Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by Staffordshire County Council

INTRODUCTION

  Staffordshire County Council has recently undergone an Audit Commission Inspection of their Library and Information Service. The outcome, announced on 21 October 2004 was that the service was rated good with excellent prospects of improving. The County Council has demonstrated a Corporate commitment to service improvement, remaining focused and providing resources. The service involvement in LPSA and the support given through this process corporately has helped to maintain that focus, as has been outlined below.

  The inspection found that: "Staffordshire County Council is committed to delivering a modern library service. A strong focus on re-branding the service, marketing and effective use of funds to create attractive modern libraries is providing local people with a good service. Increased opening hours, adoption of retail principles and developments of one stop shops and advice surgeries within libraries are providing local people with improved access to the range of services they require."

  The County Council welcomes this new enquiry, dated 26 October 2004 and presents the following evidence which, it is hoped, will assist in the Committee's deliberations.

1.  BACKGROUND

  The following information is intended to provide information on the efficacy of the County Council delivering a statutory service, in line with local authority corporate priorities and in partnership with a variety of organizations, including the eight local district councils. It will also focus on the national context and framework and how this has informed the development and delivery of the service.

  The Council's Vision is: To make Staffordshire a great place to live, work, visit and invest.

  Key areas for Libraries and Culture within the wider Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate are highlighted in Staffordshire County Council's corporate strategy as:

    —  Providing lifelong learning opportunities through schools, colleges, libraries and adult education, learning and youth services.

    —  Focusing on people and communities—the cultural life of a community is enhanced through access to music and the arts, through library activities and through the museums and archives services.

    —  Services in the areas of libraries, culture and lifelong learning are working hard to improve customer access and to engage communities. Part of this wider access is delivered through greater use of ICT with e-services increasingly available through libraries.

1.1  The Audit Commission Inspectors found:

    —  Good quality facilities with opening hours that reflect local needs.

    —  Opportunities to access services remotely using IT plus up to date IT facilities within libraries.

    —  Strong focus within the service on improvement, on increasing usage, improving access and improving the experience of visiting a library for local people.

    —  Effective joint working with district councils and other partners to deliver services jointly via one stop shops and advice surgeries.

    —  Strong commitment within the county council to developing the service further.

    —  Service is developing a system to monitor impact of its services and use this data to inform future planning.

1.2  To help the services improve further, inspectors' recommendations were:

    —  Ensure all targets at all levels within the service are measurable so that the impact of activities can be properly monitored.

    —  Finalise the draft cultural strategy and identify how the service will contribute to the cultural agenda. (The full text of the Inspection report can be found on the commission's web site www.audit-commission.gov.uk)

1.3  Further corporate, regional and national influence

    —  Audit Commission researchers visited Staffordshire County Council in early 2000, to discuss its improvement programme, developed as part of the Best Value Review of Library Services.

    —  The resulting information was featured in both "Building Better Public Libraries" (Audit Commission 2000) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's report "Framework for the Future" (February 2003), as evidence of good practice.

    —  At the invitation of the MLA, the County Librarian was invited to partner the MLA and give a presentation at the recent Low Countries Seminar in Belgium in 2004, as an exemplar of good practice for the "Framework for the Future".

    —  The County Librarian is also a board member for the regional MLA.

    —  From a position of 34th in the league tables in 1999, the service is now rated 18th and has been assessed as having excellent prospects for improvement by the Audit Commission.

    —  The authority recognised the importance of its library service in the delivery of e government targets and the head of service sits on the e government board and leads a LPSA1 target for one stop shops. She also represents the service at the negotiations and preparation for LPSA2.

    —  The service is represented at a corporate level both in the Policy Development Group and in the People and Communities agenda of the County Council.

    —  The service was awarded IiP in October 2002. It identified excellence in induction, staff review and recognition processes, communication, the staff conference, training and development. The directorate, including Library and Information services achieved IiP as a whole in April 2004.

2.  ACCESSIBILITY AND IMPACT

  Staffordshire County Council is in the West Midlands of England. It covers an area of 260,000 hectares and has a population of 810,000, living in 328,324 households. 2.4% of the population are from minority ethnic communities. The main urban areas include Stafford, Lichfield, Tamworth, Cannock, Burton-upon-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek and Codsall. Three quarters of the total land is rural and one quarter of the population live in small rural communities. 40% of the population work in the county and unemployment stands at 1.5%. However, 68,000 of the population live in the 20% most deprived super output areas nationally by the index of multiple deprivation 2004.

  The council has endeavoured to improve its library services in recent years to better serve these diverse communities. It has invested time and resources in the development of the modernisation programme identified as part of the best value process. It sees its library service as being at the "heart of its communities" and this has been endorsed by the inspection of the service. Consequently the 43 static libraries, 11 mobiles and one mini library ensure that the service reaches the National Public Library Standard for libraries per 1,000 population in shire counties.

  Staffordshire County Council has identified that culture; lifelong learning and community based activities are inextricably linked. The library service plays a key role in supporting and delivering such activities. These range from reading groups, creative writing development, arts activities, literacy and family learning events to local family history events and community engagement through local user groups facilitated by local politicians. Widening participation and audience development forms a basic part of the Regional Arts Lottery Programme Project as well as the marketing programme.

  The library as a source of information, advice and support is crucial to community development and capacity building. Many agencies now use the service as a focal point to offer support with staff trained to support people in a variety of ways through their mediated enquiry and advice skills. The service has been charged with corporate support in developing a training package for the delivery of e government. They are in a position to provide interpretation of official information, active referrals to the appropriate specialists and agencies and to put the enquirer at ease in a neutral and non threatening environment. This will develop further as libraries are an integral part of the corporate e government agenda.

2.1  External evaluation of the impact of the library service

  Customer satisfaction surveys carried out in the last two years have shown an increasing satisfaction with the service. These have addressed users and potential users. In addition to the CIPFA Public Library User Surveys of both adults and children carried out in 2002 and 2003, there has been a pre and post evaluation of the marketing campaign and a general council user satisfaction survey carried out as an annual postal survey.

Key findings

    —  90% of library users rated the quality of books as good or very good.

    —  More than 95% agreed that staff are helpful, polite and approachable.

    —  60% felt that libraries had changed—most frequently discussed were computers, the internet, libraries being more modern and providing more and better service.

    —  89% suggested environmental changes have improved libraries, as they have become more open, informed and spacious.

    —  The October 2003 CIPFA PLUS Adult Survey and May 2004 Children's Survey demonstrated that satisfaction with LIS has increased (see Position Statement, enclosed).

    —  Libraries performed very well in the SCC General User Satisfaction Survey of 2003-04, with recognition from one third of the respondents that the services had improved in the last three years.

National standards

    —  22 out of the 26 National Public Library Standards were met by 31 March 2004 compared to 20 in 2002-03 and a starting position of nine when the standards were introduced. A further three will be reached by March 2005.

    —  Visits—this standard is still to be achieved with a 13% increase in actual visits over last year and a further increase projected for March 2005 as part of LPSA stretch targets and as a result of the improvement programme.

    —  It is disappointing to the authority that the revised standards do not recognise virtual visits. The increase of visits to the library service web site—as opposed to web hits—has increased by 24.6% over the previous year.

2.2  Accessibility

    —  The service has focused on the accessibility of local libraries, in terms of opening hours, location and community-wide appeal in the last three years and, as is demonstrated above, it meets the current demands of 60% of the public of Staffordshire (see General Satisfaction Survey above).

    —  The Library service has increased its opening hours by a total of 118 hours per week during 2003-04, reaching 122 aggregate hours per 1,000 population in March 2004 with plans in place to reach the full standard of 128 by March 2005. This includes improvements in evening opening, Saturday and Sunday opening times.

    —  The mobile library service has been improved, reaching more communities with fewer vehicles (reducing from 13 to 11 to a further reduction to 10 in March 2005)—this is now forming the backbone of the community library service in urban and rural areas.

    —  A Prison Library Service serves six prison establishments in the county and Housebound services are extensive and highly regarded

    —  Co-location and joint service delivery in "extended" services—including the one stop shop ventures—have attracted new users, as has the reduction in barriers to use, such as reducing the need for identification and every child receiving a library card at reception class.

    —  A framework for investing in children and young people is informed by and engaged in the work of the national offers formed as part of "Framework for the Future". It is also a part of the corporate initiative and will be part of the new Children's Directorate from April 2005.

    —  A Marketing plan is in place to increase the public's use of local libraries, particularly hard to reach groups and marketing and retail consultants have acted as critical friends and advisors/trainers for the organisation.

    —  Details of the innovative work that has been undertaken with the support of the authority as part of the LPSA and allocating additional resources to meet standards is outlined in both the latest Position Statement and the Audit Commission's inspection report.

2.3  Policy and funding

  The County Council invests in the service improvement with a revenue budget of £11.4 milllion in 2004-05, an increase of 5.1% over 2003-04.

  Capital funding has been provided to complete the improvement programme for design and improvements, supplemented by external funding and the reinvestment of capital receipts.

  An additional £250,000 has been invested over the last two years to boost the stock fund and additional resources have been made available to improve opening hours and achieve Public Library Standards

  LPSA target funding of £0.4 million supports a project to introduce 12 one stop shops into local libraries and support this with mediators, marketing and training. The library service will deliver the CRM provision through library outlets and trained staff.

  16% of the total LIS budget is allocated to stock purchase, with 20% for children. This balance is currently under review, as are efficiency savings.

  Staffordshire has introduced a charge for internet access after the first hour free, to supplement developments in ICT.

  £8,000 was invested in the service by the Directorate to introduce SMS services for customer request, online ordering and joining is also in place and overdue requests are also to be text messaged as well as using other means. A saving of £10,000 was identified as a result of introducing text messaging.

  Reviews of stock supply and the delivery of services to schools is currently under way to ensure the most cost effective methods are employed. Future savings are planned as part of these reviews in order to reinvest in more stock purchase.

  Working in partnership to create new facilities and spaces with joint funding has proved successful with such projects as:

    —  NMI pathfinder—funding a one stop mobile library and mini library run by volunteers in a school;

    —  a library in a school performing arts facility;

    —  one in a youth and community centre;

    —  the first jointly managed one stop shops with the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council at Cheadle, Biddulph and Leek.

  External funding has been awarded through the Lottery; the Arts development fund for mobile livery and design; the Regional Arts Lottery Programme; Regional MLA; the national "Lending Time" initiative and the "Caring with Books" project. Discussions are well under way with Early Year and Surestart projects to help deliver the Bookstart programme effectively.

  An income strategy is being further developed to ensure the full impact of a pricing policy, resources have been provided to develop new procurement methods, including EDI to produce a shelf ready product.

  The SCC medium term financial strategy is identifying efficiency savings and further investment in service development.

3.  LEGISLATIVE, STRATEGIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK

  Developments at a national level are positive, on the whole. The County Council welcomes the revision of National public library standards, with the exception of the omission of virtual visits and the narrower interpretation of visits overall and the low satisfaction rating for children. This does not support the wider remit for library and information services outlined in "Framework for the Future".

  3.1  Staffordshire County Council's e government agenda has placed libraries at the heart of delivery and influence for both county and district councils. It has ensured that more people are able to access services directly and with mediated help in a seamless way. The increase in membership and use and access to council services and to library services demonstrates the wider role that libraries must play in helping people to navigate and understand the plethora of information that is all around them.

  3.2  Neighbourhood renewal and capacity building show that access to information and interpretation of information gives people confidence and allows them to grow and move on. By narrowing the remit for counting visits the DCMS are not helping the service to demonstrate this crucial role to the full. Traditionally libraries are routes to knowledge and empowerment, their genesis was concerned with offering the disadvantaged in society the chance to develop and grow. Access to a range of information and services with personal assistance is still a vital part of this role and something that people need, particularly those who are excluded in society.

