Archived decisions


	Hampshire County Council
	Executive Member - Recreation and Heritage	Item 3
	15 November 2007
	Cultural Pathfinder - the experience and learning from participation in a national pathfinder programme
	Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Helen Wheeler ext 5444 e-mail: [email protected]

1. Introduction

The purpose of this report is to inform Members about the experience and key learning points from the Recreation and Heritage Department's participation in the jointly initiated Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Local Government Association (LGA) Cultural Pathfinder programme from April 2005 to March 2007.

1.1 This report considers the following in relation to the Cultural Pathfinder programme;

- Why did Hampshire bid to gain Cultural Pathfinder status?

- What were our ambitions and expectations of participation in the programme?

- Were our expectations of the pathfinder programme met?

- What have been the key learning points from the pathfinder programme in relation to developing the cross-cutting contribution of culture?

1.3 This report is not an evaluation of the Gosport Discovery Centre or the Discovery Centre programme which has been considered as part of the Culture and Communities Select Committee scrutiny review of the Library Service.

2. Recommendation

That the outcomes of the Recreation and Heritage Department's participation in the national Cultural Pathfinder programme be noted and that this report be referred to the Culture and Communities Select Committee for information.

3. Background

3.1 The Cultural Pathfinder programme was set up by the DCMS, LGA and IDeA (Improvement Development Agency) to examine the challenges faced by local authorities in demonstrating and evidencing the contribution of Culture in its broadest sense to Government and Local Governments' Shared Priorities¹.

3.2 The aim of the programme, through the selection of projects covering a broad range of cultural activity, was to highlight innovation, learning and transferable models of best practice that provide evidence of how cultural activities can deliver service improvements or make a strong contribution to a number of cross-cutting agendas. It started from the assumption that cultural activities have positive impacts across a wide range of policy areas or outcomes and sought to test a range of approaches to demonstrate and enhance these impacts.

3.3 Hampshire's Discovery Centre programme was selected in March 2005 as one of the twelve (thirteen participating local authorities) Cultural Pathfinder pilots from more than eighty submissions. The Cultural Pathfinder projects were monitored for a two year period from April 2005 to March 2007, the timing of the programme coinciding with the opening of the Gosport Discovery Centre in March 2005.

3.4 A final evaluation report of the Cultural Pathfinder programme commissioned by the DCMS was presented at the Cultural Pathfinder conference in July 2007.² The key messages and learning points will feature in advocacy material produced by the DCMS and LGA in the autumn to support local authorities in positioning culture in the new Local Area Agreement, Sustainable Community Strategy and the 200 national performance indicators for local government that will replace the existing Best Value Performance Indicators from 2008/09.

4. Why become a Cultural Pathfinder - our ambitions and expectations?

4.1 The Recreation and Heritage department chose to put forward the Discovery Centre programme for pathfinder status for a number of reasons;

- to raise awareness, understanding and support for the vision and objectives of the Discovery Centre programme within the County Council and with local stakeholders

- to raise awareness and understanding more generally of the contribution of the Recreation and Heritage services to corporate priorities both within the County Council and with local stakeholders

- as an opportunity to contribute to national debate on cultural sector policy and the future of the public library service in particular

- to provide external challenge and focus for the quantitative and qualitative research and evidence of the wider contribution of the Discovery Centre to the local community

- and for the potential to learn from the other pathfinder projects including their experience in evaluating culture-led projects and to understand the contributory success factors common to the pathfinder projects

4.2 Since the creation of the Recreation and Heritage department in 2001 and appointment of the Director and Head of Libraries, a key element of the department's strategy has been to raise awareness of the contribution of the cultural services both within the County Council with Members and officers, and in Hampshire more generally with partners, our customers and residents and externally with national government.

4.3 Involvement in this pilot initiative led by DCMS/LGA offered a unique opportunity to raise the profile of Hampshire's Discovery Centre approach and to network and participate in debate about the cultural agenda and policy direction at a national level during a key period for the cultural sector and the public library service. There has been increased debate in the sector over the last couple of years about robust cultural indicators, performance frameworks and how best to demonstrate and evidence the outcomes of cultural investment.

4.4 The objective of the Cultural Pathfinder programme aligned with the department's - to demonstrate and to build the evidence base of the cross-cutting value of investment in culture. A specific aspect of the Cultural Pathfinder was to evaluate through evidence-based research the impact on defined outcomes for the projects providing a structure, focus and wider interest in Hampshire's research and evaluation of the Gosport Discovery Centre.

4.5 There was an element of good fortune that the timing of the pathfinder programme dovetailed with our own ambitions and scheduled opening of the first Discovery Centre in Hampshire. It was hoped that the recognition and reputation of Cultural Pathfinder status would help to sustain support for future investment in Discovery Centre projects in Hampshire such as those at Winchester, Basingstoke and Andover.

