Hull Culture and Leisure Annual Report 2018

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Annual Report

2018

Continuing Delivery & Achievement

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Catering

Libraries

Museums www.hcandl.co.uk

CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION

1. Having taken over as Chairman in May this year, I would like to start by thanking my predecessor Terry Geraghty for his significant contributions, not only to the development and operation of HCL, but also for his tireless approach to championing public services. I would also like to thank Dave Craker, John Hewitt and Terry Keal for their past contributions and support for the work of HCL.

2. HCL is now coming up to being four years old, which isn’t that much in the context of local government and increasing financial constraint. Having been formed to help the Council, because of this specific challenge, as things stand prior to the company being set up the Council tax payer contributed 54% towards all the costs of the services HCL now run, whereas this year that contribution will have reduced to 44%.

3. This hasn’t just happened. The HCL Board has overseen significant changes across the organisation and although we have come a long way since inception, the following pages can only ever give a broad taste of the kind of things HCL has delivered in the name of its parent body, Hull City Council.

4. This year started with the formal ending of the City of Culture activities to which HCL contributed some 40% of all that happened and this on the top of its day job and with other new workloads. This significant achievement is worthy of being highlighted, even if it is not actually understood as such by some. The year then ended with us agreeing to a way of working in partnership with the newly formed legacy company, via a jointly agreed memorandum of understanding. I now certainly look forward to seeing what may be mutually achieved from here on in and HCL will seek to play its full part in ensuring that a suitable legacy from 2017 is developed and built upon.

5. It is also worth noting that whilst maintaining service delivery and performance levels, the HCL Board has also reviewed the following key matters to achieve improvements as necessary:

• Continued with the upgrade of IT systems. • Created a joint way of working to prioritise and secure repairs. • Determined a savings programme for 2018 and beyond. • Introduced a new safeguarding policy and audited delivery. • Reviewed all financial issues, income trends, budgets and targets set. • Reviewed and monitored the management of sickness absence and set increased targets.

• Reviewed on an on-going basis all performance issues and set targets.

6. The HCL Board recognises that, against the background of national austerity and ongoing reductions in public sector funding, any budgetary pressures within Hull City Council will likely have an impact on its future operations. It has not proven possible to foresee the financial future of the Council and therefore its ability to maintain an agreed level of subsidy to HCL and so HCL’s operating context is subject to the challenges and risks identified that, in all probability, will continue to change over time and in context.

7. Given this, achieving the required targeted income levels is considered to be our key financial risk going forward and addressing the pressure on income realisation remains the primary focus for HCL. The HCL Board has also determined a number of savings and various income generating activities which has allowed for the achieving of a balanced budgeted position in the financial year.

8. The main uncontrollable risks for the Company remain as:

• The Council not investing in buildings that, over time, may need to be closed for public safety and operational reasons affecting the Company’s ability to secure, on behalf of the client Hull City Council, its required financial and service objectives • Income levels falling in subsequent years. • Unavoidable budget pressures passed on from the Council that may affect the Company’s ability to deliver the current level of service provision as required.

9. In closing, we do not underestimate the on-going challenges that we shall face as a public sector body and I agree with my predecessor, and repeat, that if our greatest only sin is nothing more than keeping key services going then I for one make no apologies for doing so.

Marjorie Brabazon, Chairman, Hull Culture & Leisure Ltd

HCL Board Members: Councillors Peter Allen, Hester Bridges, Nadine Fudge, John Fareham, David McCobb, Rosie Pantelakis, Denise Thompson and Adam Williams.

BUSINESS SERVICES

10. The Business Services directorate comprises of three distinct areas i.e. Catering and Hospitality, Human Resources and Service Support.

11. Catering and Hospitality is responsible for the delivery of commercial catering split into cafés, bars and functions. The service is currently responsible for provision at the Ferens art Gallery, Central Library, City Hall, Ennerdale Leisure Centre, Guildhall, History Centre, Hull New Theatre, the Ron Dearing UTC and the Woodford Leisure Centre. There is also the option to provide external functions and events catering e.g. Maritime Museum, Dock Office Chambers, Costello Stadium etc.

12. At its meeting in October 2018 the ECC, in order to make the additional savings required by the Council, agreed the following changes to catering and hospitality:

• Cease delivery of the coffee cart provision in the BBC building. • Close the café at the Ice Arena on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. • Redevelop the food offer at the Hull New Theatre to maximise the offer and improve the customer experience. • Withdraw from the service provision at the Venue Café in the Guildhall.

13. HCL has successfully delivered on these changes. Trade Union consultation on the above has been undertaken and a revised staffing structure for the café arm has been agreed to and delivered. This affected five staff with mitigations having been put in place via the offer of alternative roles that at the time of writing are expected to reduce significantly if not remove completely the need for any contracts to be terminated.

14. Both major procurement contracts, for food and drinks, are now due for re- tendering and work has commenced to deliver on the service’s on-going focus to secure the best possible financial outcomes.

15. The service is also responsible for the delivery of HR support and advice to management and all employees across the Company. HCL continues to develop and improve its approaches to employee wellbeing and in fact has agreed to a new Well-Being Policy. In addition, HCL has supported the development, finalisation and launch of a Company’s Union Learning Agreement.

