A strategy for improving quality, delivery and leadership in arts and cultural activity by local government has been published in a new report, ‘A Passion for Excellence: An Improvement Strategy for Culture and Sport’, and welcomed by both the DCMS and the Local Government Association.
According to the report, which was devised by the Cultural Unit of the Improvement and Development Agency, the culture and sport sectors have “the lowest proportion of councils achieving the top two categories of any service assessment” among local authorities. The strategy offers new mechanisms and tools to support self-improvement, highlighting three main areas of activity: improved monitoring to ensure that goals are being met; ‘challenge’, a concept encompassing self-assessment, accreditation, peer review and openness; and ‘support’, emphasising core competencies, leadership, procurement, innovation and learning. It also clarifies the respective roles and responsibilities of all the major stakeholders in the culture and sport sector for delivering the strategy, in line with the National Performance Framework and the National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy.