Sport England is committed to the continuous improvement of sport and recreation services and to ensuring it delivers its strategic priorities in partnership with local authorities and other partners.

Local authorities alone spend over £1bn a year on sport and recreation according to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and it is important that we can demonstrate clear outcomes and value for money.

Over recent years shifting priorities and new approaches to performance management have threatened previous investment particularly in local authorities. There is evidence that, as a consequence, sport and recreation services have been disadvantaged when it comes to the allocation of resources in the increasingly competitive world of local government because it is unable to demonstrate clearly it’s achievements and it’s commitment to improvement.

Sport England East Midlands has been co-ordinating a project that seeks to change this by creating a self-assessment improvement tool Towards an Excellent Service (TAES).

TAES originally had three objectives:

• To provide a basis for self-assessment that will enable sport and recreation services to achieve continuous improvement
• To provide a vehicle through which the national framework for sport and national priorities can be delivered
• To provide a basis for future inspection regimes if required

Our partners on this project include:

• Audit Commission
• Central Council of Physical Recreation
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport
• Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)
• Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management
• Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV)
• Institute of Sport and Recreation Management
• National Association for Sports Development
• Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

TAES enables you to measure your organisation against a range of criteria under eight themes:

These have been constructed from existing performance management models therefore reflecting what is considered best practice. The assessment enables you to position yourself in each of the themes on one of four levels - poor, fair, good and excellent. The assessment also enables you to identify your improvement priorities and measure your progress over time.

The version for local government was piloted by six local authorities under an independent evalution carried out by INLOGOV.

To conduct a self assessment download a copy of the Performance management framework for sport and recreation services

To support you carry out an assessment a workbook has been developed providing advice on scoping and recording the evidence and improvement priorities. It also provides a model improvement plan that can be adapted to users needs.

Currently a validation process for TAES is being piloted by IDeA with six authorities. A copy of the draft validation process is also available if you wish to see how this part of the process will work.

Finally an improvement toolkit has been developed to assist those completing the assessment by providing links to existing and new material under each of the 8 themes.

A second version of TAES is being developed for County Sports Partnerships and will be piloted shortly. A separate improvement toolkit for CSP’s will also be available.  Discussions are currently taking place on the application of the model across the wider cultural sector in the context of the emerging revisions to the CPA.

If you would like further information or advice on TAES or how to use the model email Martyn Allison

Towards an Excellent Service documents