16. To ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) a data cleanse of all employee personal files (both current and leavers), the development of electronic personal files (EPFs) and secure data disposal, has been commenced and is underway.

17. With regards to gender pay gap assessment, HCL as a wholly owned company of Hull City Council falls into the category of public sector and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 therefore apply. Based on headcount the position for HCL shows that the % of males employed is 38.8% and females 61.2%, with the 2018 Mean Pay Gap being 1.67% (in favour of males) down from 9.63% in 2017.

18. HCL’s Customer Feedback Scheme, as monitored on a quarterly basis by the Board, provides for compliments, comments or concerns regarding the delivery of services by the Company to be raised in writing, face to face or over the telephone. All concerns are logged and acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt and are to be responded to within 10 working days. An analysis of the feedback received under the terms of the scheme at the mid-point of the current year is detailed below.

More 2nd Quarter Compliments Comments Concerns Detailed Figures Response

Required

Catering 2 2 6 0

Libraries 8 7 7 0

Museums 5 3 4 1

Parks 5 2 18 0

Leisure 10 14 102 15

Theatre and Halls 4 10 140 21

Totals 34 38 277 37

19. In addition to this work, the team has also successfully finalised and launched a Petition Scheme for the Company and is also responsible for the provision of a

full range of administrative support to all areas of the Company and is split into three teams (Cultural Support, Leisure and Parks Support and Business Support).

CULTURAL SERVICES

20. The Cultural Services directorate comprises the delivery of Theatres and Halls, Museums, the Ferens Art Gallery, Heritage Learning and the Hull History Centre. All of the assets including collections and buildings are owned by the Council except in the case of the Ferens where the building and collections are the property of the Ferens Charitable Trust, with the Council as sole trustee.

21. Significantly the Ferens Art Gallery was shortlisted for the Art Fund Museum of the Year Award 2018 and was also “Highly Commended” in the 2018 Museums and Heritage Awards in the category Project on a Limited Budget.

22. All the museums have achieved the Arts Council’s Accredited Status and several of the collections (local archaeology, Wilberforce and local maritime collections) are recognised as ‘Designated Collections’ which is an accolade given only to those of national and international significance. Overall the museum collections number far in excess of one million items, with a very significant monetary value (insured at £130m) as well as an inherent aesthetic value.

23. HCL undertook a staggering additional amount of work in 2017 and it is worth pointing out that:

• Over 900 different activities were completed with at least 229 being over and above what might be considered the business as usual and that for every element of HCL’s programme there was an extensive raft of work involved in design, planning, bidding for funds, scheduling events, undertaking social media, and creating publicity to name but a few related aspects.

• The museums and the Ferens increased their typical exhibition spend for the year from £140,000 to well over £750,000 and the Library Service from £50,000 to over £200,000.

• With 3m plus visits and digital engagement the HCL delivered activities arguable contributed to putting Hull on a national and global map, such as: o Bowhead

o Francis Bacon ‘Nervous System’ o Hull Freedom Quest o Lorenzetti o Reading Rooms o Sea of Hull o Skin in 2017 o The Big Malarkey Festival o Weeping Window

24. For example, feedback received regards the Weeping Window (poppy exhibit) from 14-18 NOW in December last stated that Hull was far and away the most visited site outside of the Tower of London itself, with 566k visits to the sculpture alone, with 55% attending who had never been to the museum before, and a recognition that HCL successfully engaged new audiences and increased awareness, understanding and relevance of the First World War. Significantly it was reported that HCL had secured a younger and more diverse audience than other venues.

25. Two of Hull’s key performing arts and entertainment venues, Hull New Theatre and the Hull City Hall are operated and managed by HCL on behalf of Hull City Council and have received significant external recognition with:

• Hull New Theatre achieving the REYTA Awards Highly commended in Remarkable Visitor Attraction/Experience at the REYTA Awards. • Hull New Theatre achieving the Welcome To Yorkshire White Rose Awards finalist in Arts & Culture Award. • Both Hull City Hall and New Theatre achieving the external Customer Service Excellence award alongside Leisure

26. Financially HCL continues to over achieve on its theatre income targets that has allowed for the funding of additional improvement work to Hull City Hall. Additionally, the service contributes to the Visitor Welcome provision successfully operating at Paragon Station via the staff group in Theatres and Halls.

27. Fundamentally, among a host of related matters, HCL’s priority position remains to continue to:

• Create, present and promote a strong diverse, well-balanced and financially viable annual programme of performing arts and entertainment events of the highest quality.

• Develop new audiences with specific focus on young people and disadvantaged or underrepresented communities by removing barriers to attendance and/or participation.

28. The Hull History Centre partnership vision is “…to make history available to all, for research, for learning & for leisure, & to inspire interest in the City of Hull, its significant past, present & future.” The partnership is administered by HCL and successfully acquires archival collections, provides access to the collections and professional advice on their use, promotes the use of our local history to inspire interest in the history of Hull and has raised public understanding of the importance of archives. Despite having a limited, albeit active, engagement programme the History Centre has become an Accredited Archive Service, as administered by The National Archives. This recognises the good performance in all areas of archive service delivery that is undertaken.

