Report to follow.

Cllr Gant, Chair of the Scrutiny Committee presented the report.  He thanked officers for attending the Scrutiny Committee meeting. The Scrutiny Committee discussed the data collected and whether usage or visits were the better measure.

He said the Scrutiny Committee would like to see both Fusion’s annual service plan and performance document at the same meeting so that comparisons could be made.  The Fusion service plan begins in April and is already seen late so another few months won’t make any difference.

Cllr Smith, Board Member for Leisure, Parks and Sport said this was entirely possible as the Scrutiny Committee sets its own work plan however the annual service plan would continue to be endorsed by the Board at its May meetings.

The Leisure and Performance Manager said the Council gets monthly performance data from Fusion, but officers only get 5 working days to clear the performance reports before they are sent to leisure user groups. There was also the possibility for the Scrutiny Committee to look at the performance reports which go to the Leisure Partnership Board on a quarterly basis.

The Head of Community Services has submitted a report to endorse Fusion Lifestyle’s 2017/18 Annual Service Plan for the continuous development, management and operation of leisure services in Oxford– as recommended by the Leisure Partnership Board.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Endorse the Fusion Lifestyle Annual Service Plan for 2017/18 as recommended by the Leisure Partnership Board.

The Head of Community Services submitted a report which endorsed Fusion Lifestyle’s 2017/18 Annual Service Plan for the continuous development, management and operation of leisure services in Oxford– as recommended by the Leisure Partnership Board.

The Head of Community Services outlined the background of the service plan.  He said the leisure centres are very busy and there are challenges for Fusion around wear and tear and cleanliness.

Cllr Smith, Board Member for Leisure, Parks and Sport presented the report.  She outlined the focus areas for the following year:

·         To increase participation by 5%;

·         To reduce carbon emissions by 5% each year for example by replacing light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs and to buy a pool cover for the Hinksey Pool.  However there are logistics issues about the shape of the pool. 

·         To promote free swimming classes for the under 17s. We plan to review the timetable for swim school classes with Fusion officers to implement this.

·         A crèche facility at Ferry Leisure Centre is also a priority.

Cllr Smith thanked the Leisure and Performance Manager for all her hard work managing the Fusion contract.

Cllr Price said the usage targets looked extremely challenging; how realistic are they especially the 12,000 increase in BME visits? The Head of Community Services said Fusion has a good track record which does suggest they will achieve them. They had agreed the targets so they must be fairly confident they can meet them. 

Cllr Hollingsworth said there were limitations on collecting data. Are we trying to get existing users to attend more frequently or new users starting?  It is not mentioned in the report.  The Head of Community Services said more work was needed to improve data capture of usage figures, particularly at the Ferry Leisure Centre.

Cllr Turner asked about the healthy options in the vending machines. Cllr Smith said it had been piloted at the Leys Leisure Centre and when the contract for the café at Ferry ends later this year, we can change the offer in the vending machines. Both healthy and unhealthy foods will be available.

Cllr Kennedy asked about pool maintenance at Hinksey Pool. She said there were maintenance issue that had not been fixed and asked whether it was possible for Fusion to show how they have improved their maintenance schedule. The Head of Community Services apologies for this and said he would look into it.

The Chief Executive said he was happy with customer satisfaction, the Council scored 2^nd out of 22 local authority leisure centres

Cllr Price asked for a progress report on the Horspath Sports village to the Board in September.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Endorse the Fusion Lifestyle Annual Service Plan for 2017/18 as recommended by the Leisure Partnership Board.

The Head of Community Services presented the report.  He highlighted the positive progress made in leisure participation since Fusion Lifestyles took over the running of the leisure centres in 2009. He explained that the targets remain ambitious; they are challenging but not impossible.

Cllr Smith, Board Member for Leisure, Parks & Sport outlined the key focus areas for the forthcoming year these include:

·         Increasing participation

·         Reducing carbon emissions at centres in particular Hinksey Outdoor Pool where they hoped to use a Pool cover to reduce loss of heating. The logistics for how this would work would be a challenge for Fusion – (size and shape of the pool).

·         The Free U17 swimming classes needed more promotion at the individual pools

·         Keen to see progress of a crèche facility at Ferry.

The Head of Community Services said the Scrutiny Committee could offer changes to the report – to an extent.

The Committee made the following comments:

They would like to know the number of individuals using the facilities rather than the number of visits. The Committee were concerned the same people were visiting the facilities and skewing the results. The Head of Community Services said that visits were the benchmark used but we could review the usage. Moving people onto reward cards to capture this data would be paramount.

They would like to see added to the key areas how Fusion plans to improve disability facilities at the centres. The Head of Community Services said encouraging inclusiveness was a fundamental objective of the Fusion contract.

They enquired what the geographic spread of the users at each facility was. Fusion’s Sports and Partnership Group Manager said that people were using multiple facilities across the city.  Which facilities are the former users of Temple Cowley Leisure Centre going to?

Increased usage is great but there is a trade-off between usage and cleanliness.

The Committee suggested including some of the feedback from user groups regarding performance in the report next year.

Queried whether it would be more meaningful to consider the Annual Service Plan alongside the performance monitoring document.

Asked what strategies are used to encourage usage in the off-peak periods. Cllr Smith said that the usage data is constantly being reviewed and that she reviews performance data every month.

In terms of GP referrals; are GPs working with Fusion actively.  Fusion’s Sport and Partnership Group Manager said GP referrals vary across the city. His new role is responsible for improving this. Fusion also works closely with Sport England and various mental health services.

Asked if it was feasible for city residents to get cheaper membership than people outside of the city? Cllr Smith said it was worth considering; the U17 free swimming classes are for residents only.

The Scrutiny Committee made the following recommendations to the City Executive Board:

1. That the City Council, in partnership with Fusion Lifestyle, resolves the issue of whether or not to capture the numbers of individual leisure centre users (as far as practicably possible) in addition to the numbers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116