Mr Nigel Gibson addressed the Committee. He said that benchmarking was merely a tool to support increasing prices. He felt the customer satisfaction comments were handpicked to show only good comments, and that no work had been done to track which leisure centres the former Temple Cowley pool users were now going too.

The Head of Community Services and the Leisure and Performance Manager presented the report. The Head of Community Services said that at the start of the Fusion contract 800,000 visits to the leisure centres took place annually, now it was up to1.4m. The annual cost to the Council was nearly £2m at the beginning of the contract and now it is nearly zero.

Fusion is a non-profit social enterprise organisation and there is a surplus sharing principle in the contract with the Council. Most surpluses made are invested back into the centres.

Benchmarking with other authorities is used to ensure prices are competitive and comparable with the market rate. Prices are reviewed annually and scrutinised by the Leisure Partnership Board. Prices are regularly reviewed and tested and have in some cases reduced.

Users are involved in the Leisure Partnership Board and the Council wants to strengthen this to get more users involved.

 Fusion doesn’t just rely on customer comments and complaints but is proactive at collecting user feedback. Council Apprentices have also recently contributed to actively seek feedback from younger users.

The Committee made the following comments:

Cllr Fry said that the user group he attends use to have a large number of maintenance complaints which has gone down significantly

The Head of Community Services said that no centre has a maintenance backlog.  The budget is available, but the challenge is finding the time to repair things as the centres are busier which leads to more wear and tear.

Cllr Lygo asked about the progress made in providing healthy food at the centres.  Cllr Smith, Board Member for Leisure and Sport said that a trial of healthy vending machine had been promising. Fusion’s contract with their providers for vending machines and food and beverage concessions are up for renewal at the end of 2017 – so at that point we could look at a wider offering of healthier food.

Cllr Fry asked about the user group figures in the report.   Are they correct, because the figures suggest the focus should be on young people?

The Head of Community Services agreed and said activities are provided to young people through the youth inclusion programme. He said that social return on investment (SROI) is built into the Fusion contract and it is their responsibility to show how social impact can be measured.

Cllr Henwood asked if the customer satisfaction comments were from the reference group or general public and could we see the survey results?

The Leisure and Performance Manager said they came from a selection of surveys including the monthly customer comments, national benchmarking surveys and proactive feedback requests.

Cllr Simmons said that Council had invested £14m in leisure centre infrastructure. What was the return on the Council’s capital money put into leisure centres? The Head of Community Services said that it was not measured because no other authority does, so it does not provide a helpful comparator.

Cllr Chapman asked what are the things users complain about?. The Leisure Performance Manager said complaints are mostly received about:

·         Responsive to repairs: Fusion has installed a facility management tracking system with priority ratings to complete rectification within a certain timescale. This has assisted and improved completing repairs promptly.

·         Opening hours and timetabling: Fusion has introduced a static programme which changes 3 times a year and differentiates between school and non-school term times.

·         Cleanliness:  This has improved in the last 18-24 months

 Cllr Chapman asked   what work was being done to tackle carbon emissions, as one third of the council’s carbon emissions come from leisure centres.

Cllr Smith said the new Blackbird Leys Pool and Leisure Centre is as efficient as it can be. The Council continues to improve the centres and Fusion’s contract includes working to reduce carbon emissions.  The Council investigated installing a heat exchange system at Hinksey Outdoor Pool but it’s not currently financially feasible. Having a pool cover has also been dismissed for health and safety reasons (i.e. people accessing the pool out of opening hours)

Cllr Tidball said she would like to see a disability audit of all centres included in the annual report. An accessibility rating system could be used to compare centres. The Head of Community Services agreed to work on this.

Cllr Tidball asked whether the pricing structure could be adjusted to give preferential treatment for local users’ i.e. discount rate if you live within a certain radius of a centre.

The Head of Community Services said he preferred advocating concessions on financial need rather than postcode.

Cllr Wilkinson asked whether officers’ engaged with people who don’t use the facilities. Officers said they review national surveys on non-users to understand why people chose not to use leisure centres.

Cllr Henwood asked if more data could be provided on the GP referral system especially how many people finish the programme and the health related outcomes. Officers agreed to provide this information.

The Scrutiny Committee noted the report.