Contact Officer: Lucy Cherry, Leisure Manager

Tele: 01865 252707, email: lcherry@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Leisure and Parks submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which provided performance updates on the City Council’s Leisure Management Contract with Fusion Lifestyle between April 2011 and March 2012.  A confidential appendix was also submitted (previously circulated, now appended).

With the permission of the Chair, Nigel Gibson addressed the Committee and said that he wished to make general and specific points.  On a general point he said that Fusion was not a charity in the same way that Oxfam.  He said that to state it as a charity was a tax scam and that tax avoidance was being used which was not appropriate and the Council should be open on this.  He felt that the report did not give enough detail on the capital investment and that the savings amounted to only £100k per year over a five year period.  The report did not show the drop in attendance at the Temple Cowley Pool, which did not surprise him as he said that the facility was now dilapidated where the boiler had been out of action and the air conditioning in the gym had not been repaired.  He further added that the report did not say that there were now fewer swimming courses and that Gala’s were held at very short notice leading to the Pool being closed at very short notice.  He further highlighted issues concerning energy efficiency which had previously been dealt with in the MACE report.  Overall he felt that the report was incomplete and misleading. 

Councillor Van Coulter, Board Member for Leisure attended the meeting and presented the report.  He highlighted that if the annual costs of the Leisure Service were compared, these costs had reduced which was a remarkable achievement.  The Ferry Sports Centre and the Ice Rink were now showing an increased surplus which would be used to make further improvements at these two facilities.  With regard to the subsidy for the other facilities such as the Barton Leisure Centre, there had been a reduction in the subsidies paid.  However he added that there were various maintenance costs which the Council had to bear for the Blackbird Leys Pool and the Temple Cowley Pool, while Fusion bore the maintenance costs of the other facilities.  Overall he felt that the contract was working well and driving improvement in the costs of the service.

Councillor Rowley said noted that there had been a significant increase in visits to all the leisure facilities in 2010/11, but since then the number had seemed to reach a plateau.  In response Councillor Coulter said that there was still more than could be done with the funds available with regard to outreach work with our target groups.

Councillor Fry made a general comment concerning the pie charts used in the report asking that rather than just the post code being show, population distribution would also help.  He also asked if the Oxford Living Wage was paid to sub-contractors.  He further commented that the maintenance procedures that Fusion had did not seem to be ideal with some repairs outstanding for some time and while facilities such as the Ferry Leisure Centre were well used all the time, what was Fusion doing to encourage users to use the less utilised facilities.

In response to the comments from Councillor Fry, Councillor Coulter said that the Council was working with Fusion on a living wage for sub-contractors, but that staff, were already paid the living wage.  On the maintenance procedures he would be raising this at a scheduled meeting with Fusion in the next few days and regarding increasing the use of under utilised facilities, the publicity was being reviewed to encourage users to use these facilities and highlighting such things as free parking.

Councillor Fooks felt that the contract had been a success and was something that the Liberal Democrat Group had promoted for sometime.

Councillor Simmons regarding the user figures asked if the figure was just Slice Card users or users as a whole.  In response Councillor Coulter said that the 1.1 million users was for all users.

Councillor Simons felt that the contract should not be making a surplus.  In response Councillor Coulter said that the Administration had a clear intention to cross subsidise, and as a result compared to Cherwell District Council, the City’s concession rates were 30% lower.  He added that it was not the intention to make a profit, but that policies would be adjusted to encourage inclusion.

Councillor Haines asked what plans existed for the Marston area as he felt that the area lacked adequate accessibility to leisure facilities.  In response Councillor Coulter said that he would take on board the concerns of Councillor Haines and raise them with Officers.  Councillor Malik also encouraged Councillor Haines to provide any ideas on how the leisure facilities could be improved in the Marston area to Councillor Coulter.

Councillor Malik asked what was in the agreement with Fusion regarding the reinvestment of any surpluses.  In response Councillor Coulter said that the Council received a 4% return on capital from Fusion.

Councillor Kennedy asked what was being done to reduce the carbon footprint of the Hinksey outdoor pool.  In response Councillor Coulter said that the bottom of the pool had been relined, but it was accepted that being an outdoor pool made any carbon reduction more challenging.

Councillor Mills was interested to hear more on the methodology used to achieve the 97% satisfaction rate and on the outreach work being undertaken.  In response Lucy Cherry said that Fusion had an obligation to achieve a target response rate each month and actively worked to achieve this.  She said that the targets were based on the Councils key target groups for inclusion in leisure facilities.  The outreach work was part of the contract and as such Fusion had already been working with health professionals as part of the well-being programme.

Councillor Simmons asked if the Council was going to continue to invest in the Temple Cowley Pool.  In response Councillor Coulter said that invest would continue to keep the facility going.

Committee members felt that it was beneficial to continue to receive update reports, possibly on an annual basis.  Lucy Cherry said that the business planning process with Fusion would take place during September/October 2012 and would be happy to submit a report to the Committee following this.

The Committee agreed:

(a)       To thank Councillor Coulter for attending the meeting and presenting the report and to thank Lucy Cherry for answering questions on the report.

(b)       To make the following comments and recommendations to the Board Member for Leisure Services and requests responses as indicated:

(1)       To seek confirmation via the Partnership Board that the living wage is being paid to staff and confirmation when it will also be paid to any sub-contractors working in Fusions run sites in Oxford.

(2)       To request that the Value and Performance Scrutiny Committee see the subsidy position for each leisure centre including capital investments made.

(3)       To seek clarification of what share of the £1.3m surplus made by Fusion would be re-invested in the Oxford City Contract and how this would be used within leisure centres and/or services.

(4)       To see the ideas and proposals from the Partnership Board to further increase participation with a particular emphasis on outreach work within target groups.

(5)       To see Fusion’s suggestions on encouraging better utilisation of our centres.

(6)       To request that for the future participation is also shown as a percentage of the population in each postcode area and if possible to include all visitors to allow for a more meaningful comparison of the figures.

(7)       To information is provided on the various outreach projects across:

·                    Cost

·                    Objectives

·                    Targets

·                    Outcomes

(8)       To request further information on the methodology used for measuring satisfaction and the process for auditing and checking the quality of the results.

(9)       To raise the issue of repairs and maintenance at the Partnership Board and for standards to be monitored.  To report back on how monitoring is to happen.

(10)     To Request that the Board Member respond to the local Ward Member for Marston on what the Council’s leisure offer for residents in his ward.