County Borough of Blaenau Gwent s3

COUNTY BOROUGH OF BLAENAU GWENT

REPORT TO: / THE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL
SUBJECT: / SPECIAL SOCIAL SERVICES AND ACTIVE LIVING
SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 11TH FEBRUARY, 2015
REPORT OF: / EXECUTIVE / SCRUTINY OFFICER

PRESENT : COUNCILLOR N.J. DANIELS (CHAIR)

Councillors M.J. Lewis

P. Baldwin

K. Bender

D. Bevan

B. Clements

M. Cross

J.J. Hopkins, Dip.Ed., Dip.Sc., O.St.J.

R. Jones

J. Mason

B. Pagett

Mrs. D. Rowberry

Mrs. C. Tidey

WITH : Head of Children Services

Head of Adult Services

Service Manager for Development & Commissioning

Leisure Services and Facilities Manager

Service Manager - Community Services

Integrated Services Team Manager for Children & Facilities

Service Manager Social Services – Children Services

Corporate Performance Improvement Manager

Chief Accountant of Revenues Services

Head of Financial Services

Scrutiny Officer

AND: Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust

ITEM / SUBJECT / ACTION
WELCOME
The Chair welcomed Members to the Committee and extended a special welcome to Councillor John Hopkins following a recent illness.
No. 1 / APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from
Councillors M. Holland and Mrs. A. Lewis.
No. 2 / DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST AND
DISPENSATIONS
The following declarations of interest were reported and the Members were advised that they could remain in the meeting whilst the item was considered, but took no part in the discussion: -
§  Item No. 6 – Life Leisure Trust Performance Report
Councillors K. Bender & M. Cross
No. 3 / SOCIAL SERVICES AND ACTIVE LIVING
SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
Consideration was given to the Minutes of the Social Services and Active Living Scrutiny Committee held
11th December, 2014, whereupon:-.
Action Point - A Member pointed out that although there were no actions arising from the meeting, an action had been identified under Item 3, i.e. that the Head of Organisational Development pursue a Members’ request in respect of joint political arrangements.
The Scrutiny Officer confirmed that this would be carried out formally as part of a recommendation of a report and confirmed that she would be liaising with the Chair and Vice-Chair in the near future in order to discuss timescales for this report. It was noted, however, that reference had been made to this matter in a previous set of minutes, but undertook to liaise with the Head of Organisational Development with regard to progress.
Apology for Absence – It was noted that Councillor D. Bevan’s apology for absence had not been recorded.
Appreciation – The Chair expressed his appreciation to the Vice-Chair for chairing the meeting in his absence.
Item No. 6 – It was noted that the title of No, 6 should be amended to read Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Changes Following Supreme Court Judgement.
RESOLVED, subject to the foregoing, that the Minutes be accepted as a true record of proceedings. / Scrutiny Officer/
Advisor
No. 4 / ACTION SHEET
There were no actions arising from the Social Services and Active Living Scrutiny Committee held on
11th December, 2014.
No. 6 / ORDER OF AGENDA
It was agreed by the Chair, that Item No. 6 Life Leisure Trust Performance would be considered at this juncture in the meeting.
LIFE LEISURE TRUST PERFORMANCE REPORT
The Chair commenced by extending a warm welcome to Mr. Anthony Hughes, Managing Director of the Life Leisure Trust and Mr. Matthew Perry, Service Manager – Community Services.
Consideration was then given to the report of the Leisure Services & Facilities Manager, which presented performance information to Scrutiny Committee with respect to the Life Leisure Trust.
At the invitation of the Chair, the Leisure Services and Facilities Manager informed the Committee:-
·  That this was the first quarterly performance report to be presented in respect of the newly established Life Leisure Trust and detailed information covering quarter three (October to December 2014).
·  It was intended that all reports from the Life Leisure Trust would remain in the format as agreed and presented to the Trust’s Management Board and would form an appendix to a covering report prepared by the retained leisure officer.
·  It was evident that the Trust was performing relatively well across service areas, however as highlighted within the report further work was continuing with respect to more detailed information on financial data and this information would be provided and addressed within the fourth quarter report which was due to be presented to the Committee in April 2015.
The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust presented the information contained with the Appendix to the report, which gave the first 12 weeks of operation of the new Trust. Three hundred and fifty staff members had transferred across to the new organisation and he commended the staff during this transition process. He stated that a much more commercial approach was being taken from an operational perspective and good practice was being built upon and the performance indicators that were agreed in the 5 year business plan would continue to be utilised.
Percentage of Time Allocation for Use of Public Access ICT Facilities Taken Up by Users
The percentage of time allocated for use of ICT in Libraries had decreased in November and December which related to the problems associated with the age of the People’s Network machines in the service.
The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust informed the Committee that customers’ complaints had highlighted the need to upgrade these facilities. It was noted that these were multi faceted building which were used by a variety of organisations.
Library Issues Per Thousand Resident Population
It was noted that the figures for October to November had improved since the previous year, but had decreased in December which was due to the temporary closure of Ebbw Vale Vale Library for building improvements. However, this facility was due to re-open in March 2015.
Number of Visits to Libraries per Thousand Population
An increase in school visits with regards to the World War One project and various other events had resulted in a higher footfall in November. However, additional work needed to be undertaken to increase visitor numbers further e.g. story-telling events.
Free Swim Initiative
During Autumn 2014, a review of the Free Swim Initiative (FSI) in Blaenau Gwent was undertaken and a new framework was introduced in line with WAG guidelines, which brought the Authority more in line with other Council’s in Wales.
It was noted that there had been a reduction in partner associated programmes delivered in Sports Centres, such as school holiday play schemes and since the introduction of the revised programme, there had been an increase in paying customers attending structured swims such as lane swimming.
