The Improvement Agenda for the culture and sport sector, set out in A Passion for Excellence, identifies strategic commissioning as a key process and one that we're not too good at. Local Strategic Partnerships are the commissioners, and they will make decisions based on the demonstration of performance against impact and outcome measures. Our sector has always been quite good at 'inputs' such as number of visits etc, but LSPs want to know "so what?" It's a weakness that we're in a poor position to answer this, but a strength that in fact we do contribute to most if not all LSP agenda - typically: health, crime, economic development etc. So, all we need is a standard method of identifying, measuring, monitoring, benchmarking and understanding outcome data, all of which is our day job at Leisure-net!
Leisure-net is uniquely placed to help clients with each of the three stages required to meet the need to demonstrate performance using impacts and outcomes. Our relationship with CLOA has positioned us, together with associates, to help the sector as a whole to make progress, and our relationship with sporta has meant that we have raised awareness of the issues in general and we are currently helping to deliver a major sporta event on the topic. We've worked with several trusts including Wigan and Rochdale in establishing the mechanisms needed to gather the data required, and we're currently taking Hertsmere through the whole process, with a similar assignment with Abbeycroft Leisure beginning soon.
So what are the three stages that we can help clients go through?
1/ We begin with advising on the structures required in response to Local Strategic Partnerships and their Local Area Agreements
2/ Once the trust knows what priority outcomes it needs to measure, we then advise on how to do this
3/ We can help deliver the data collection that the client itself can't do due to time, resource or expertise issues
Using this format, but of course amended for local circumstances, we are currently working with the leisure trust in Hertsmere, with the full involvement of the council, and with the University of Hertfordshire having an oversight.
Work on data collection, and in particular from users and non-users of services, is a particular strength of customer insight specialists Leisure-net: we've done this for metropolitan councils such as Sandwell, counties such as Wiltshire and districts such as Erewash: we're finding that with new clients, this is increasingly set against the background of strategic commissioning and outcomes.
Together with sporta, Leisure-net is now looking at running a specific event towards the end of the year, which is meant to update the trusts on progress in this area. It will also indicate the reasons why they should not only be aware of developments but also arguably drive the agenda with their councils, and look at where some trusts are already taking the lead. We hope that this will encourage more trusts to work with their councils on this agenda, and also to ensure a standard approach within sporta to reinforce benchmarking.