Year 9 has been identified as a key group. It represents the end of Key Stage 3 (the forthcoming commencement of GCSE studies) and is recognised as a key drop-out point for participation. If young people are not involved in sport activities by Year 9, it tends to become progressively more difficult to attract/retain them thereafter. For this reason a survey of this age group has been conducted in the county every three years since 2001.
The survey of Year 9 pupils has gathered data on young people across the county. It is statistically valid at the level of individual local authorities and provides a wealth of information on the views and behaviour of young people, much of which is examined in the reports produced for each of the 14 local authorities.
The NWDA/RU, Sport England - North West, the Arts Council for England - North West, county sports partnerships within the region, the English Federation for Disability Sport, the Youth Sport Trust, PCT's and local health practitioners all contributed to the questionnaire development. The questionnaires were also discussed with representatives from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Analysis of the resultant data provides a context for sport development work in local authorities across the county and identifies various factors that influence levels of participation. It has a potentially wide range of uses, for example:
- Sport England - North West will use the results to review policy and to provide inputs for their own business plan targets.
- The NWDA/RU will use the data to view the region as a whole, the geography of participation and the differences between various population groups.
- The survey delivers against the Regional Cultural Strategy objective; to improve and develop data and intelligence on the cultural sector.
- To support delivery of the Regional Plan for Sport.
Summary of results for Lancashire in 2004
A summary of the survey results for 2004 for each of the 14 local authorities in Lancashire can be downloaded here. All are in Microsoft Word format:
