Quest was first established more than 20 years ago to measure how well a facility is operating and how effective organisations are across a range of topics. Aimed primarily at the management of sports and leisure facilities, it defines industry standards and good practice and, under Right Directions’ management since 2010, has steadily evolved to keep pace with the ever-changing sport and leisure industry.

Quest, a one-day assessment, and Quest Plus, which takes place over two days, both cover a number of compulsory modules. These include Tackling Inequalities, developed alongside the Activity Alliance, to help leisure operators provide more inclusive and accessible physical activity opportunities, and Environmental Management, which supports facilities in the development of plans to include environmental considerations within their operations. Optional modules for Quest Plus also include the Exercise Referral Standard, which provides a set of quality operating standards to help drive improvements and consistency in scheme delivery, and Accessible Facilities, which helps sites meet their design and operational obligations for different user groups.

The Quest contract forms part of Sport England’s Moving Communities, which was set up in 2021 to provide data and insights across the sport and leisure sector to help decision-makers maximise the impact of investment in physical activity. Headline statistics from facilities undertaking Quest feed into the service delivery section of Moving Communities to enable industry benchmarking across a range of modules.

Moving Communities is led by 4Global, in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University, Active Insight and Right Directions.