5. Were Hampshire's expectations and ambitions as a Cultural Pathfinder met?

5.1 The Discovery Centre concept, though not unique to Hampshire, has stimulated much debate (most of it intelligent and informed debate), raised passions, created awareness, and raised some significant issues about the future of public libraries both locally and nationally. The pathfinder programme gave the department an opportunity to focus on the hard evidence and obvious signs of success at Gosport and to capture that learning and understanding of a model of service delivery that is now being transferred and remodelled to the needs of other local communities in Winchester and Basingstoke.

5.2 Successful selection as a Cultural Pathfinder achieved the national recognition and exposure for Hampshire's Discovery Centre programme as an innovative approach to address some of the key challenges facing the public library service - challenges that are being faced in many other authorities nationally not just by Hampshire's Library Service - including declining visits and falling book loans. The Discovery Centre pathfinder status has helped to stimulate the much needed debate within the library profession, by local politicians and media and the wider cultural sector about these specific issues and the possible solutions to them including the Discovery Centre model. The publications listed in Appendix 1 indicate some of the coverage achieved during our participation in the Cultural Pathfinder scheme.

5.3 The Cultural Pathfinder differed in one key respect from other national pathfinder programmes such as the Rural Pathfinder, Neighbourhood Renewal or Beacon status - despite a bidding process there was no funding attached to successful selection. This presented a challenge to persuade members and officers of the value of our participation in the programme and of its national `status'.

5.4 Hampshire has perhaps used the `cultural pathfinder' tag less in political advocacy than other pathfinder authorities. This was due in large part to a perceived lack of a coherent vision or regular engagement with the pathfinders by the DCMS. Unlike Beacon status which is a recognised award for models of good practice and can therefore more easily be used for advocacy, the experimental nature of the Cultural Pathfinder perhaps made it less useful than expected as an advocacy tool. Therefore, it is impossible to say that any learning or success at Gosport Discovery Centre, the development of the Discovery Centre programme or other work to raise awareness of the Recreation and Heritage services has been directly or partially attributable to our participation as a Cultural Pathfinder.

5.5 Nevertheless, Hampshire has used the `Cultural Pathfinder' designation in appropriate circumstances to secure further funding such as section 106 developer contributions for the development of Basingstoke Discovery Centre, in securing partnerships elsewhere and to underpin the strategic development, continued support and awareness of the potential of the Discovery Centre model.

5.6 Evaluation of the project was one of several key criteria for selection as a Cultural Pathfinder. Hampshire's evaluation and research work on the Gosport Discovery Centre has been recognised in the final evaluation report of the Cultural Pathfinder³ as one of three examples of evaluation good practice. Many of the other pathfinders struggled with the evaluation of their project, expressing disappointment with a lack of guidance and clarity from DCMS about what was required and how the learning and experience from the pathfinders would be evaluated at the end of the two years.

5.7 Over the last couple of years Hampshire has raised concerns with the Audit Commission and DCMS about the existing statutory performance indicators for culture and libraries arguing that they inadequately represent a proper understanding of use, the changing nature of that use, and are too dependent on measuring inputs and outputs (e.g. the Public Library Service Standards) and not linking to outcomes. We were therefore particularly keen that the focus of Hampshire's pathfinder participation should be on;

a) developing user and non-user research (Hampshire had already undertaken scoping research and a postal survey of Gosport residents)

b) exploring indicators that more closely link to outcomes

c) developing the quantitative and qualitative information to form a framework that informs and evidences progress against specific objectives

5.8 The combination of research, survey work, postal survey, observational study and core data collection carried out in Gosport over the period from the development of the Discovery Centre has made a huge contribution to our understanding and knowledge. Of particular value has been the comparison with Mosaic profiles of the local community with that of users of the Discovery Centre indicating that the profile of the users is now a closer match to the local population profile.

5.9 The department now has a greater understanding of the work needed to properly understand who the users are, what kind of service they want and how different groups prefer to use the space and service provided. Much of this research may not have been pursued without the additional focus of Cultural Pathfinder status.

6 Key learning points from Hampshire's experience as a Cultural Pathfinder

6.1 The final evaluation report of the Cultural Pathfinder programme commissioned by DCMS focuses on a number of themes. One of these was to investigate the strength of the position of culture within local strategic plans such as the Community Strategy of the Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Area Agreement. Hampshire was described when compared to the other participating authorities as one where there is `an awareness of the contribution of culture' but that this has not yet been captured in written plans - for example, there is only one target relating to increasing levels of physical activity in Hampshire's LAA and no explicit mention of culture in the present Community Strategy.

6.2 The pathfinder authorities generally reported an increased awareness and recognition among Members and other departments in their authority of the contribution of cultural services to key strategic outcomes and LAA themes. However, the experience of the Cultural Pathfinder projects highlights how culture hits such a wide range of agendas that it is difficult to attach its contribution to a single theme or indicator. The evaluation report concludes that specific targets for culture are too narrow and the range of the pathfinder programmes supports the belief that culture is intrinsic across all LAA blocks and themes as a tool to achieve a range of outcomes. This supports the direction in which Hampshire has developed provision in partnership programmes such as Creative Partnerships, ActiveheArts and our targeted work with young people and is central to the vision for the Discovery Centre as a focal point for the specific needs of the local community.