  3.3  The digital citizenship role so clearly outlined in the "framework" document is a crucial role, libraries have always provided every citizen with access to information and knowledge, underlining and supporting democratic rights. Libraries ensure effective access to a wide range of information, guidance and support, they provide neutral and safe spaces for all.

  3.4  At this time of shared locality working and the Children's agenda lower satisfaction rates for children than for adults does not support the key role that libraries have to play in the Children's agenda and gives mixed messages about the importance of improvements in service to children.

  3.5  The Audit Commission inspection recognised in all three of its inspections of the service that Staffordshire County Council's library service was at the forefront of engagement with communities in service support and development. Local Members chair small groups of local people. Thus reinforcing their local role and impact. If it is to truly be close to all communities it is essential that it engages with those communities and officers support their Members in pursuit of this goal.

  3.6  Staffordshire County Council is clear that responsibility for the statutory library and information service must remain with democratically accountable local government. The service is the foundation of the authority's community service and a people-centred library service must be part of the local democratic process and managed within a local authority framework.

  3.7  The impact of "Framework for the Future" in this authority has enabled the service to focus on core service areas and adopt these in their planning and service development and delivery processes. The action plan could have been better served by a focus on fewer key areas with the funding being thus less widely spread and a focus on the wider context would be welcomed.

  3.8  This authority believes that the top priority for the national agenda must be a focused national marketing campaign and the national procurement agency for stock to simplify the supply chain and allow for economies of scale in automated services, similar to the model in the Netherlands. ICT infrastructure, including hardware and software licensing procured as part of the national agencies remit would ensure the relevant economies of scale consistent with Gershon and the work currently being undertaken on a strategic approach to procurement more generally in the public services. This authority supports others in the need to overhaul the public library supply chain from author to reader.

  3.9  National initiatives in the areas of reading development, children's services and improved service to young people through "Fulfilling their potential" are the other key areas that this authority would want the major national focus to be on.

  3.10  The various domains are still not as cohesive as they might be, with little evidence of overall strategic planning for the culture, community and information sectors. It is essential that crosscutting issues relating to access, content development and delivery of e services, generic working and inclusion must be progressed across the board at national, regional and local level. Library services have a key role to play in this as can be demonstrated in the many examples of good practice across the country. A more co-ordinated supply of resources through the academic, health and public library sector could enable some closer working and shared resources.

  3.11  Resourcing is a major challenge and will continue to be so. ODPM and the Treasury need to re-assess investment in the DCMS sector overall. It is difficult at present to develop a case for a joined up sector. This authority would like to see more recognition for the impact made by the sector overall and how it contributes to the local authority objectives. We agree with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in her recent statement about the importance of the sector, the sector urgently needs an evidence based approach that reinforces this contribution. The development of impact measures to support public library standards is a welcome improvement and this authority is prepared to offer support and expertise in developing this area.

  3.12  Major challenges in capital funding and re-location or co-location of premises continue to exercise the corporate agenda. This authority has invested in an improvement programme with £5 million, this has enabled developments to take place in 27 service points. The addition of capital receipts from sales ensured that some services can be re-located in joint service provision. The remaining capital funding will enable some minor design and re-furnishing of smaller libraries and the revision of the community library service and introduction of one-stop shops has created some economies of scale.

  3.13  The continued maintenance of our property base is under resourced. The high expectation of the public for modern, light and bright facilities does necessitate the need for further investment. This authority has pursued as much joint service provision as has been available and has some innovative projects. Historic buildings and the built environment is an area that has not been properly recognised as a national imperative to protect our heritage. This authority has several historic buildings that require a significant investment to allow the best improvements to take place, changes to the eligibility for library and other services to apply for funding via the national lottery could provide a manageable solution to this problem.

