A Passion for Excellence Culture

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A Passion for ExcellenceCulture Sport
Improvement Strategy
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The next steps on our improvement journey

• Culture Sport Improvement Strategy
• Culture Sport Improvement Toolkit
• Improvement Pilots
• Culture Sport Strategic Reviews

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We have made good progress but still face some
big challenges

• 51 councils at level 2 in the CPA culture block -
  the sector remains the weakest in CPA
• Of the121 culture inspections since 2003
• 56 (47) were Good or Excellent with the others
  mainly Fair
• 76 (63) had Promising or Excellent prospects for
  improvement
• In the current LAA process
• 103 of 150 LSPs may have a sport and culture
  specific indicator as an improvement target or
  local target in their LAA
• Only 17 LSPs may not have an improvement target
  that culture and sport cannot contribute to

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Context the National Improvement Efficiency
Strategy

• 4 principles
• Council led improvement in partnership with
• communities and partners
• Devolved resources to the front line to support
  
• local decision making
• Stronger strategic planning for improvement
• More effective, simplified, rationalised
• improvement support

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The strategy aims to improve

• Data and evidence of impact on outcomes
• Performance and address under performance
• Regional support structures
• Knowledge sharing and learning
• Leadership and workforce development

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The components of the strategy

• Monitoring
• National indicator set
• Voluntary business
• improvement standards
• and benchmarks
• National impact library
• CSSR

• Challenging
• Self assessment
• Peer led challenge
• Validation
• Peer review
• Facility
• accreditation

• Supporting
• Regional improvement
• networks
• Knowledge learning
• Workforce development
• Leadership development

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Culture Sport Improvement Toolkit
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Self assessment using the Culture Sport
Improvement Toolkit

• Three ambitions
• Improve performance management
• Improve cultural positioning and recognition
• Reduce duplication and overlap
• Brings together
• TAES
• Arts _at_ the Strategic Centre
• Library Peer Review

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Key features of the new toolkit

• It remains focused on self-assessment but gives
  greater choice in how you use it
• Remains evidenced based
• 360 degree option for partners and stakeholders
  to strengthen positioning
• Peer challenge (validation) available through
  IDeA
• New package of peer supported improvement

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Improvement pilots
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Impact of improvement pilot process

• It strengthened the regional improvement
  networks.
• It helped achieve greater collaborative working
  between NDPBs and local government and with the
  emerging RIEPs leading to a number of networks
  obtaining funding support from them.
• Led to the creation of a number of tools and
  support material that has been rolled out and
  made available for use nationally.

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Learning from improvement pilots

• 8 pilots projects nationally
• Funded by CLG, Sport England, Arts Council and
  MLA funded
• Independently managed partnerships
• Individual evaluations and reports
• Regional application

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Learning from improvement pilots

• Creating and demonstrating public value
• Elected Member development for Portfolio Holders
• Best practice procurement for vol. sector groups
• Capacity building among cultural champions
• Improving information on performance and
• measuring impact
• Building awareness and understanding of cultural
  services
• Developing a network of councillor champions
• Peer Led Support

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Learning from improvement pilots

• Building relationships takes time
• Involve key stakeholders early appropriately
• Learn, share and be flexible
• Sector led improvement is valuable but
  challenging
• Must understand your customer and purpose
• Use project and programme management techniques
  for the best chance of success

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Culture Sport Strategic Reviews
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Culture Sport Strategic Reviews

• Wide consultation with LAs and RAs
• Broad consensus on many issues but different
  views on others
• Concern over capacity and unresolved reviews
• Interest in using self assessment
• Links to CAA seen to be valuable
• Needs to be aligned with duty to cooperate

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Culture Sport Strategic Reviews

• X Not a repeat of Regional Commentaries
• X Not a bureaucratic marathon
• X Not a review or external marking of
  performance
• X Not back door assessment
• X Not hierarchical or confrontational challenge
• X Not imposed

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Culture Sport Strategic Reviews

• Advocacy and profile raising
• Partnerships and communication
• Strategic not operational
• Forward looking not retrospective
• Small and manageable not burdensome
• Prioritised and locally relevant

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Culture Sport Strategic Reviews

• Informs CAA's in a useful and appropriate way
• Seeks to help influence the RIEPs
• Supports local government led improvement
• Has the ability to replicate and build on what is
  currently done in the best localities
• A framework for engagement rather than review"

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The strategy outlines clearly defined roles and
responsibilities

• Councils and their LSP partners
• LGA IDeA
• Professional bodies National Culture Forum
• DCMS
• National and regional agencies

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Making it happen depends on

• A clear action plan
• Corporate and operational commitment by all
  stakeholders
• Sustained and enabling leadership
• Accountability
• Resources

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The success of the strategy will be measured by

• Increasing and sustaining participation as
  measured by the National Indicator Set
• Delivering better local outcomes as measured by
  agreed by LAA improvement targets

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Progress can be measured by

• Recognition in LAAs
• Use of self assessment and external challenge
• Participation in regional improvement networks
• Accessing knowledge and shared learning
• Availability of a national library of evidence
• Participation accreditation schemes
• Joint working and collaboration

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Ten things your council can do to deliver the
strategy

• Examine evidence from other places to show how
  culture and sport can contribute to delivering
  your Sustainable Community Strategy
• Show how culture and sport can help deliver your
  LAA improvement targets
• Include one of the participation indicators as an
  improvement target in your LAA to help you
  improve outcomes for your communities
• Invite representatives from the culture and sport
  sector onto your LSP and thematic partnerships
• Use the new Culture Sport Improvement Toolkit
  to self assess and define your improvement
  priorities

• Consider using one of the external challenge
  processes to help you improve
• 7. Get involved in developing a workable
  replacement for Regional Commentaries (CCSR)
• 8. Support the development of your culture and
  sport regional improvement network
• 9. Identify what you are good at and share it
  with others. Take the opportunity to learn from
  colleagues
• 10. Offer to become a peer or support your
  professional
• body in making their contribution to
  delivering the
• strategy

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Over the next three years we need to

• Embed the offer to councils partners and
  maximise awareness and engagement by March 2009
• Deliver better outcomes and places by March 2010
• Demonstrate we have made a difference by 2011
  ahead of the next spending review

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Uncertainties and challenges for the improvement
strategy

• The capacity to support sector led improvement
• The will to work collaboratively to improve
  places and deliver better outcomes
• The desire to do things differently and be
  innovative

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and
People
Places
Culture Sport
An authority that fails to value the power of -
and need for - cultural services, is one which
will struggle to meet the needs and aspirations
of its local communities. Derrick
Anderson Chief Executive London Borough of
Lambeth