Written evidence from the Public
and Commercial Services Union (OLL 13)
Introduction
and Summary
1. The Public and Commercial Services Union
(PCS) is the largest civil service trade union representing over 300,000
members working in most government departments, non-departmental public bodies,
agencies and privatised areas.
2. PCS represents over 5,000 members employed in
the culture, media and sport sector across the nation, working in National Museums
and Galleries such as the British Museum and V&A, The National Museums of
Liverpool, National Museum of Science and Industry, National Museums and
Galleries of Scotland, National Museum of Wales, the British Library, English
Heritage, Historic Royal Palaces, Visit Britain, agencies such as the Royal
Parks and the sports councils; Sport England, Sport Scotland and Sports Council
Wales. Therefore, we are in a unique position to submit evidence as part of
this inquiry as our members encourage and develop participation in sports and
cultural life across the country every day.
3. We welcome the committee's inquiry as an
opportunity to share our anxieties about the lasting legacy of the Olympics. We
are concerned that the original vision of the London 2012 bid to provide a
sustainable and inclusive games is slipping away, as demonstrated by allocating
funding to elitist sports such as rowing and sailing whilst a sport that would
encourage more mass participation, like table tennis, is left on the sidelines.
4. We would very much support a return to the
original bid, which would see a local legacy being left for the entire nation,
including; Olympic standard training camps provided across the UK, the use of Olympic
sites as key for the public and also retaining the management of these sites within
the public sector so there is long-term mass accessibility and participation, which
is not governed by economic imperatives. The current financial situation, for
example, resulted in the disappearance of private sector funding for the media centre
and Olympic village in early 2009.
5. This submission therefore covers our concerns
about:
· Progress towards meeting
targets to increase grass roots participation in sport
· The aim of leaving a
lasting legacy that improves cultural life; and
· How
success in delivering a lasting legacy can be measured.
Progress
towards meeting targets to increase grass roots participation in sport
6. The top
slicing of budgets across the sports and culture sector to pay for the Olympics
has been and is of major concern to us. An example of this is Sport England, where,
despite the Chair's protests to James Purnell (then Secretary of State at DCMS)
the budget was cut and it resulted in inevitable cancelled projects and
impacted on the organisation's targets to raise the numbers participating in sports
in the south east.
7. PCS would
strongly recommend that organisations have time to embed their strategies and
demonstrate they can meet targets rather than, as in Sport England's case,
having to review and revisit its strategies and goals as the organisation moved
from being a national body to becoming a regional and then back to being a national
body over a short period of time. The moving of their goal posts has only
resulted in an organisation having to become inward looking as it reorganises,
rather than fulfilling its purpose and realising its objectives.
8. We also believe
that the existing work organisations are undertaking should be reviewed and
supported, rather than simply directing them to embrace every new fad, for
instance in the example cited above it is evident that the government has been confused
about its policy regarding sport. We believe the changes to Sport England's
focus question whether there is a comprehensive and coherent government vision
for sport, or whether the principle objective is to gain as many medals as
possible, with no comprehensive strategy in place on harvesting more long term
benefits towards mass access to sports, improving health and well being and
enhancing communities.
9. Most of the contribution to grass root
participation in sport comes from public funds, including the revenue and
lottery, although we believe the latter has been eroded regarding the community
in recent years and therefore constitutes just another form of taxation,
impacting more on the lower paid as they pay the subs but do not share the
benefits. We believe that there is merit in encouraging the involvement of
other governing bodies in sport, such as the Football Association and that the
government should place requirements on them to make a greater contribution, considering
the millions at their disposal.
10. We are not satisfied that there is a coherent
strategy in place, co-ordinated by government, where all stakeholders with a
vested interest are working in a joined up way towards achieving grass root
participation. By stakeholders we mean the health sector, local councils, the
Sports Councils, UK Sport and relevant community groups and clubs.
The
aim of leaving a lasting legacy that improves cultural life
11. PCS believes that the phrase legacy should not
purely mean the situation post 2012 but should also focus on increasing
participation and activity nationwide in anticipation of the games in 2012.
12. We think there are questions that need
answering about:
· Who is ultimately
responsible for determining what the lasting legacy of the games is?
· What is the extent of
planning that has gone into a coherent and comprehensive approach?
· What organisations have
fed into the development of this approach?
13. Our perception is that there is no ownership of
the legacy and a worrying vagueness around it. We are aware that across the
culture sector a number of organisations are piggybacking onto the Olympics and
there has been much talk of a cultural Olympiad. However, as far as we can
ascertain there has been no central call from the government to all the
organisations that have a part to play and an interest in contributing ideas,
opinions and developing a strategy. We are also aware that previous Olympics
have left no sustained legacy of mass participation.
14. Top slicing of budgets has
left organisations vulnerable and resulted in them seeking funding and
sponsorship through other means, principally the private sector. In the culture
sector the pool to source funding from is limited, not just because the various
organisations are vying for funding from a restricted number of sponsors, but also
due to the recession having caused greater difficulty in attracting sponsorship
or donations.
15. Funding, whether from central government or the
private sector for projects is frequently ring-fenced and therefore cuts are
being made elsewhere in the organisations, which inevitably has an impact on
the cultural legacy that will be left on the protection of objects, the
experience of visitors and refurbishment of the fabric of buildings.
16. We are also
aware of proposals by the Conservative Party to introduce a Museums and
Heritage bill that will decouple the link between National Museums and Galleries
and other NDPBs from the civil service so that they are run as autonomous
bodies.
17. This bill
gravely concerns us as we believe that instead of these great public
institutions being run for the British public they will suffer from increased
commercialisation and competition. This could potentially restrict research,
learning and possibly access, as the private sector will look for a return on
its investment, rather than being the guardians of the nation's cultural
heritage. Recent events in the economy should be a warning that reliance on
sponsorship is tenuous and that the nation's cultural heritage should not be a
hostage to world markets.
18. The demands for greater efficiencies have
resulted in damages to public services and our members' terms and conditions being
eroded. Our perception is that many initiatives introduced
across the culture sector are for short term gain rather than based on a long
term perspective.
19. National
Museums and Galleries, the Sports
Councils and the myriad of other organisations we represent members in are
focused on immediate results in terms of efficiency savings. This has therefore
affected the quality of their exhibitions, most notably at the Science Museum, and the status, terms and
conditions of our members. For instance at the Science Museum they have
introduced a two tier workforce with certain categories of staff employed on
its Trading Company contracts, thereby removing access to benefits and particularly
the pension scheme enjoyed by other staff directly employed by the museum. The
resulting reduction in morale and commitment to the institution of those staff
affected is evident and will impact on the corporate drive to achieve targets,
the visitor experience and the ability to attract a diverse workforce.
20. Over the last few years the outsourcing of
services has increased in the culture sector and we believe the service to the
public has lessened, again putting a positive future legacy at risk following
2012. We are acutely aware of the detrimental impact this can have on service
delivery. For example the increase in the number of thefts after the security
function was privatised at the V&A and the lowering of standards when
cleaning was outsourced at the Natural History Museum.
21. We are concerned that with this outsourcing of
services opportunities for a more diverse workforce decrease - both in terms of
ethnicity and choice of employment. We believe that those directly employed in
the culture sector should not be an elite Oxbridge group doling out culture to
the masses but should be reflective of the rich diversity of our society,
enabling opportunities to be part of the heritage workforce, whether as a
cleaner, retail assistant or academic. PCS strongly believes that outsourcing reduces
opportunities for people wanting to get into cultural employment and as we see
everyday museums, galleries and other heritage organisations are currently
failing in being diverse employers, which we believe is not the great cultural legacy
the nation should be left with.
22. In order to develop a legacy we can be proud of,
particularly with regards to mass participation in sports we believe that there
should be consultation with and involvement of the third sector. However,
proper funding for this sector should be rooted through the public sector in
order to achieve equitable outcomes in terms of access and participation in
sporting activity. Also where sponsorship can be drawn down, this should be
additional to, rather than replace public resourcing. For understandable
reasons there is concern about sanctioning the use of volunteers to do work
that should be paid for and we would not condone the practice of exploiting the
opportunity of involving local enthusiastic volunteers in communities as cheap
labour.
How
success in delivering lasting legacy can be measured
23. Our members are highly dedicated to the sector.
They want to provide a quality service to the public; therefore they want a
successful lasting legacy of the Olympics to include a lasting and sustained increase
in the grass-roots participation in sport and local culture. This cannot be
achieved though if the government and management view greater accessibility and
participation at the cost of good working conditions for their workforce.
24. PCS recognises
that there is a need to measure outputs for a short-term understanding of how
many people are getting involved in activities. This allows organisations to
demonstrate they are meeting the output targets, but as discussed earlier we
firmly believe that organisations must be given targets then left alone for a
specified time to embed their strategies to ensure greater outcomes can be delivered.
25. We believe
that as well as measuring the outputs, outcomes should be evaluated so that
progress over time can be demonstrated. It is crucial we measure the outcomes
to understand the long-term impact of our interventions. Participation in
sport, visitor numbers and the shift in how people get involved with
sport/culture will change slowly, as it's a generational shift.
26. A practical
way of the government gauging the impact of the legacy we believe can be
achieved through adding an appropriate question in DCMS's 'Taking Part' survey. In earlier versions the survey had a question
asking "Do you think winning the bid to
host the 2012 Olympics has motivated you to do more sport or recreational physical
activity?" This year - year 5 (2009/10) the question has been taken out,
but is to be re-instated for year 6 (2010/11). We would therefore suggest that
a question on wider cultural activity is included, motivated by the cultural Olympiad.
27. PCS would also suggest looking at the value and
other benefits that involvement in cultural and sporting activities can foster,
in previous research benefits have included:
· improved health
and well being
· improved mental
health
· a reduction in
crime and an increase in community safety
· improved
social cohesion
· improved education
and lifelong learning
· the positive
economic impact; and
· the
contribution to the regeneration of local communities.
Conclusion
28. PCS therefore believes that we should return
to the original vision of the Olympic bid and that there needs to clear ownership
of the Olympic legacy. We also believe there should be a clarification on what the
legacy means and we would recommend that feedback is sought from stakeholders.
PCS urges that achieving a legacy, which no other country has done, should not
be at a cost to the committed workforce in the culture and sport sector where
due to privatisation and outsourcing our members terms and conditions have been
eroded.
29. In addition, the importance of joined up
working between the cultural institutions, local government, central
government, Sports Councils and governing bodies needs to put in place and
sustained.
30. Finally we believe that the Olympic legacy
should encompass the involvement and benefit to the United Kingdom as a whole and not,
as some fear be purely London/England focused.
January
2010
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