Quest Accreditation    See also Quest Criteria and Scores & Lilleshall

Quest was developed by Sport England and others to  provide a quality accreditation scheme for sports and leisure facilities. In its press release for the launch of Quest in 1996 the Sports Council said:

"Quest - the UK Quality Scheme for Sport and Leisure" was designed for and by the industry to help managers enhance, improve and continue to improve the quality of services they give to customers.

"Quest is a unique product," the Sports Council said. "This is the first time that industry standards and good practice have been defined for use as a benchmark against which quality of service can be measured.

"Facility managers can now assess the quality of their own service through a self-assessment package. External assessments will also be undertaken by trained industry assessors."

The scheme has been developed by the Sports Council and is endorsed and funded by the four home country Sports Councils. A wide range of industry associations, including the local authority associations and professional bodies, have been involved in its development and are supporting the introduction of Quest to the industry.

Derek Casey, Sports Council chief executive, commented: "The demand has never been greater for quality services to be delivered to the customer. It is hoped that managers and organisations across the industry will join the 'quest for quality' and use the scheme to assess the quality of their own services and strive for continual improvement."

Councils and leisure contractors often hail a Quest accreditation but what does it mean to be "Quest Accredited"? See Quest Criteria and Scores on LCW.

Marina Centre at Great Yarmouth Accredited  - Why?

Quest has been developed by Sport England and others to  provide a quality accreditation scheme for sports and leisure facilities. 

As of 5.5.04 LC's website featured the following http://www.leisureconnection.co.uk/content10.html 

4 December 2001    Lesiure (sic) Connection in a 'quest' to be the best

39 sites receive Quest™ accreditation this year.

Leisure Connection Ltd, the UK's largest commercial operator of local authority leisure facilities and fitness clubs, is pleased to announce that an outstanding 39 Quest™ accreditations have been secured by its Centres this year - with a number achieving outstanding results.

On 5.5.04 I checked with PMP, the organisation that runs Quest on behalf of Sport England. They advised that LC now has about 60 Quest registered sites and these include Vale Farm in Brent,  Daventry Leisure Centre, Clapham Leisure Centre in Lambeth, The Marina Complex in Great Yarmouth, The Swallows Leisure Centre in Sittingbourne, and the Carnival Pool in Wokingham, all  centres featured on Leisure Connection Watch. 

Vale Farm was last checked in December of last year, the second time it has successfully passed Quest inspection. A quest plaque is tacked on the wall near the main entrance.

Sport England directed my queries about Quest to PMP. From PMP's website it appears that this is a consulting company focused on "Strategy,  Finance and Delivery". Leisure Connection is listed as one of PMP's many clients. More on PMP below.

For me the accreditation by Quest of Vale Farm twice during the years when so many deficiencies have been reported raises questions about the value of the scheme. I  regret that Sport England has contracted Quest to a business that acts as a consultant for Leisure Connection and presumably seeks business from other leisure centre operators. Would it not have been better to have Quest run by a body with no commercial ties to businesses seeking accreditation of centres? 

On 5.5.04 I emailed Sport England for comment on a draft of this page. I mentioned that, "I could not find through Internet searches any meaningful information about what Quest accreditation means." The following replies were received. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Lane 
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 5:23 PM
To: PAUL BURNS
Cc: Adrian Hill 
Subject: RE: Quest Registration 

Paul

I am the Quest Scheme Manager, employed by PMP, and have been copied in on your e mail.

The Quest website is well hidden I'm afraid - the website is www.quest-uk.org but it's a pity that Sport England weren't able to provide you with that information. There used to be a link from Sport England's website to Quest but I think that has been dropped since their re-structure. Also there is a link from PMP's website but it is not the only product we are involved in so again can be difficult to track. 

It is not clear exactly what you want the information requested for. Leisure Connection are one of the management contractors who are committed to achieving Quest though they are still working towards having every Centre registered. Each Centre that has achieved Quest have a plaque which they can display to make that known publicly, and of course their head office would be able to give you further information about the company. 

Quest currently has nearly 450 leisure centres across the UK who have been externally and independently assessed to the national standard, but we do not make the list available , but instead leave it up to the individual centre to declare their achievement. 

If we, as Scheme Managers, can help further please contact the Quest team at the number within the response from Sport England (0800 0132766) or if you wish to discuss anything in particular I can be contacted by e mail or on 07887 546... I would be interested in finding out more about you and your organisation and the specific interest in Leisure Connection. Perhaps you could contact me to discuss further.

