Research and analysis

DCMS Official Statistics Workplan 2026/27

Updated 27 March 2026

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistical-work-plans/dcms-official-statistics-workplan-202627

1.  Introduction

This page outlines the high level priorities and plans for DCMS official statistics in 2026/27. These are based on our current understanding of existing and emerging user needs. We always value feedback from users. You can contact the DCMS statistics team on evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

A number of DCMS’s Public Bodies also produce official statistics. This includes Arts Council England, British Film Institute, Gambling Commission, Historic England, Sport England and VisitEngland. You can find a calendar of all official statistics planned by DCMS and our Public Bodies on the research and statistics release calendar.

2. Our statistics

We are committed to continue to provide robust, high quality and relevant official statistics. Our statistics will support the evidence base for the government’s missions and DCMS’ priority outcomes, while also meeting the needs of a range of external users, guided by the principles set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The rest of the work plan sets out more detail about our planned portfolio of DCMS statistics for 2026/27.

2.1 Economic estimates

Our Economic Estimates provide statistics on the contribution of DCMS sectors to the economy. These help us understand the number and size of businesses in the DCMS sectors, the number and characteristics of those employed in DCMS sectors and how much they earn, how DCMS sectors contribute to UK trade, and the Gross Value Added to the UK economy. 

In 2025/26, we developed our range of Economic Estimates: 

In January 2026, we decided to pause our quarterly employment releases due to quality issues with the underlying data source - the ONS Annual Population Survey. We will continue to publish calendar year annual employment estimates. We will review whether or not to return to publishing rolling quarterly releases as the quality of the ONS data improves and in line with user needs.  

In 2026/27, our plans include:

  • Continuing to review the content, including ensuring we continue to capture areas of DCMS interest well, and the frequency of our Economic Estimates in line with user needs. We will engage with users about any planned changes. 
  • Continuing to work with the ONS to improve the quality of tourism estimates by supporting the programme of work to transform travel and tourism statistics, including the new International Passenger Survey design, and work with the ONS to deliver the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) and provisional TSA indicator. 
  • Continue to assess the potential for producing heritage economic estimates using a SIC-SOC methodology, following previous research assessing methodologies for producing heritage sector economic estimates based on a broader definition.
  • Exploring the feasibility of producing and publishing regional productivity estimates. 
  • Publishing updated estimates of creative occupations within and outside of the creative industries as part of our annual DCMS Sector employment statistics.
  • Reviewing alternative sources of labour market data to explore the feasibility and utility of producing estimates for DCMS sectors.
  • Seeking user feedback about discontinuing the publication of earnings estimates based on the Annual Population Survey to focus on publishing earnings based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - our primary and most robust source of data for earnings in DCMS sectors. If you would like to contribute to this process, please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk. 
  • Commencing work to review DCMS sector definitions following ONS revisions to the UK Standard Industrial Classification (UK SIC). 
  • We will identify opportunities to improve access to official statistics, evidence and data for the creative industries, as outlined in the Creative Industries Sector Plan. This includes working with the ONS to explore how to make official Creative Industries estimates easier to find and considering additional data sources.

In the coming year, we plan to publish the following Economic Estimates for DCMS sectors:

Gross Value Added (GVA)

  • Annual GVA - our most robust estimate
  • Monthly GVA - a faster, though less accurate estimate, published quarterly
  • Regional GVA

Trade

  • Annual Trade in Goods 
  • Annual Trade in Services 
  • Annual Trade in Tourism

Employment and earnings

  • Annual employment - an expanded employment publication based on Annual Population Survey (APS) data
  • Annual ‘snapshot’ earnings release based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
  • Implementation of updated creative occupations in employment statistics based on SOC2020 codes, including estimates of creative occupations within and outside the creative industries and breakdowns by occupational code.

Business demography

  • Annual business demographics: the number and characteristics of businesses in DCMS sectors.

Productivity

  • Annual output per hour, including exploring the feasibility of producing regional estimates

Research and Development (R&D)

  • Annual R&D expenditure, including exploring the feasibility of producing additional breakdowns, including by turnover band of the business, and for foreign-owned businesses vs UK owned. 

