Payments by the Ministry of Culture

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Research, Technology and Culture, Business Statistics
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Payments by the Ministry of Culture 2023

The purpose of the statistics Payments by the Ministry of Culture is to provide a comprehensive overview of the magnitude, scope and distribution of payments by the Ministry of Culture for cultural purposes. Payments by the Ministry of Culture in combination with the statistics Public Funding for Cultural Purposes provide a detailed picture of state financing and support for cultural activities. The statistics cover the period from 2010 and onwards.

Statistical presentation

The statistics are an annual statement of payments for promoting purposes within the area of the Ministry of Culture, e.g. for the operation of institutions, specific activities and projects, scholarships, etc. and shows the distribution on different cultural domains and geography. Recipients are described by age and gender (persons) or company form and size (companies). The payments to authors, translators, etc. linked to the Public Lending Rights' Fund and the distribution of disbursements to the special, cultural domains Children and Young People, Research and Education are tabulated.

Statistical processing

The Ministry of Culture sends annual data to Statistics Denmark on payments including amounts, purpose, geographical and other targeting, as well as information on recipients. Statistics Denmark debugs data and links them with background information about the recipients. This information is for personal recipients age, area of residence and gender. For companies background information is location, and size and type of business. Finally, data is tabulated and published in StatBank Denmark following a number of additional checks.

Relevance

The statistics can be used for summaries of public funding for various cultural purposes over time. The statistics can be used as an indicator of state grants for cultural purposes, with the proviso that other ministries besides the Ministry of Culture also can pay out grants for cultural purposes. Moreover, the statistics describes geographical distribution of funding as well as characteristics of recipients in terms of geography, sex and age (persons), or size and business type (companies). The statistics is established and continuously developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture.

Accuracy and reliability

Data is collected via the Ministry of Culture's grant administrative systems, other financial systems and the Government Accounts. There are no uncertainty calculations available, but the overall precision is assessed to be very high with regard to the current payments from the Ministry of Culture. Over time, adjustments may occur in the Ministry of Culture's allocation of cultural subjects to certain schemes and budget areas. Likewise, changes in remit mean that government grants can be moved between departments. The ongoing adjustments can thus affect comparability over time.

Timeliness and punctuality

The statistics are normally published in mid-June approximately 5½ months after the end of the reference period. The statistics are usually published without delay in relation to the announced time.

Comparability

When assessing time series from these statistics, the user should be aware of shifts in the Ministry of Culture's area of responsibility etc. as described under Comparability over Time. For example, the data breach from 2011 to 2012 is due to reshuffles after the formation of the government in 2011. The Ministry of Culture was handed over the area of public education and the folk high schools from the Ministry of Children and Education, and castles and cultural properties were moved from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Culture. Finally, the higher artistic educations were moved from the Ministry of Culture to the Ministry for Research, Innovation and Higher Education.

As of the publication of 2019 figures, the designation of case regions has changed compared to before, as it is possible for certain types of payment to define the case region more precisely than before.

Accessibility and clarity

Payments by the Ministry of Culture is presented on the subject page for Education, economy and employment in the cultural field. The results are published annually through a News Article from Statistics Denmark and a series of interactive StatBank Denmark tables showing i.a. the geographical distribution of payments as well as sums and characteristics of personal and company recipients.