  The rural agenda is also an area that the authority it tackling through various initiatives and approaches. A rural pathfinder in the north of the county will provide opportunities for partnership working and the development of the community library service and one stop shop approach is intended to deliver better to this agenda. Involving the library sector in this agenda nationally and locally would enable expertise and a more creative approach to access for hard to reach groups be shared. The LPSA2 process in the authority is looking at widening access to a range of council services, however, the tight restrictions on outcomes is proving difficult and is in danger of stifling innovative work and ensuring that the focus is on safe and achievable targets.

4.  VISION FOR STAFFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL'S LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICE

    —  Our vision for the development of the Library and Information Service is fully embedded in, and consistent with, the County Council's Corporate Strategy and priorities. This integration of strategic policy has been reinforced by the inclusion of the Library and Information Service (LIS) in the newly constituted Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate. The new structure has benefited LIS, helping ensure that its potential is more fully developed and has enabled the Service to play a vital role in the wider vision of the Directorate to make Staffordshire an "inclusive learning county".

    —  It is also evident that the Library Service will be able to contribute to the development of an integrated Children's Service in line with the aspirations of forthcoming legislation outlined in the Green Paper, Every Child Matters. The County Council will also ensure a clear focus for the next five years to achieve the aspirations of Framework for the Future (DCMS) and sustain improvements. This includes a high profile and contribution to achieving e-enabled and seamless Council services by 2005.

    —  Our political aspirations and arrangements ensure that as the County Councillor responsible for Library Service, the Councillor with responsibility for LIS (Jim Muir), is a full Member of the Cabinet and a passionate advocate on its behalf. In recent years the Council has prioritised the development of the Library Service, in line with its statutory obligations, national public library standards and priorities for library authorities. This is reflected in increased levels of investment to ensure we reach the standards required and an increasing impact and use of services.

    —  The tiered structure introduced in 2002, as the result of the in-depth Best Value Review, provides an area/district basis for the management of service delivery while retaining effective strategic planning at the centre. This allows the Service to combine strategic coherence with a locally responsive and flexible delivery. It also means that the Service has been able to respond to wider community initiatives working in partnership with other agencies and stakeholders and is well placed to play a key role in the localisation agenda of the County Council.

5.  SUMMARY

  The public library service must lie at the heart of its local authority and local community. It is central to the delivery of culture, knowledge and heritage, contributing to corporate programmes relating to digital citizenship, community cohesion and the delivery of joined up and improved services to children and young people. We can evidence the improvements in inclusiveness and contributions to the regeneration and lifelong learning through a variety of initiatives outlined in our Position Statement.

  In this authority it has been recognised that the library service is innovative and clear at working in partnership to provide better access to services and community engagement in service improvement. This authority believes that there are economies of scale to be achieved through the supply and delivery of resources such as stock and ICT, allowing changes in automation of routine task to free up staff to interact with the public. Closer integration of the cultural service domains and the academic and health library and information sector should ensure better access for all. A key role in the delivery of the e government agenda has placed the library service at the centre of the local authority e agenda.

  Development of the workforce through generic skills shared with the above sectors and the identification of skills and competencies to deliver a modern services are key components to ensuring the services continues to improve and deliver what is required.

  The financial framework for both capital and revenue needs to have more impact in budget setting forums, with recognition of the benefits of the service in the revenue support grant settlement and through local authority funding. Access to lottery funding is a key issue, as is the protection of high quality built environment and investing in our heritage buildings. The difficult issue of continued maintenance of property must be on the agenda and the imaginative use of buildings for more than one service with pooled funding and management can aid this process, as we have demonstrated in this authority. However, there is still a need for a radical approach to asset management and the associated costs.

  Staffordshire County Council would welcome the opportunity to present examples of good practice to the inquiry, particularly in areas of community engagement and improved access to council services. For further information the recent inspection document, and the library service annual Position Statement are available on the following web sites: at www.audit-commission.gov.uk and www.staffordshire.gov.uk/libraries.

  There is a short DVD enclosed with this report and a summary of the content, which demonstrates the results of the innovative work that has been undertaken in the last few years.

12 November 2004





 
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