The department faces a challenge to secure recognition of the cultural contribution built into Hampshire's new Sustainable Community Strategy and the outcomes and targets in the new LAA.

6.3 The growing recognition of the importance of a `cultural planning' approach or joined-up thinking has been an emerging theme from many of the pathfinders. There is a "need for an integrated and crosscutting approach to cultural policy-making and delivery"⁴ ; that it is essential for all the cultural agencies within a region, including the voluntary sector, to work more closely together and with other departments and local strategic partners, particularly Planning, to derive greater benefit for communities and in order to;

a) ensure the most efficient and effective provision of coordinated and co-located cultural services (rationalising existing provision)

b) to be engaged at the earliest stages in strategic planning and development to ensure the above and provide better outcomes for local communities (planning for future communities)

This approach is being developed in Hampshire through the department's involvement in PUSH and other partnerships such as the work with Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council to develop the Discovery Centre and the Whitchurch library.

The pathfinders experience has shown the benefits of developing the cultural planning approach and Recreation and Heritage should continue to work to advocate and establish a `cultural planning' approach across Hampshire.

6.4 Taking part in a monitored pathfinder programme placed an additional spotlight on the Discovery Centre. Our participation as a pathfinder helped to focus the objectives and desired outcomes of the Gosport Discovery Centre and to consider in more detail how we intended to monitor its performance. This informed the user and non-user research that we needed to do and in turn identified areas where we needed to develop our approach in future such as developing the events programme for the local community, integrating staff teams and developing working practices.

6.5 As a result the preparations for the Winchester Discovery Centre have benefited from the experience at Gosport with staff appointments made earlier, a detailed business plan prepared, a strategic approach to events planning and the community role of the centre and work to develop a set of performance measures.

Clear objectives and an appropriate performance monitoring framework developed with partners for the Winchester Discovery Centre is essential to demonstrate how the Discovery Centres programme contributes to the County Council's key priorities and outcomes.

6.6 An issue that evolved from Hampshire's performance monitoring and research at Gosport has been `how best to measure the delivery of an integrated service'. In a joined-up approach to service delivery with co-located services, it is no longer desirable or even possible to measure performance separately as existing national reporting frameworks have required. In future performance needs to focus on demonstrating the benefit to the people using the service and focus on the key outcomes of the project or service to show how culture can contribute across wider agendas such as well-being and a sense of place or community.

6.7 A common experience to all the pathfinder projects including the Discovery Centre programme has been that changing perceptions takes time. The evaluation report recognised Hampshire's progress and the Discovery Centre at Gosport as beginning to have an impact on changing people's perceptions of the library service with;

- users of the Discovery Centre more closely matching the demographic profile of the population of Gosport

- a marked increase in use by young people

- the new uses of the Centre, especially for IT access

This has had an impact on the external view of Hampshire as `traditional' in its service delivery - it is becoming more recognised as innovative and willing to change to make services responsive to local communities.

6.8 The selected pathfinder projects were for the large part happening anyway, driven by local aspiration and represented the broadest range of cultural provision; from one-to-one activity programmes with young offenders in one authority to a partnership of neighbouring authorities to stimulate a joint strategy and investment in tourism and culture for their adjoining coastal heritage strip. This created a difficulty for the DCMS/LGA in identifying a structure to evaluate the success of the programme. Two years is also a relatively short period of time for projects to become established and deliver longer-term outcomes. In this respect the Cultural Pathfinder has been a learning experience for the DCMS as well as the participating authorities.

7. Conclusions

7.1 There are numerous good practice examples across the country and within Hampshire of projects like those selected as Cultural Pathfinders that demonstrate the cross-cutting benefits of culture. What the sector still needs to do through the lead of DCMS, MLA and others is to capture the evidence and learning, to make use of this in advocacy to support and secure the long-term future and recognition that people's experience of culture in whatever form is intrinsic to well-being, a sense of place and building stronger communities..

7.2 This evidence base is also something that Hampshire needs to do better at a local level. As the department is increasingly working in partnership (both internal and external) on targeted delivery programmes - there is a need to capture the impact of this work that is not always captured in national indicators of core service delivery. The Discovery Centre at Gosport has been a `path-finder' - a new approach which will continue to develop.

7.3 The final evaluation report of the Cultural Pathfinder makes the point; " For all, [the Cultural Pathfinders] there has been a growth in understanding of the value of culture amongst partners and of the perspectives, challenges and priorities of other services amongst cultural services." p68. A two-way interdependent process - understanding and working together to achieve the best outcomes for the community and individuals.

LINK TO CORPORATE STRATEGY

Yes No

Hampshire safer and more secure for all _

Maximising well-being _

Enhancing our quality of place _

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the act.

TITLE LOCATION

None

Appendix One

Some examples of the reports, websites and presentations on the Cultural Pathfinder

County Councils Network newsletter, April 2007 (page 3)

http://www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk/Documents/82_sense_of_place.pdf

A Cultural Opportunity - an introduction to the Cultural Pathfinders, 2005

http://www.lga.gov.uk/Documents/Publication/culturalopportunity.pdf

Local Evaluation Framework - Gosport Discovery Centre