Scottish Household Survey 2025 findings: Cultural Engagement

Satisfaction with Local Authority cultural services

Since 2007, questions have been asked annually on the frequency of use and satisfaction with three local authority cultural services (libraries, museums and galleries and theatres and concert halls) amongst all adults and users of the services. This question was last asked in 2024.

Levels of satisfaction with Local Authority cultural services remained high in 2025. Among service users, more than nine in ten respondents reported being satisfied with museums and galleries (92%), libraries (92%), and theatres and concert halls (91%) (Table 53 in the accompanying Excel workbook).

Among service users, satisfaction levels were broadly consistent across all three service types, with fewer than 5% of users reporting dissatisfaction with any service. Compared with 2024, satisfaction for museums and galleries, theatres and concert halls and libraries remained stable (Table 53 in the accompanying Excel workbook).

When all respondents were considered, including those who did not use these services, satisfaction levels were lower (Table 40 in the accompanying Excel workbook). In 2025, 46% of respondents reported being satisfied with libraries, 48% with museums and galleries, and 47% with theatres and concert halls. This reflects the large proportion of respondents who did not express an opinion about services they had not used.

Satisfaction among all respondents increased between 2024 and 2025 across all three services. This largely reflects a reduction in the proportion of respondents reporting no opinion, rather than changes in satisfaction among service users themselves.

Overall, the findings indicate that Local Authority cultural services continue to be highly valued by those who use them, with consistently high levels of satisfaction across all service types.

SHS data on satisfaction with Local Authority libraries and museum and galleries is also reported in the Improvement Service’s Local Government Benchmarking Framework. It is important to note that adults who gave ‘no opinion’ on these services are excluded from their calculations and the data is presented in three year rolled averages to deliver the required level of precision at a local level so there will be differences in the figures reported in this report.