Satisfaction with Local Authority Cultural Services in Scotland (2024)
Report on satisfaction with Local Authority cultural services in Scotland in 2024.
Introduction
This report summarises the findings on satisfaction with Local Authority cultural services from the 2024 Scottish Household Survey (SHS)[1]. Specifically, there are questions in the survey about people’s satisfaction with Local Authority libraries, museums and galleries and theatres and concert halls, from both users and non users of the services.
The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) is an annual survey of the general population in Scotland, carried out since 1999. It aims to collect reliable and up-to-date information on a range of topics, through a random sample of people in private residences. It is a voluntary and interviewer-led survey, usually carried out face-to-face in people’s homes. The 2024 methodology and fieldwork outcomes report provides details of the methods used.
This publication contains the 2024 Scottish Household Survey results relating to Satisfaction with Local Authority Cultural Services in Scotland (2024). Results for other topics are available on the Scottish Household Survey results webpage.
The 2024 results are published as official statistics (see below) in line with 2022 and 2023. This is in contrast to 2020 and 2021, which were published as experimental statistics. This was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the 2020 and 2021 survey years having a different methodology, lower response rates and a change in the profile of respondents compared to typical survey years. Data relating to 2020 and 2021 can be found in their respective key findings reports and supplementary documents.
Throughout this report, tables are referenced. These are published in Excel format as supporting documents to the report, and include specific results for groups in the population (e.g. age, sex, deprivation). Some of the differences between groups may be due to random sampling variation, i.e. chance. Similarly, some apparent differences between 2023 and 2024 results may occur by chance. We use standard statistical tests of significance to determine the likelihood of differences being due to chance. When this report refers to differences between groups or years, these differences are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level unless explicitly stated otherwise. Some differences between groups in the Excel tables that appear large may not be mentioned in this report, because they are not statistically significant.
Please note percentages in this report have been rounded to the nearest whole number. As a result of this calculated differences or changes may be out compared to the difference between the stated percentages.
SHS data on satisfaction with Local Authority libraries and museum and galleries is 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.
Structure of the report
This report is structured into two sections:
- Satisfaction with Local Authority cultural services amongst users (2024)
- Satisfaction with Local Authority cultural services amongst all adults (2024)
[1] As part of a substantial review of the whole SHS questionnaire, questions in the survey about people’s cultural attendance, participation, factors that may limit their attendance and participation and what value culture has for them are now being asked biennially (odd years). These questions will therefore next be asked in the 2025 SHS.
Contact
Office of the Chief Statistician
email: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot