The Sport, Leisure and Culture blog

November 18: Having spent nearly a week in Ethiopia, despite its huge challenges - the potential of its hugely talented and naturally gifted people is immense. Their athleticism, natural stamina and energy will, I am convinced start to filter through into wider sports other than distance running. Infrastructure and standards of living are slowly improving. The numbers of children attending full time education is increasing (currently it sits around 25%).

I have witnessed some amazing moves on dirt soccer pitches, table tennis tables in slums and seen early morning distance runners training hard.  Inspirational!

I am hopeful we will start to see this breakthrough. One thing's for certain, this nation of 82 Million people love their sport and once this potential is realised we'd all better watch out for the red, green and yellow machine!

NZRA

9 November 2009: What do you think of when it comes to conferences in the UK? Overly packed seminar programmes of mixed quality? Not enough breaks to network? Cheesed off sponsors who’ve been hidden in the broom cupboard? Empty seats on the last day? I could go on, but will leave you the reader to add your own personal gripes.

Let’s face it. Historically, our conferences are predictable and about as inspiring as the World Darts Championship at Lakeside. There have been some encouraging signs of life in the last few years from ISPAL and LIW, but from a personal perspective, I was curious as to what our sector in other countries do.

So, as part of my SLC World Tour, I managed to bag myself a speaking slot at the New Zealand Recreation Conference, Hawkes Bay 2-4 November telling the Orford Park Story in the context of Olympic Legacy, with the blessing of my dear friends at Warrington Borough Council.

Brendon Ward, the inspirational Chief Executive of NZRA gave me a clear steer when I met up with him a couple of weeks before in Wellington over a beer. When I asked him if he wanted to see my presentation, he cooly replied, “No mate – it’s your reputation.” The Conference administration was slick and whilst I played in the mountains of the South Island on an adventure trip -  all arrangements were sorted for me.

Upon arrival at Napier Airport I was met and whisked off to my Motel with a jaccuzi bath the size of which I imagine could be used in a number of rather dubious Rap videos.. After a quick change I was then driven to the Mayoral function where I was introduced to the Organising Committee and some of the other key note speakers. I was sensing this was genuinely an annual event for the sector.  It was relaxed, casual and positive. The next day – I arranged for my suit and shiny shoes to be sent back to England.

Day One of the conference was kicked off by Chris Tremain, a Government Finance Minister standing in for Murray McCully, the Minster of Sport (who apparently had a drama to deal with – The Island of Fiji...). Chris rocked up in a cycling top promoting a cycle sportif in his region. He clearly looked like a chap who took his fitness seriously (his Dad was an All Black in the 60’s).  His 45 minute speech blew the audience away - reassuring a nervous local government audience following recent rumblings about the sector being marginalised and highlighting innovation and best practice.  It was clear that there was a debate at Government  level as to the value delivered by Kiwi Recreation and this was currently being reviewed.  “He actually gets what we do” someone enthusiastically whispered in my ear.  Too right – I was trying to think of a UK MP who could actually fit into a cycling shirt….

Cycling Chris was then followed by an equally svelt Lawrence Yule, the Mayor of Hastings, a man on a mission to deliver one major sports project each of his three year political terms. Lawrence clearly didn’t just get it, but was driving it - namely a Regional Sports Park worth 25 million quid, with some synergy with Orford Park in Warrington and number of Sports Parks in the UK.

A well timed coffee break of 30 minutes followed. The conference floor was electric with everyone networking, laughing and enjoying their time together. Delegates then had a choice of two sets of three 45 minute concurrent sessions. Topics were varied reflecting an audience of parks and recreation specialists – ( I wonder if you remember those halcyon days?..)   The programme was then followed by the final key note speech that day from the CEO of the Tourist Association New Zealand who informed us that tourists spend 25 million quid a day in New Zealand. Adventure tourism plays a key role in Recreation sector in NZ and this was clearly something to shout about.

Lunch was superb and we then had a choice of two study tours or a bike ride along Napier’s beautiful coastline visiting a number of recreational projects.  I saw three major facilities in three hours and was impressed at the level of information shared by the managers at each venue – a struggling water park, the new Hawkes Bay Sports Park and Petrigrew-Green Arena Development. Fun, informative and nice to get some fresh air and sun.

Now at this point I was expecting going back for a few beers with some diehards,  scoff a dodgy curry, listen to people whinging over a whisky before bed. No chance! – we were bussed back to our accommodation and then on to the renowned Sileni Vineyard for a BBQ. This gathering was seriously sociable with a lot of local wine and fabulous food - all part of the 750 quid package (for three days). The Maori Master of Ceremonies,  Marcus Akuhata-Brown (who is the best conference chair I’ve ever had the privilege to hear) at my request, spent an hour with me working on a traditional Maori opening greeting for my key note. I thought ‘Kia Ora’ would have been a missed opportunity to show my growing respect to this proud bunch. I could see him going down well in the UK.

At this stage, I think I knew about 50 delegates by their first name. These people are seriously sociable and many have strong links with the UK.   At midnight the conference organisers tactfully escorted / bundled me back to my Motel before I could enjoy the evening too much. Bleery eyed, I started to make final preparations to practice my Maori.

Tuesday morning arrived.  I was on at 9am after the Day 1 Recap by Marcus who lightheartedly stitched me up by sharing elements of our chat the night before with the entire audience!!

Under the spotlight, my Maori intro (to mine and the audiences’ amazement) went fine. The presentation went (according to my new Kiwi chums) very well. They clearly were impressed with the achievements and ambitions of Warrington Borough Council and keen to explore how they too could leverage benefits for the wider sector from the 2011 Rugby World Cup, as Warrington has from the 2012 Olympics. I was presented a beautiful Art Deco painting by Marcus and I was pleased to see the audience managed to withhold throwing anything at me as they showed their appreciation.

I could now relax and enjoy the rest of the conference. Phew!! …I was then followed by Richard Beddle from Fitness New Zealand who delivered a very slick session on local government ‘being more commercial’ as it is clear the sector in New Zealand has enjoyed huge subsidies historically with less than 10% cost recovery the norm for many facilities. A tea break and concurrent sessions followed. Lunch was a feast and by now I was really feeling part of NZRA gang with lots of banter and business cards being exchanged. Was emigration becoming an option?

After lunch we heard from Deb Hurdle from New Zealand’s equivalent of Sport England – SPARC – Sport and Recreation New Zealand –a government agency. She presented well and focused on recent policy  changes following the election of the new National Government in 2008. Recreation had been added to SPARC’s portfolio.  Deb looks like she could run a marathon with her eyes closed. I later found out she exercises two hours a day.  Most of the delegates were fit, energetic and bright eyed – they really do walk the talk here. Note to self?

In terms of where I saw the Kiwi sector compared to our own, it was clear the UK was ahead in a number of areas including procurement, collocation of facilities, cost effectiveness of delivery and links with health. However my new Silver Ferned buddies had maintained their links with the parks sector and appeared to be doing a great deal of innovative stuff around participation with hard to reach groups. One excellent example of this is the award winning 1000 steps programme (www.10000stepsnorthland.co.nz) . Clearly we have a lot in common and huge amounts to share and learn from each other – something I am determined to champion from this point forward. Key shared issues include demonstrating outcomes, achieving value for money and targeting subsidy.

We then went off to sort out our costumes for the Art Deco fancy dress dinner and awards ceremony, which was kicked off by a live broadcast of the Melbourne Cup (Horse Racing if like me – you didn’t have a clue what it was!). I managed to bag a $23 NZ dollar suit from the Red Cross Charity Shop next to my motel and some accessories. The awards clearly meant a lot to the NZRA delegates and winners were cheered loudly. It was good to see ISPAL doing a similar thing this July in the UK.

The banquet style dinner was a no speech zone – followed by a superb live band. To my astonishment at the first song, 75% of the delegates hit the floor and threw some serious shapes!  I then spent the rest of the evening getting down with the troops who were dancing like they just didn’t care.. The room was balanced with a good mix of boys and girls which always helps these type of gigs. Was this really a Recreation Conference I drunkenly kept asking myself???   Jolly good.

Wednesday 4 November - last day – as I peeled my eyelids open and crawled in I was expecting single figure turn out for the 9.30am UK style.

The key note graveyard slot awaited Shelley Campbell, a Maori CEO of a Heath Authority who was exploring future opportunities and policy challenges in health. To my utter astonishment the auditorium was packed. Shelley  a mum of four and kiwi legend blew us away. She covered topics such as new approaches to healthcare, what the sector could do to respond to the obesity epidemic and gave us some inspiring examples of innovation in community development, all delivered with a relaxed and personable style. She’d been rubbing shoulders with ex Presidents at conferences across the world  and it showed – this was one well informed Maori lady and she was happy to share. My main ‘take away’ was the line, “don’t tell, me – show me” in relation to evidencing impacts and outcomes.

Two more groups of excellent concurrent sessions kept things moving followed by lunch which by now was a manic networking session. By now I knew almost everyone – all of whom were fun, knowlegable and engaging. 

By now I would have thought folk would be sneeking out for an early exit to catch up on their sleep, but the NZRA juggernaut was gathering even more momentum… the final two key note sessions were from Nigel Cass, the  General Manager of the 2011 Rugby World Cup,  who entertained us with inspirational videos and an informative session on progress – he told us he had “96 Mondays to go”.

Last but not least was a Kiwi Adventurer Jamie Fitzgerald, the equivalent of Ben Fogle, who rowed across the Atlantic and later walked to Antartica and avoided (the Editor of this fine Journal will be pleased to observe) doing a ‘Cracknell.’ He was inspiring, funny and well briefed.  My new best mate Brendon Ward wrapped things up beautifully and sent us all on our way with smiles on our faces and in eager anticipation of the next year’s conference.

As I said my farewells, he stuck a double CD of Kiwi dance anthems in my hand – just to make sure I had the words to singalong ‘down pat’. 

Same time next year....

November 3, 2009: Having spent three days with the New Zealand Recreation Association in Hastings, Hawkes Bay this week, I have some observations to share.

Polticians Chris Tremain NZMP and Lawrence Yule - Mayor of Hastings hugely impressive opening speeches - they actually get sport and recreation!

A conference floor buzzing with positivity and a 'can do' attitude.

A conference programme balanced with exciting study tours, quality presentations, excellent catering, conference organistion and venue - the Hawke's Bay Opera House.  

A conference awards ceremony and dinner where 100% of the delegates hit the dancefloor and stay at the social event all night and into the small hours.

We in the UK have a lot to learn from our Kiwi peers. They walk the talk and it's been an absolute privilege spending ths week with Brendon Ward and this fabulous group of recreation professionals.

November 1, 2009: I've just had an amazing 10 days in the South Island of New Zealand and have been stunned by its rugged beauty.

The Kiwis should be proud of their fabulous landscape and the excellent job their Department of Conservation is doing speaks volumes of the importance of active recreation to their nation's health and tourism industry.

October 12, 2009: I've been in New Zealand for a week now. Simply stunning country!

The culture is all about active recreation - I love it!

Here's a few pictures for you to enjoy. Tomorrow I 'tramp' the Tongariro crossing - in crampons because it's a little chilly up here! Wish me luck!

I'm very excited about the SLC website launch on Thursday, with the help of the team at Strawberry Soup, my brand and web designers...  Stay tuned!

Article for the Institute of Sport, Parks and Leisure INFORM Magazine, Issue Seven, Autumn 2009

A new set of rules

The Comprehensive Area Assessment has arrived, where key public services such as health, education and social care must demonstrate their commitment to playing a collective role in delivering better outcomes for individuals and communities, and delivering on key priorities identified in Local Area Agreements.

Within these agreements are shared improvement targets chosen by the Local Strategic Partnership that are to be collectively pursued. Culture and Sport can support the achievement of many of these targets either directly through the relevant culture and sport indicators, where these have been chosen as priorities, or indirectly by supporting other improvement targets. Health, Children’s services and Adult Care are now seeking to improve these outcomes by buying services from a range of providers through a process called commissioning.

Why not purchase the services provided by Culture and Sport to improve outcomes for children, vulnerable adults and to improve health?

The general view is that the culture and sport sectors are not yet geared up for this new way of working for five main reasons.

1. The sector doesn’t fully understand the needs of its community and finds it hard to demonstrate how it can achieve outcomes to address those needs.

2. There is a lack of evidence to demonstrate that many of its interventions work – hence large budget holders such as Health are loathe to commit their resources to us to tackle their issues. Access to evidence, research and best practice is at times, limited. The sector as a whole isn’t very good at replicating things that work well and sharing learning to help promote improvement.

3. The skills that senior managers and leaders of Culture and Sport Services have had in the past, in many cases do not equip them particularly well for their current and future challenges. They need to be operating at a strategic level, integrating with their peers in health, education, social care and the probation service. This requires new language, understanding and new relationships. There is little training or support to help this transition and few role models to act as sector champions.

4. Many of our political leaders in councils have difficulty in embracing change. There is still an emotive need to hang onto poorly performing local facilities that should have been pulled down years ago. This has placed a financial stranglehold on services, making it impossible for them to deliver value for money and imposing an expectation of

mediocrity on customers. Change often only delivers benefits in the medium term – many of our political leaders lack the vision or support to see this through.

5. Given its fragmented nature, the plethora of agencies, associations, institutes and trade associations are collectively, making it very hard for government to do business with the Culture and Sport Sector. The Arts, Museums, Libraries, Archives, Tourism, Play, Parks and Open Spaces sectors are all stronger if seen as a collective force for good alongside sport, and yet they do not speak with one coherent voice. The danger of in-fighting over diminishing resources is likely to be a reality for many. Who does Government speak to mobilize the vast resources controlled by local government?

So what’s happening out there?

There appears to be a number of approaches being pursued across the country in response to the downturn in the economy, Comprehensive Area Assessment and pressure on budgets.

a) The traditional indiscriminate top slicing of all services (regardless of their effectiveness in delivering outcomes) to meet the new budgets set, but with an expectation of delivering the same for less.

b) The defence and championing of the value of sport, libraries, parks and the benefits of the Olympic Legacy in their own right and as key interventions to tackle local priorities.

c) Exploring how, within existing resources, innovation can enable identified needs to be met and deliver better value for money.

d) More radical transformation of service delivery using new facilities, providers and partnerships.

e) Responding to commissioning opportunities by generating interventions for partners in the health, child services and adult care sectors by developing offerings they want to invest in.

There is no firm evidence out there to identify how many of the 400 or so Council Culture and

Sport services are approaching these challenges. Anecdotal evidence tells us that the vast majority of councils are doggedly pursuing a) and b), with lesser numbers operating in c) and even fewer embracing d) and e).

So who is responsible for tackling the challenges ahead?

Responding to these opportunities and challenges is not a responsibility that lies individually with heads of sport and leisure services, with library services, parks and museums alone often competing to save their own service. This needs to be a collective effort and one that requires a relentless drive and commitment from the majority of the sector in order to gather strategic momentum, not just the vocal few.

Government Departments such as Health and Education and Skills, NDPBs such as Sport England and the Arts Council, Industry bodies such as ISPAL, CLOA, Sporta, ISRM would all benefit from a stronger cohesive steer from the Culture and Sport Sector as a whole. This would ensure that shared agendas could be pursued effectively and duplication of effort is avoided.

Collective strength

The existing £3 billion1 resource that is invested in Culture and Sport annually has the potential to deliver benefits far greater than that invested. However, this resource pot has been established on the basis of Culture and Sport for its own sake – “a good thing”. This cannot be protected in the future and let’s admit it, in some areas, it is not being spent as effectively as we would all like. Looking ahead, there is a shared desire to be competing for the much larger resources aimed at tackling obesity, diabetes, promoting independent living, reducing youth crime, providing support for vulnerable children and adults and in shaping and supporting communities.

Can you imagine the impact we could make if we attracted by commissioning just 0.5% from the £110 billion health budget, £94 billion welfare budget and the £80 billion education budget?2 The amount comes to nearly £1.4 billion.

The challenge for our senior leaders is not just advocating and championing their work, it is demonstrating how their services can deliver real

outcomes and make significant impacts. Shouldn’t it be the Culture and Sport sector promoting solutions to address spiraling costs in health, social care, crime and disorder?

Getting our house in order

If the sector fails to get its own house in order and optimize use of its current resources, it can hardly expect to win more resources. It needs to build a castiron case for reallocating resources to Culture and Sport to deliver results for, as an example, Health and Education.

There is a lot of activity happening right now to support this change. Culture and Sport can transform its offer more than any other local government service in order to meet future challenges and the needs of its customers and communities. There is an anticipation that Culture and Sport has the capacity to start chipping away at the spiraling costs of an unhealthy, disengaged and fragmented society. With

Andy Burnham at the helm in Health – for this week at least – we have a Minister who has seen the potential of the sector to be part of the solution.

“Although the challenges ahead will be difficult I am optimistic that the sector can prosper over coming years but only if it has the right attitudes, collaborates rather than competes and accepts and champions its own improvement”

Martyn Allison - National Advisor Culture & Sport. IDeA

Next steps

In order for those in power to sit up and take notice of our collective potential, I would like to suggest there are four things worth considering:

1. Invest in future leaders.

Young people in the sector would benefit hugely from role models, mentoring, coaching and professional development. Those in senior positions need to do more to inspire, involve and encourage our junior colleagues. By instilling in them a vision of the future and the role they can play in shaping that vision, they will have left a legacy behind that will continue to drive the sector forward and raise standards even higher in the future.

Too many talented young members of staff are lost to other professions and a key part of this is the lack of career progression, personal development and reward for excellence. More work is needed in this area working closely with the sector skills council.

2. Continue to raise standards within the profession.

Quality is infectious. Just look at the impact Quest™, The UK Quality Scheme for Sport and Leisure has had on improving leisure management and sports development. There is some encouraging work going on with the Regional Improvement Networks to promote better collaboration, improvements in efficiency and performance across Culture and Sport. However, funds seem incredibly tight for the task in hand.

The National Culture Forum is delivering a programme developing talented Local Government Heads of Service and Senior Managers across the UK – building the capacity of our future leaders.

One opportunity for ISPAL is to provide professional training to support the new agenda of change and

to better prepare our peers for effective working in the new environment – one I understand is being explored. Martyn Allison, colleagues at ID&eA and partner NDPBs are doing a tremendous job in supporting the

sector embrace change and improve, but it appears only the enlightened are fully engaged. They are supporting organisations getting to grips with strategic commissioning and commissioning; the key to accessing bigger budgets in future.

3. Learn from the innovators.

There are many fantastic examples of best practice. However, a recent study by the London Cultural Improvement Partnership3 show that the sector’s ability to collect and access data to support its activity is patchy. There is a desperate need to provide easier access to best practice for people at all levels within the sector. Reinventing the wheel is hard work, inefficient and expensive. By investing in a network of data and knowledge, all gain to benefit. It was encouraging to see an award for Innovation at the recent ISPAL Gala Dinner.

North West Leicestershire won the award for their participation-based key ring points system that delivered increased visits to leisure centres by young people. How quickly can that idea be shared, scaled and replicated elsewhere?

4. Unite under a shared vision of the rolecthe Culture and Sport sector can play.

There is still no clear vision to unite the Culture and Sport sector. With a singular vision, it will be a lot easier for our leaders to communicate the benefits of working with the Culture and Sport Sector and the value of what it can bring to assist in addressing the big issues. As an optimist, I believe the Culture and Sport sector has a bright future for those who are prepared to embrace the challenges ahead. By focusing on delivering real outcomes, communicating a collective offer, making services irresistible, Culture and Sport along with the communities it serves, will come out of this challenging period in much better shape.

References

1 DCLG (2009)

2 ukpublicspending.co.uk (2009)

3 London Cultural Data Access Review -2007

I was invited to write an article for the Locum Review over three years ago.. I dug it out today... I wonder how far my predictions were from the reality of where we are today?  I'll let you decide..

Going for Gold

Can the official targets for 2012 be hit?

Duncan Wood-Allum highlights the issues that need to be addressed if the Government’s wider legacy objectives are to be achieved.

The Government has been working hard behind the scenes to get its act together in establishing the Olympics Bill, the ODA and LOCOG alongside the development of its Olympic objectives.

They are the key drivers for delivering the main aspects of ‘Olympic legacy’, which of course has many different elements, from the economic and environmental regeneration of the East End of London, to sustainable world-class sports facilities and increased levels of participation in sport throughout the UK. It is hoped that the last of these will result, ultimately, in greater sporting success as a nation. But can this be achieved, and how?

How active is the nation?

The Government’s target is to increase by 1% per annum the number of adults in England who participate in at least 30 minutes of moderately intensive sport and physical activity on five or more days each week. It has established the £6 million ‘Active People’ survey to assess levels of physical activity in England, due for completion in November 2006. There are some real concerns about the approach being taken, namely a survey funded only for one year, which does not encourage additional compatible data from other sources to be integrated into the research. Other concerns involve the fact that this target is being driven by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport through Sport England, not Health or Education and Skills. If the health of the nation is so important shouldn’t this be a joined up target with real momentum and resources from the big hitters in Whitehall?

Challenges

The aspirational target of a 1% annual increase in participation has not, in the opinion of many, been fully thought through. It will take years to strengthen the infrastructure required to get and keep more people more active, more often. Increases in the early years are likely to be negligible. (The billions invested in sports facilities over the last 10 years through the Lottery Sports Fund increased participation by less than 1%.) One final concern is the funding to follow this research up. Cash strapped local government sport and leisure departments will need to find the resources to invest in future research, something they will feel obliged, rather than compelled, to do.

Increasing participation

If the Government’s highly ambitious target is to remain achievable, a wide range of issues need to be addressed. The Government is seeking to build the capacity of what it calls the sport ‘delivery system’. This features key roles for coordinating organisations such as the County Sports Partnerships, which after three years are still yet to deliver convincingly. Critically, the capacity and capabilities of sports clubs will need to improve dramatically, supported by focused, joined-up investment in facilities. It’s all too easy to forget that volunteers, coaches, officials and kit washers are the foundry within which our future Gold medals will be forged.

Clear leadership in bringing about the change and improvements to address these issues will be needed, but this is from a disjointed sports sector that traditionally has been lacking direction and clarity of purpose.

Improving national success rates

Another Government target is for Team GB to come fourth in the 2012 medals table. Again, is this realistic? The Government is enhancing the support network for elite performers.

In the last budget, an investment of £200 million of Government funding for Olympic and Paralympic Sports was announced, backed up by an additional £100 million, pledged by Government on behalf of the private sector. Leading up to 2012, new world-class facilities and venues will take shape and support the development of our elite athletes. But at a strategic level, the spaghetti of quangos and elite sports organisations will need to be rationalised to ensure focused investment. The Government needs to drive change in the sporting sector, rather than leaving the sector to fix itself.

However, local and national political sensitivity leading up to the 2012 Games may hinder rather than help the drive for radical change. There is a real risk of a ‘fudged’ solution

Legacy is ours to lose

The intended legacy of increased participation, levels of activity and greater sporting success as a nation is ours to lose. This and future generations of children should have their lives transformed by the collective efforts of this nation’s sporting infrastructure. But there will be no legacy if we leave everything up to the Government. We eagerly await the Olympic objectives from the ODA, and the opportunity for the private, public and voluntary sectors to collaborate up to and beyond 2012.

The UK needs to transform its approach and work smarter with what we have. So maybe we should ask not what legacy can do for us, but what we can do for legacy.

Comments welcome!

Great news today,

The New Zealand National Recreation Association have offered me a speaking slot at their annual Conference between 1-4 November.

http://www.nzrecreation.org.nz/Default.aspx?section=home

I'll be speaking about either Olympic Legacy in London 2012 or Community Sports Hubs following permissions from my clients.

The Kiwis have really got their act together and I'm looking forward to learning a lot over the four day conference.

Themes include:

Welcome to my first post. I'm currently hunkered down at home in Sussex nursing my foot 6 days after an operation to fix an old hockey injury that's been troubling me for years. Looking forward to getting fit again and enjoying pain free running! Could this also mean a comeback on the Hockey pitch?

I have two and a half more months at Capita Symonds. We're really busy right now and I'm really enjoying seeing the business develop. It'll be in great shape by the time I leave.

Also enjoying planning my year off. New Zealand is less than 100 days away. Hoping to secure a speaking slot at the National Recreation Association Annual Conference. Prior to that 20 days of adventure travel!  Can't wait!