Active Cumbria, part of Cumbria County Council’s Public Health team have been rated as ‘Very Good’ in a new Quest Assessment – Quest Plus for Active Communities.
The tough assessment involved a robust self-assessment, followed by a two-day external assessment, and a partner forum, which covered seven core business modules and an additional three optional modules.
The team excelled in the areas of collaborate leadership, continuous improvement and getting the inactive active.
The next stage of the performance process is a ‘round table’ discussion with principal funders Sport England as part of the new performance management and improvement framework (PMIF) for County Sport Partnerships in England.
Richard Johnston, Senior Manager (Operations) at Active Cumbria said: “This is a great result for us. The new Quest standards are more demanding and challenging and it is now much more of an achievement to succeed in Quest at any level. These results reflect the hard work and commitment from the Core Team and our Advisory Board in continually reviewing and improving our services and performance. Over the last 12 months or so we have gone through a period of significant change; we have developed a new 3 Year Plan to tackle inactivity across Cumbria, and shifted the way in which we work, and also the partners and stakeholders with whom we engage. We’ve also completely reviewed our governance arrangements, ensuring that we meet the highest standards laid down in the Government’s Code for Sports Governance. We’d like to thank the many partners that have helped us shape our new ways of working, and to those who provided feedback as part of this assessment.”
Jason Gooding the Chair of Active Cumbria’s Advisory Board said: “I warmly congratulate the team on this significant achievement. Active Cumbria continues to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities by getting and keeping people engaged in sport and physical activity. This is very important work and I’m pleased that an external assessment has confirmed that the team is carrying it out so effectively.”
The report from Quest can be seen on the Active Cumbria website www.activecumbria.org