The revised FSI programme had in no way reduced the times available for Over 60’s or Under 16’s to visit the pools in each of the Sports Centres. The changes had increased the opportunity for the Trust to function more effectively as a viable business and reduce costs in excess of the grant funding, that was allocated to Blaenau Gwent for the initiative.
Sports Development
The young leader and ambassador programme had continued to grow in strength and success during the autumn term with the Silver ambassadors effectively delivering bronze ambassador training to primary school pupils across the County Borough.
It was noted that one of the platinum ambassadors, Luke Rees had recently been successful in applying for a position on the Youth Sport Trust (UK) Steering Group, which gave young people a voice relating to future delivery of sport throughout the UK. Luke was only the third young Ambassador ever from Wales to be selected to the steering group.
GP Exercise Referral
There had been significant income growth, generated from people signing up to the life card, especially from older people.
Financial Performance
There was an overall positive variance of £27K which equated to 3% of the net budget. Further work was outlined which required to investigate the reasons for variances in individual areas.
Although the members of the trust were extremely satisfied with the progress that was being made, it was noted that with regards to the timeliness of the report there had been insufficient time given to drill into the variances, particularly in relation to finances.
Human Resources
A revised structure had been introduced in order to create a more effective fit of services and improve the monitoring of both the income and expenditure, which comprised of five strategic business units.
It was noted that absence and turnover had continued to remain stable and that new processes including a monitoring group, had been introduced to track both short and long term sickness.
The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust informed Members that sickness and absenteeism was also being looked at with training being provided with regards to the process of reporting illness.
The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust emphasised that staff had been excellent with regards to the transition, and that strong relationships had been maintained with the Authority and the retained Leisure Manager.
Marketing
Key marketing activities had been undertaken to support participation, community engagement, membership sales and income generation.
It was noted that the latter end of 2014 had been a crucial point for the Trust in moving for in moving forward into the New Year and that there had been a significant influx of new processes throughout the Trust and specifically through marketing and communication.
Catering
It was also mentioned that there was excellent news with regards to catering and that there had been a net profit in that area in November.
Members were then given the opportunity to raise questions/comments in relation to the report.
The Chair informed the Committee that this was the first report and that he was mindful of inherent problems.
Removal of Telephones - A Member asked what the policy was with regards to the removal of telephones, as one had been removed from Brynmawr Welfare Ground. The Chair pointed out that this was a grounds maintenance matter, which was now under the remit of the Environment Department. However, the Service Manager – Community Services undertook to pursue the matter and advise the Member accordingly.
Incentive - A Member asked how often the customer base was tracked and was there any incentive. The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust reported that income was linked to sales, was tracked on a weekly basis and that data and dissatisfaction cards were considered every week.
He added that a weekly newsletter, which purely focused on staff, was provided every Friday. With regards to incentive, the system was monitored and individuals praised, although they were not financially mature to give remuneration incentives.
Complaints - A Member asked when a complaint was made, was this followed up by a telephone call or letter. The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust, replied that it was dependent upon the nature of the complaint and added that although Managers should know of the complaint, all staff were encouraged to take ownership.
Abertillery Blues Festival - In answer to a question regarding the Abertillery Blues Festival, the Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust informed the Committee that the event would continue to be held every year, however, it would not be in its traditional format. It was noted that the Trust Board had taken a decision for the event to be community led in the future.
Group Bookings - A Member pointed out that he would have liked to have seen a graph included in the report which showed group bookings for swimming pools as there had been complaints that members of the public could not use the pool and also how much time the public could access these facilities. The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust informed Members that in future he would be happy to include information, with regards to block bookings versus natural throughput.
Information Contained within the Report - The Chair was of the opinion that the report did not contain sufficient detail and should include information which provided comparisons from library to library for example. He added that the Committee would need to see how the facilities performed although he was aware that the financial year was different to that of the Authority. If the organisation was also being driven from a profit perspective it was important to see a breakdown particularly with arts venues of performance by performance. In addition further information was required in terms of marketing.
The Managing Director, Life Leisure Trust pointed out that some of the information shown was provided by the Authority. However, he advised that individual commentary in terms of each facility (i.e. whether a positive or negative variance) could be included in the future reports. In addition, there would be further refined data on a facility basis and work would be undertaken with the Performance Team and retained Leisure Services Officer to refine the report moving forward.
The Chair said that it was important to have understanding of how each of the facilities were performing, in particular the impact on these facilities of the reduction in the management fee, in what areas and what mitigating actions would be put in place to counter balance that reduction and the impact in terms of staff. This information should be included in the report.