Satellite Accounts

Satellite accounts can provide estimates of the economic contribution of sectors of the economy which are not observable in the traditional system of UK national accounts because they do not directly correspond to SIC economic activity. Work in this area includes:

  • Tourism Satellite Account: we will continue to work with the Office for National Statistics to ensure the publication of estimates of employment and gross value added by the tourism sector, including a more timely provisional UK Tourism Satellite Account indicator. 
  • Sport Satellite Account: we will continue work on robustly measuring the broader economic contribution of the sport sector and produce updated Sports Satellite Account estimates as part of our portfolio of Economic Estimates.

2.2 Community and Engagement Survey

In 2025/26, we ran the Community and Engagement Survey for the first time. The Community and Engagement Survey replaces DCMS’ Participation Survey and Community Life Survey, bringing the surveys together while retaining the content of both.  This followed a public consultation about DCMS’ social surveys in 2024. 

The Community and Engagement Survey has been designed to explore how people (16+) across England engage with their community and with culture, media and live sport and allows respondents’ views to be heard on a range of issues affecting their local area. The findings will help Government, charities and other public sector organisations understand how people engage with culture, media and a range of activities, as well as understand more about communities across England. It will help inform and shape policy and decision making. 

Each year, we will ask a core set of questions to all respondents. These include demographic information, as well as a small number of headline questions about community (previously, the Community Life Survey) and about engagement (previously, the Participation Survey). Respondents will then be routed to either the community pathway (previously, the Community Life Survey) or the engagement pathway (previously, the Participation Survey), where they will spend the majority of their survey time.

In 2025/26, DCMS partnered with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to boost the sample size to be able to produce meaningful estimates at the Local Authority (LA) level for the majority of the data for the community pathway (previously Community Life Survey) questions. 

This year, we plan to publish the following:

  • Quarterly data tables, covering core questions by ITL2 and Combined Authorities
  • Annual data tables and report for the Community and Engagement survey. These will provide detailed demographic information, and provide core questions at LA-level, community pathway questions at LA-level and engagement pathway questions at ITL2 level

In 2026/27, DCMS will be partnering with Arts Council England to boost the sample size to be able to produce meaningful estimates at LA level for the majority of the data for the engagement pathway (previously Participation Survey) questions.

We are considering options for a survey of young people.

2.3 DCMS-funded cultural institutions

We publish statistics about DCMS-funded cultural institutions. These help us understand how DCMS-funded cultural institutions generate their income, how sponsored museums and galleries are performing against their annual performance indicators and how many visits there are to sponsored museums and galleries.

In the year ahead, we expect to publish:

  • Monthly visitor figures for sponsored museums and galleries (published quarterly)
  • Annual performance indicators for sponsored museums and galleries, 2024/25
  • Total income of DCMS-funded cultural organisations, covering both 2023/24 and 2024/25

2.4 Reported Treasure Finds

Statistics on Reported Treasure Finds present the number of finds of treasure and portable antiquities reported and recorded through the Portable Antiquities Scheme. We release an account because of the importance of treasure finds in understanding and interpreting history on a national and local level. The scheme is an intrinsic part of cultural protection, preserving important and significant finds for public access.

We published our annual report in November 2025, and plan to publish the next set of statistics in November 2026.

2.5 DCMS Sector Skills Estimates

We published skills shortages and skills gaps for the DCMS sectors and sub-sectors in May 2024. In February 2025, we published a further analysis of skills shortages and skills gaps in the creative industries, with a particular focus on the nature and impacts of skills issues in the creative industries, as well as on the profile of skills gaps and shortages by occupation. 

Fieldwork for the Employer Skills Survey 2024 was carried out between May and December 2024, and results have now been published by the Department for Education. In 2026/27, we plan to release updated statistics on DCMS Sector Skills Shortages and Skills Gaps. These statistics are usually updated every two years, in line with the Employer Skills Survey.

2.6 Supplementary tables

Over the last year, we have published a wide range of supplementary tables. We will continue to do this for transparency, including where users request particular cuts of data. If you require a breakdown of our statistics that we have not already published, please contact us on evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

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