I have copied this e mail to Adrian Hill who is the client liaison for Quest within Sport England.

regards     Kevin Lane, Quest Manager, PMP 07887 546...

-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian Hill 
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 9:28 AM
To: PAUL BURNS
Cc: Melina Greensmith
Subject: Quest 

Regards
Adrian Hill, Development Manager (Community Programmes), Partnerships & Investment Directorate
Sport England, 3rd Floor Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London WC1B 4SE
020 7273 ...

PMP

Quest is not the only PMP contract with a potential conflict of interest concerning Leisure Connection.  LC had a contract with St Albans District Council. St Albans employed PMP to undertake the review and assist in producing a Sport and Recreation Strategy for adoption by  in Spring 2004. Source  http://www.harpenden.gov.uk/council/downloads/agendas-minutes/0204/full-minutes-260104.pdf 

Would it not be more appropriate to give such consulting to an organisation that did not have the existing contractor as a client?

12.5.05.  Sport England and PMP are invited to place a link here to any further statements that they may wish to make. 

Marina Centre Great Yarmouth Celebrates Quest Accreditation

Quest Champions Summer 2003 Issue 8 from http://www.pmpconsult.com/quest/Quest_newsletter.pdf 

‘Leisure Connection are proud of the Marina Centre achieving Quest at such a diverse Centre. The Centre is extremely busy with holiday makers in the summer and Quest has helped ensure we provide a good quality service for both locals and visitors.’  Caroline Constantine, Group Quality Manager – Leisure Connection Ltd. Marina Centre

Quest accreditation went ahead with the inspectors either not knowing about or not paying that much attention to a report from  5.3.03 listed under Great Yarmouth on News from Other Areas The report refers to poor maintenance and Environmental Health being called in by caterers using the kitchen. A second report from January 2004 also on LCW suggests problems continued. PB

23.8.04 PMP have asked for the following statement to made available on LCW. LCW is happy to include short statements or links to longer pieces on another website.  PB

Dear Paul

I have noted that you used my e mail from June on your website explaining about Quest, and that since that time you have made some further comments about Quest, Sport England, PMP and Leisure Connection. You offer the opportunity on your website for us to respond and so without prejudice I attach a response below which I hope explains the relationships between the various parties you refer to.

"PMP are an independent consultancy specialising in the leisure and sports industry. The Company has been contracted to manage the administration of the Quest scheme on behalf of the four home sports councils for nearly five years.  A separate business unit undertakes this function of arranging Mystery Visits and Assessors to visit nearly 500 Leisure Centres throughout the UK who have become Quest registered. As Quest Scheme Manager, PMP also provides training and support to organisations who wish to continue to improve through staff development, again provided by the same Business Unit.

Leisure Connection are one of a number of organisations who have been assessed by Quest, and they have also undertaken significant training across their company through the Quest Scheme Manager. Quest Trainers do not assess any Centre where they have delivered any training. The Quest Assessors are all Peer Assessors; that is, they have a full time job in the industry and undertake Assessments and Mystery Visits in their own time. In effect, they are independent of the consultancy part of PMP, and conduct the assessment in an objective, rigorous and robust manner. The Assessment lasts two days and samples 20 management issues, covering 156 different principles, and involving interviews with a cross section of personnel, often including a Client Officer and customers, a review of documentation and considering comments made by a Mystery Visitor. The Assessment culminates in an Improvement Report, which may be used as an action plan. A Maintenance Visit is arranged during each two year cycle of assessment.

Quest is a voluntary scheme which nearly 500 leisure centres have used to improve their service over 8 years, and which is growing rapidly, as it has become the industry mark of continuous improvement and is recognised by Best Value inspectors as a contributor to good practice.

PMP have indeed been commissioned to undertake work on behalf of St Albans District Council, but there is no conflict of interest as there is no involvement of the Quest Assessors in the consultancy project.

As before I am happy to discuss any issue you have with Quest and how it is managed at any facility within the UK."

yours sincerely

Kevin Lane
Quest Manager

Senior Consultant
PMP
w  Read our recent news on our website www.pmpconsult.com  and www.quest-uk.org 

I still believe it is more appropriate for a quality assessment scheme to be run by a body that has no other interests in the organisations being vetted. I believe it was short sighted to appoint PMP. I notice that the matter of St Albans is referred to but not the accreditation of Vale Farm, Marina Centre etc.. What use is Quest making of complaints from the public or the views of Local Authorities? PB 25.8.04