Oxford City Council has become the first local authority in the country to receive an ‘Excellent’ rating in Quest for Active Communities, the new assessment model from Quest, Sport England’s quality scheme for sport and leisure - not bad for a council whose sport and leisure provision was rated poor by the Audit Commission just eight years ago.

Quest for Active Communities directly supports the priorities outlined in both Sport England’s strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’ and the government’s ‘Sporting Future’ strategy, including physical health, mental wellbeing, individual development, social/community development and economic development.

The achievement of ‘Excellent’ in the new award - which replaces the old Quest Sport Development assessment - is the latest development in a long-standing relationship between Quest and Oxford City Council. “We have chosen to work with Quest for the past eight years because of its focus on continuous improvement and its commitment to helping organisations like ours to
demonstrate the impact we have on the communities we serve,” says Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services at Oxford City Council.

To read more of the article, please click here: Quest for Excellence: A Case Study