The Outdoors - Are You ‘Out There'?! Our UK Census

SkillsActive is the employer-led organisation licensed by government as the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Active Leisure, Learning and Wellbeing.

We have a role to improve workforce training and qualification provision for employers/ees within the outdoors sector. By gathering hard facts on the problems and concerns facing you and your staff, we can influence the funding and availability of training locally.

If you want to get cracking on the census, please click the following link to go straight to the survey pages -  www.skillsactive.com/survey/Outdoorcensus. If you want to know more about the survey, then read on!

The outdoors census aims to collect information on operators and providers within the sector, their staffing including volunteers, and the services and key activities offered. It will also gather information on the main participants for those activities, and the seasonal variation of both activities and participation. The results of the survey will give SkillsActive a more accurate image of the size and scope of the outdoors sector within the UK.

Who should complete it?

We would like to hear from as many outdoor sector organisations, businesses and providers as possible so we can build up an accurate picture of the industry.  Your contribution is really important so that we are truly representative of the sector.  We are interested in hearing about all forms of outdoor/adventurous recreation, education and development training delivery even if activity provision is not your core business. 'Providers' need not be outdoor centres in their traditional sense; we are just as interested in knowing about those organisations outside the traditional footprint of our sector who may be offering outdoor activities as a sideline, for instance, a bed and breakfast business that offers a guided mountain bike service. Equally, we also need to know about commercial, public, voluntary and charitable/not-for profit organisations that operate within the sector.

About the survey

SkillsActive operate to the Market Research Society code of conduct.Your business or organisation will not be identified against any responses. The results will be reported anonymously at an aggregated level. Separate to the research, at the end of the survey we ask if you would like further information about SkillsActive.

The online survey is easy to complete and a progress bar at the bottom will show you how far you are.  We understand how busy your days can be, and have minimised the questions to aid speedy completion.  It should take no more than 10 to 15 minutes.  If you have a network of contacts please share this opportunity to contribute with them. The survey can be accessed by visiting www.skillsactive.com/survey/Outdoorcensus.