The Scrutiny Committee has asked for this item to be included on the agenda for pre-decision scrutiny. The City Executive Board on 13 June will be asked to endorse Fusion Lifestyles 2018/19 Annual Service Plan for the continuous development, management and operation of leisure services in Oxford. This is an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to make recommendations to the City Executive Board.

Lead member: Councillor Linda Smith,Deputy Leader and Board Member for Leisure and Housing.

Officer Contact: Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services – Ibrooke@oxford.gov.uk 01865 252191

The Committee Services Officer tabled a revised version of Appendix 3A to the report which contained a number of tracked changes.

The Board Member for Leisure and Housing drew the Committee’s attention to the most significant of those changes. She went on to speak to the substantive report. Oxford remains one of the most physically active cities in the country however the recent performance of Fusion  Lifestyle had been disappointing with a decline in visitor numbers.  This was due, in large part, to the services provided being ‘squeezed’ by competition from, on the one hand, an increasing number of budget gyms and, on the other, luxury providers. In addition, an increasing number of people were taking advantage of opportunities to exercise in different ways in parks, open spaces and community centres. Steps were being taken with Fusion Lifestyle to drive up participation rates, particularly with certain target  groups. Fusion Lifestyle’s Performance was monitored monthly and the Council’s Head of Financial Services kept a close eye on the budget position.

The Board Member for Leisure and Housing was clear that ambitious targets for improvement were necessary. The Committee recognised that the City Executive Board wants to be ambitious in its targets for Fusion, but these must also be realistic and achievable, particularly in the context of the increasingly competitive leisure market. The Committee questioned whether the target, set at a 3% increase in visitor numbers in 2018/19, was realistic.

The Committee expressed particular concern about the following statement in paragraph 19 of the report, “We do not have any investments planned for our leisure centres in 2018/19, so it is highly unlikely that the current trend of reducing visits will change.” Reference in the report was also made in paragraph 20 to Fusion “working hard to tighten up their costs.” Members believed that declining customer satisfaction coupled with a lack of investment was likely to result in a further loss of customers. Accordingly, it was recommended that there should be an action plan to address the matter of  declining visitor numbers. 

There was shared agreement  that the performance was disappointing, but it was nonetheless good for the Council to have Fusion Lifestyle as the Council’s  not for profit provider.

Attention was drawn  to a number of areas of concern including  such things as high turnover of staff; IT difficulties; telephones not being answered; slow response to maintenance issues which, cumulatively,  led to customer dissatisfaction and were difficult to reconcile with  the QUEST accreditation. It was suggested that it would be interesting to see how the shift in patterns of leisure behaviour compared with other parts of the country. It would be useful if   Fusion Lifestyle’s performance, as measured by key indicators, should be a regular part of the Committee’s quarterly monitoring and should include the total staff numbers  which, in addition to turnover levels, it was suggested  had gone down.

The Head of Community Services   agreed that improvement was needed and that the customer experience needed to improve. With regard to staff turnover, he noted that the leisure sector was experiencing recruitment difficulties throughout the country. The squeeze referred to by the Board Member presented a real challenge. The poor performance needed to be addressed in a number of ways: increasing participation rates; tighter control of costs; an improved approach to maintenance and cleanliness.

Some Councillors drew attention to the importance of swimming lessons for children in a City with rivers and open pools, and suggested that this was something that warranted more active promotion and that  more should be done to promote at the use of the Hinksey pool to those schools and playgroups in its immediate vicinity.

Anecdotal evidence suggested that older people were discouraged from using some pools because the water temperature was too cool. It was suggested  that the possibility of raising the temperature for, say, one day week should be considered. It was explained that all pools have different characteristics and that competitive swimmers (who comprise another regular group of users) require slightly lower temperatures. It was also noted that to change the temperature of such large volumes of water (both up and down) by just one or two degrees could take over 24 hours. 

 The Committee agreed that more emphasis should be given to  marketing targeted particular groups such as pre-school age children; older people; and members of the BAME community. Some times of the week would, for example, always be difficult for certain women in the BAME community.  Inconsistencies in timetables from week to week was likely to have a negative effect on attendance.

The Chair reminded those present  that where targeting was based on socio-economic/geographical criteria, it should be remembered that other areas often  contained pockets of deprivation not so easily distinguished.

In response to some of the points raised, the Divisional Business Manager said that 2017 had been a challenging year for the reasons described, but 2018 was already seeing improved performance assisted in part by the introduction of new, more flexible, membership types. In relation to recruitment issues, he described a range of programmes provided by Fusion Lifestyle, designed to provide career development opportunities and improve management skills (via an externally validated provider). Fusion was also committed to bringing on young people through its apprenticeship programme. He agreed to look at the practicality of the suggestion about pool temperatures but emphasised that this would be necessarily constrained by the factors mentioned above.

In conclusion, the Committee resolved to make the following recommendations to the City Executive Board.

Recommendation 1 - That the overall visitor numbers target set for Fusion Lifestyle leisure centres is reviewed to take account of emerging market pressures. Despite previous years of success, consideration should be given to whether the 3% year on year increase remains realistic and achievable;

Recommendation 2 - That an action plan is developed to address the decline in the total number of visits recorded and is made available to members for review;

Recommendation 3 - That further marketing, publicity and engagement activities are undertaken to raise awareness of swimming opportunities and concessions for u17s, older people, and members of the BAME community. Specifically, there should be more engagement at a local level, such as with schools and playgroups in the Hinksey Park area to promote learn to swim initiatives, and make better use of the outdoor pool; and

Recommendation 4 - That quarterly quantitative data is made available (which the Scrutiny Committee will monitor) to enable the Council to better understand Fusion Lifestyle’s performance in additional key areas, such as the proportion of calls answered, trends in staffing numbers and turnover, and responsiveness to repairs.