New Culture Survey

We are required to collect and report data with regards to the representation of our colleague group, we do this through a ‘culture survey’.

Our last culture survey of all colleagues was carried out over 3 years ago. New colleagues complete the survey as part of their onboarding process. The data is required primarily for our funders, including Arts Council England (ACE), who require us to annually return on our representation levels and is also necessary for legal compliance and internal reporting purposes.

This year, ACE has made some changes and additions to the data they require, necessitating us to ask all colleagues to complete a new survey form.

Please note that all colleagues are required  to complete this form, upon receipt, even if your response is ’prefer not to say’  to each question. Below are responses to questions we anticipate you may have:

• Why are you asking for this information? All organisations within the Arts Council England framework are required to provide the data requested in the enclosed survey as a key part of the funding requirements. As a Museum, we also have some legal obligations for reporting and monitoring data.
• I have already provided this information before. Why are you asking for it again? It is essential that we maintain accurate data for our colleagues, so it is common practice to refresh this information periodically to ensure it is up-to-date. Our last culture survey update was over 3 years ago. Additionally, Arts Council England recently updated some of their reporting categories. As a result, we have adjusted our culture survey to align with these new categories. This means there are new questions that we have not asked you before, and some previously asked questions now offer more options. Therefore, we are asking you to complete a new culture survey. Finally, we also recognise that some colleagues may wish to update their previous responses to better reflect their current situation. This new culture survey provides an opportunity to do so.
• Do I have to provide this information? To ensure the data accurately reflects our colleague base, we encourage you to answer each question as honestly as possible. If you do not wish to respond to a question, or all questions, please mark the “Prefer not to say” option.
• Will this data be shared with others? No individual data is shared. All data is collected as a group of statistics and generically reported internally and externally, e.g. for funding requirements.
• Will the data be held in my personnel file? No, the data will not be held in your personnel file. The data is transferred to a spreadsheet that does not contain individual names and is only accessible by the People & Culture team. The hardcopy forms are shredded. You will note that the enclosed form has a payroll number. This is simply to allow us to chase outstanding replies and trace the responses of leavers for removal. This enables the data to remain live.
• Will my answers be linked back to me? No. We are not seeking to identify individual personal details, we simply need the raw data for statistical monitoring and generic reporting.