Leisure, Sport and Tourism: Politics, Policy and Planning A.J. Veal Chapter 13 Performance Evaluation

CONTENTS Evaluation in context Steps in the evaluation process Approaches Goals and performance indicators

EVALUATION IN CONTEXT Economic evaluation – see Chapter 12 Managerialism and privatisation Forms of evaluation Sustainability/carbon footprint/water conservation Triple bottom line accounting Effectiveness and efficiency

Managerialism and privatisation Managerialism: the application of formal/ rational management practices Often used (typically negatively)in regard to applying private sector-style practices in the public sector Arises particularly with privatisation or ‘contracting out’ to the private sector – implying that only financial criteria are used and traditional public sector goals are being ignored However:

Managerialism and privatisation contd Contracts should include all the requirements of the public sector Even public sector organisations need to think about best use of capital Tourism enterprises, while commercial in nature, can also have wide community impacts When services are contracted out to private companies, the public agency (eg. council) still has responsibilities regarding the quality of life of the community This also applies to single-purpose agencies (eg. arts, sport) in their areas of concern Competitive tendering for public services can ‘concentrate the mind’ of the public agency to spell out its goals

Forms of evaluation Routine internal – eg. annual Strategic – relating to strategic planning Accountability – inclusion in official annual reports Ad hoc – one-off evaluations Internal vs comparative – Internal comparison with previous years or between units – Comparative: comparison with external ‘benchmarks’

Sustainability/carbon footprint/water conservation Particular emphasis given to these items in recent years: – Sustainability: no decline in quality of the basic resource – Carbon footprint: minimisation of carbon-dioxide etc. emissions – Water conservation: efficient use of water

Triple bottom line The idea that organisations should report annually not just on finance, but on three criteria: – Financial performance – Social impact – Environmental impact

Effectiveness and efficiency Effectiveness: the extent to which a project achieves what it is intended to achieve Efficiency: is the cost (input) per unit of output

STEPS IN THE EVALUATION PROCESS 1.Identify goals 2.Specify objectives 3.Devise measures of effectiveness - Performance Indicators (PIs) 4.Devise measures of efficiency - Performance Indicators (PIs) 5.Specify data collection methods 6.Collect base-line PI data 7.Set targets 8.Collect PI data collection at specified times (eg. weekly, quarterly, annually) 9.Identify and obtain external bench-mark data 10.Compare base-line values of PIs with current values, targets and external bench-mark data 11.Deliver of verdict 12.Consider of implications

1. Leisure participation Goal Increase participation Objectives Increase participation to target levels among specified socio-demographic groups and in specified planning zones Effectiveness PIs Level of participation for target groups (A, B) and zones (C) Efficiency PIs Cost per additional participant Environmental PIs Amount of carbon emitted per 1000 customers Data collection methods Resident survey Administrative Special audit PI values Overall participation: Participation group A: Participation group B: Participation in zone C: Avge net cost /participant-session: Carbon/participant-session: Baseline Ithis year) Target, Year X 30% 32% 22% 30% 18% 30% 15% 30% £2 1.5 kg 1.2 kg Relationships between strategic goals/objectives and performance Indicators: examples (Table 13.2)

Tourism development Goal Stimulated employment growth through tourism Objectives Increase no. of tourists & tourist expenditure to create additional jobs in tourism and related sectors Effectiveness PIs Number of additional tourists Number of jobs created Efficiency PIs Public sector cost per job created Total cost per job created Environmental PIs Amount of carbon emitted per 1000 tourists Data collection methods 3. Tourist survey and industry survey 4. Tourist survey, industry survey & administrative 5. Special audit PI values Number of tourists: 100,000 Total tourist expenditure: Jobs in tourism and related sectors: Council annual spend/tourism job: Carbon per tourist bed-night:: Baseline (this year) Target: year X 100, ,000 £25 million £30 million £100 15kg 13 kg Relationships between strategic goals/objectives and performance Indicators: examples contd

APPROACHES Comprehensive Area Assessment (UK) Service quality – The CERM PI system (Australia) – The National Benchmarking Service (UK) – Importance-performance analysis (generic) Arts, entertainment, cultural venues/events Sport (UK) Tourism (Aust.)

Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAAs) This book went to press in early 2010 and was published in Sept In May 2010 there was a change of government in the UK, from Labour to Conservative/Lib.Democrat coalition. There was time for this to be reflected in Chapter 2. However, it was not possible to take account of a 17 Dec Dept of Communities & Local Govt media release, which stated: – Departments across Whitehall have been abolishing an array of bureaucratic burdens and unjustified data demands. Comprehensive Area Assessments have ended; the £5m Place Survey stopped; 66 pages of guidance on how to report efficiency shredded; over 4,700 targets scrapped including adults doing sport, neighbourhood belonging and a self assessment on climate progress. –

Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAAs) contd The abolition of CAAs was the ‘small government’ conservative/neo- liberal philosophy in action, as discussed in Chapter 2: the priority of the new government is to reduce expenditure. Releasing local councils from the requirement to conduct CAAs was part of a package of measures which enabled the national government to reduce its financial support for local government. The CAA system nevertheless remains an interesting model of performance evaluation. Even though councils will not be required to report to central government, it remains to be seen to what extent councils retain elements of the system for local use. A key leisure-related component of the CAA system was the large- scale annual Active People Survey, but since this is conducted by Sport England, which is partly funded by the National Lottery, it seems likely to continue.

Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAAs) contd Three-year agreements between central and local govt. 200 National Indicators (NIs): 18 ‘statutory’ and 35 selected ‘priorities’ – must be measured and reported, and published, annually Main leisure/sport indicators (no tourism): – NI8 Adult participation in sport* – NI9 Use of libraries* – NI10 Visits to museums/galleries* – NI11 Engagement in the arts* – * Measured by annual Active People Survey No tourism Nis, but can be included in ‘Local Indicators’ (see Table 13.6) Emphasis on participation relates to U-Plan approach (Ch. 8)

CAAs contd: Published results (Table 13.5) NIAreaYearResultLocal authority% NI 8Sport/recreation HighestRichmond upon Thames LowestNewham13.1 NI 9Libraries HighestRugby LowestBoston32.6 NI 10Museums/galleries HighestCamden* LowestBoston35.5 NI 11Arts HighestKensington & Chelsea LowestBolsover29.6 * includes British Museum

CAAs contd: example: City of Birmingham (Table 13.6) Baseline Targets, % % NI 8Sport/recreation Local Indicator 1 Tourists who think Birmingham is a good place to visit Local Indicator 2 Reduce % of residents in who have not used any cultural facilities in four suburbs 1: : : :

Service quality Systems which evaluate quality of customer service, typically on an annual basis: – The CERM PI system (Australia) – The National Benchmarking Service (UK) – Importance-performance analysis (generic)

CERM PI system Centre for Environmental and Recreation Management (Univ. of South Australia) Performance Indicators system Version of SERVQUAL approach (Parasuraman et al., 1988) – compares customer service quality expectations with service quality received. Leisure facility managers who use the system collect standard annual data from customer surveys CERM analyses data and presents results with comparison of averages for similar facilities (benchmarking)

CERM PI system contd pA. Customer service: expectation and performance B. Organisational 1. Safe and secure parking 1. Expense recovery of operations (fee income as % of exp.) 2. Facility cleanliness 2. Promotion/marketing cost share 3. Value for money3. Total visits per year 4. Suitable food & drink4. Visits per square metre 5. Staff friendliness5. Water costs per visit 6. Pool water cleanliness6. Fit of socio-demographic profile of centre users to that of the local community 7. Behaviour of others 8. Problem resolution 9. Overall satisfaction 10. Behavioural intentions Items rated using Likert-type scales

National Benchmarking Service (Box 13.9) UK Service similar to CERM PI sponsored by Sport England and operated by the Sport Industries Research Centre (LIRC) (Sheffield Hallam University)

Analysis of data: Importance-performance technique Similar to SERVQUAL, but can be used: i.organisational decision-making as indicated by Harper and Balmer (1989); ii.in relation to perceived benefits of public leisure services, as a form of consumer consultation (Sieganthaler, 1994); iii.to measure customer satisfaction (Langer, 1997: 147); and iv.to analyse performance data.

Importance-performance analysis: customer service evaluation example 8 service items (A-H) scored by customers of one facility in relation to: – a. importance/expectations, – b. performance – service actually received Results in Fig. 13.3

Importance-performance analysis example Cause for concern Wasted resources? Doing well

Importance-performance analysis: comparison example (Table 13.11) The same facility over four years (4 cases): scored on 8 service quality items (could also be applied to 4 different facilities) Different service quality items have different levels of importance/expectation: cored by management or users See Table 13.11

Import-perf. analysis: comparison eg. ( Table 13.11) Service quality items a. Importance/ expectation scores Case 1Case 2Case 3Case 4 b. Performance scores A B C D E F4.5 G H Total score (sum of a x b) % change Attendances, '000s % change

Other examples Arts, cultural venues and events – Arts items included in the CAA system, discussed above – In 1991, the UK Audit Commission (now abolished by new Conservative/LibDem government) produced a system of PIs for the arts/cultural events – see Table Sport – See the Sport England strategic plan in Box 7.1 – New South Wales Dept of Arts, Sport & Recreation plan - see website: Web-box07.01 Tourism – See Tourism NSW Masterplan: Table 13.13

Tourism NSW Masterplan: Towards 2020 (Table 13.13) 1.Sydney’s market position as Australia’s premier tourist destination is maintained 1.1 Customer satisfaction. 1.2 Share of Australian visitation: visitors, visitor nights, visitor exp., length of stay. 1.3 Index of Sydney’s attractiveness as a destination amongst potential customers: domestic, international. 1.4 Share of cruise ship visits. 1.5 Share of meetings, incentives, conference/exhibitions (MICE) visitation to Australia: count, visitor nights, exp. 1.6 Index of repeat holiday visitation to Australia by international visitors. 1.7 Index of loyalty amongst domestic visitors. 2. Tourism destinations in NSW are managed sustainably (6 items) 3. A positive climate for tourism investment and enterprises in NSW (5 items) 4. Tourism in regional and rural NSW is strengthened (8 items) 5. Overall success measures for Towards 2020 (5 items)

GOALS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Throughout the book, numerous goals of public leisure/sport/tourism services are mentioned. All can be expressed/evaluated in terms of performance indicators Table lists 27

Goals and PIs: Examples from Table Access to facilities for chosen leisure activities for all Effectiveness: % of population participating % of pop’n within reach of facilities % of population satisfied with service Efficiency: Net cost per visit/participant Provision for need for allEffectiveness: Extent to which needs are met Efficiency: Net cost per visit/participant Maintain existing provision Effectiveness: Qualitative measures Efficiency - Promote excellenceEffectiveness: Excellence: medals, awards, records, etc Efficiency: Costs per medal etc. Minimise state roleEffectiveness: Short-term: extent of privatisation Long-term: quantity and quality of service Efficiency: Public/private service costs