THE DEMAND FOR QUALITY: THE PRESSURE FOR CHANGE ON OXFORDSHIRE′S DEPARTMENT OF LEISURE AND ARTS
| Published date | 01 April 1993 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129310038703 |
| Date | 01 April 1993 |
| Pages | 13-16 |
| Author | Michael Asser |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 4
1993
The Demand
for
Quality
THE PRESSURE FOR CHANGE ON OXFORDSHIRE'S DEPARTMENT OF
LEISURE AND ARTS
Michael
Asser
Local Government in England and Wales is
going through a period of very rapid change,
of which the review of its structure being
carried out by the Commission headed by Sir
John Banham is only the most obvious
manifestation. The extension of compulsory
competitive tendering is likely to transform
local councils from directly providing to
enabling authorities. At the same time there
is increasing public expectation of quality
services, against a background of continuing
government control of local government
expenditure. These pressures are forcing local
authorities to specify the quality of the
services they provide, services that are fit for
their purpose, conform to requirements, and
respond to the needs of users and ultimate
clients.
Oxfordshire County Council's QUEST
programme (QUality, Effectiveness and
Service To All) is the focus of management
action to achieve change in, and give a
coherent direction to, the Council's Services
in this climate of economic restraint and
increasing public expectation. Essentially it is
about the formulation and consistent
achievement of high quality services. It is a
very ambitious programme: from its
inception in 1989 it combined strategic
leadership and key values with operational
decentralization to departments and
individuals, including the interpretation and
implementation of the strategic values
themselves. The reorganization of the
Department of Leisure and Arts in 1992 gave
new emphasis to quality services efficiently
and effectively delivered to the whole of
Oxfordshire, and directly reflected the key
values of the QUEST Programme.
In 1988 Oxfordshire County Council set up
a Department of Leisure and Arts,
comprising Libraries, Archives, Arts,
Museums, Rights of way, Countryside
Management and Recreation, and the
Victoria County History. The Council
approved a service philosophy and policy
objectives for the new Department in 1988,
but after three years of operation it became
clear that these would be fully realized
effectively only if the Department ceased to
be a federation of separately managed service
functions, and became one department
managed locally in the interests of its
customers.
A number of internal and external
challenges facing local government were also
driving change within the Department of
Leisure and Arts:
• the development of the "enabling"
culture;
• the development of the "purchaser/
provider" role;
• the devolution of financial management;
• the development of standard setting,
inspection and planning processes;
• the implementation of major service
changes;
• the County Council's commitment to
QUEST: a strong user orientation to all
services, and public commitment to high
standards of service. In some ways this
initiative foreshadowed the Government's
own Citizen's Charter;
• the constant pressure to manage in an
environment of rising demand and
expectation and continuing limited
resources. This made it necessary to
deploy librarians, curators, archivists and
others in such a way as to make the
maximum professional use of their time.
The separate services of the Department of
Leisure and Arts had very uneven levels of
Library Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, 1993, pp. 13-16, © MCB University Press,
0143-5124
13
To continue reading
Request your trial