on organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport. Details of our funded projects from April 2009 to December 2013 are available on the links below.