Contact Officer: Lucy Cherry, Leisure and Performance Manager, 01865 252707, Email: lcherry@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Leisure and Parks submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended). Ian Brooke (Head of Leisure and Parks), Lucy Cherry (Leisure and Performance Manager) and Councillor Mike Rowley (Board Member for Leisure) resented the report to the Committee and provided some background to it.

It was explained that the report would be presented to the City Executive Board on 9^th April, with a recommendation for its adoption.

Ian Brooke observed that, in 2008, the Council had a leisure service that was failing, that did not provide a high quality service and that did not attract as many users as the Council would have liked. But since the start of the contract with Fusion, there had been significant improvements and uplift in usage. The challenge now was to continue to increase usage year on year. It was intended that the service would be provided at zero cost to the Council by 2018.

Councillor Rowley added that there a commitment to continuous improvement remained, however a great deal of work identified in the Leisure Strategy had been undertaken already. Even so, the Council wanted to maintain the quality of the leisure service and to ensure that leisure centres could cope with increased usage. 

Questions and comments from the Committee

·         Is it fair to say that the service is in transition, from a heavily subsidised service originally, to a less subsidised one, to eventually a service that can stand alone?

·         A leisure service must still be affordable for all, whilst maintaining an god quality;

·         The Council should make sure that activities aimed at certain groups – such as women only swimming sessions – are maintained;

·         There is a dividing line between investments made buy the Council and those made by Fusion. It seems that the incentives for Fusion to invest are not strong. Fusion should have its own capital and maintenance budget;

·         How is feedback from user groups and mystery shoppers monitored?

·         Some leisure centres are heavily used, some under used; is there a way to target users in order to increase usage at some centres and thus achieve a better balance of use?

·         Greater transparency over finance is desirable;

·         More “social return” on investment is wanted. How can the Council see the health benefits of greater activity?

·         Some environmental targets are a cause of concern;

·         Why is the contract being extended now, since the Council did not have to do so until 2019?

·         Please make sure that Cutteslowe is added to the list of wards in the City that face problems;

·         Attendance at the Leisure Partnership Board was beneficial in that much more information was imparted. Could some officers from Fusion attend future scrutiny meetings, perhaps to present a half yearly report?

·         Could the adult/child ration be adjusted on some activities to take account of those people who have three (or more) children?

·         Can we be told when the new Blackbird Leys Swimming Pool will open please?

Responses from Ian Brooke, Lucy Cherry, and Councillor Rowley

·         There is confidence that the Council will have zero cost leisure facilities by 2017;

·         The contract has specific user targets in it, and target user groups have increased since 2009. In addition, concessionary costs have been held since 2009;

·         The social inclusion target was 50/50 with finance – it is important that the leisure service is for everyone.

·         There is robust performance measuring in place and the Council can check Fusion’s “base camp” performance measures twice a day in order to see how things are going and how any maintenance will be done. Fusion reports monthly to the City Council as well;

·         One suggestion is to have an investment review of leisure centres yearly – to see what new ideas there are, to explore what else might be done;

·         Fusion is not shy of making investments, however the Council is often better placed to borrow money at a favourable rate;

·         There are regular inspections of mechanical, electrical and other systems in all buildings, and these are carried out by Zurich;

·         It would be wonderful to even out usage between leisure sites, and the leisure team would welcome any ideas on how this could be done. At present sites show what is available elsewhere so that people might be tempted to venture further afield to try different things;

·         Currently, scoping of the Leisure and Well Being Strategy is underway, and this will go to CEB in autumn;

·         Fusion is very committed to the contract, and it is now desirable to extend it for a further 5 years. If that is done, there is a saving made of £1.5 million over the lifetime of the contract;

·         NNDR and VAT savings are built into the baseline figures;

·         Ian Brooke is happy to feedback to Fusion comments about financial transparency so that this are could be explored to see how this might be achieved;

·         Fusion is looking at the “social return” on investment over a period of time; and Ian Brooke will take away the Committee’s comments on the environmental assessments, transparency of accounts, and the inclusion of Cutteslowe, so that these can be examined;

·         The Leisure Partnership Board is useful, and there is no issue with a representative from Fusion attending the Scrutiny Committee if desired;

·         The observation about parent/child ratios was noted. It isn’t easy to change this, but the concern is understood.

Resolved to:-

(1)  Thank Ian Brooke, Lucy Cherry and Councillor Rowley for their attendance and useful participation at the meeting;

(2)  Note that a report concerning the engagement in leisure of hard to reach groups will be considered in the next scrutiny work programme;

(3)  Note that Ian Brooke would take away comments made by the Committee (such as financial transparency) for further consideration;

(4)  Consider the issue of the inclusion of a Scrutiny Councillor on the Leisure Partnership Board as part of the next scrutiny work programme

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