29. Heritage Learning manages and delivers creative and cultural learning programmes across the various cultural sites and yet again this year has managed to be a self-funding arm of HCL generating all of its own operational costs through traded activity. The service is designed to bring a museum, gallery or archive visit to life for school aged pupils, showcasing Hull’s collections, enabling pupils to get hands on and up close.

30. The team enabled 39k+ school aged learners to visit Hull’s Heritage Services, and deliver direct face to face learning programmes and experiences to 20,088 youngsters up to the age of 16 years. It has won external recognition for its work including national awards for excellence for ‘Education Initiative’ 2017 ( a Hull Curriculum Project) and the ‘Project on a Limited Budget’ 2018 (Exploring Galleries for the under 5’s) and the Sandford Award 2018 (an independently judged, quality assured assessment of education programmes at 500 heritage sites, museums, archives and collections across the British Isles).

31. The team also carry out dedicated work with young people aged 18-25, managing the award winning ‘Future Ferens Programme’ is attracting young people who help to attract their peers. These volunteers act as a focus group for programme development and new acquisitions. The group also works more practically with curatorial staff to curate exhibitions and organise events.

32. As part of the City Plan’s “Destination Hull” ambitions i.e for the city to become a world class visitor destination, the Hull Yorkshire Maritime City project is about both preserving and promoting the city’s key maritime assets. These being the Hull Maritime Museum and Collections, Dock Office Chambers, the North End

Shipyard on Dock Office Row and two historic vessels, the Arctic Corsair and Spurn Lightship.

33. HCL plays a full role in contributing to this work. HYMC has its origins within the museum service recognising there is a vast untapped potential of Hull’s maritime collections and history. The discussions about HYMC as a concept have in reality been taking place between HLF (Yorkshire and Humber) and the Director of Cultural Services for over twelve years. The Maritime museum and its collections have been highlighted as a priority for investment since the museums forward plan of 2005 but given the expectations of the world during 2007 and the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire around Wilberforce House and the journey towards city of culture over the following seven years, the opportunity never quite arose until more recently.

34. HCL have been central to the development of the concept in its widest sense along with the HYMC stage 1 bid and the subsequent round two development work. The HCL team have in the main worked on the overarching framework of the proposal ranging from buildings to collections with wide ranging consultation, PR, Audience Development, collections work, working with designers and architects to develop the specific site by site proposals as well supporting the major projects team in the development of a realistic programme. Staff currently involved in the project range from two exceptional young interns through collections assistant, conservator, curator, audience engagement manager and the Director.

35. HCL is shaping and contributing to all aspects of the project from the overarching strategy around delivery of this step change in delivering a legacy from city of culture through to the nature of operation of the new attractions such as North End Shipyard.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

36. The Financial Services directorate provides day-to-day recording, analysis and interpretation of the company’s financial transactions, it also leads on liaising and managing the relationship with auditors and the undertaking of health and safety audits and periodic reviews to ascertain compliance with the company’s Health and Safety Policy and procedures

37. The directorate prepares the Company’s financial statements in accordance with applicable laws and regulations for consideration by the Company Directors and

keeping reporting standards under review and recommending any amendments to accounting policies.

38. Beyond working with services to prepare the company’s budgets and accurate forecasts and to report on the financial standing of the company, the service monitors reported variances and the impact on outturn; advising on proposals for mitigating action and in addition leads on:

• Cash flow management • Controlling expenditure on repairs and maintenance and utilities in HCL occupied premises. • Maintaining appropriate controls to safeguard assets and prevent and detect fraud or other irregularities. • Strategic financial planning and analysis, including advising on the taxation impact of proposed plans and strategies and developing meaningful, usable and comparable financial information. • Managing the computation, statutory reporting and payment of the Company’s taxation commitments • Financial risk management

39. The HCL Board receives comprehensive reports on finance and savings options and has held a special meeting dedicated to financial matters. The HCL Board continues to review ways to improve income. HCL has previously completely rebased all its budgets to reflect out-turn spending levels and in 2018 has undertaken a significant review to allocate all overheads and costs to the various service areas and sites. This provides the Board with an on-going comparable basis for its strategic decision making.

40. In the case of both the operating contract and agency agreement taken together HCL has, as required effectively saved the Council funding as required. As shown below, the Council proportionate spend on the services managed by HCL has reduced since the inception of the company.

HCC Management Fee as Operating Agency Fee Total % of all income. Contract

2017/18 42% 61% 44% 2016/17 49% 76% 51% 2015/16 52% 68% 54%

41. In addition to this reduction in the management fee as paid to HCL, the Company also covers increases in national insurance, inflation and pay awards. In the last two years HCL has achieved underspends that have repaid the balance from trading losses in the first year. The Company retains income generated from the parks service along with all secondary income relating to the theatres and halls.

42. Whilst expenditure on theatres and halls has increased in year this has been more than offset by additional income above target of over £400k in 2017/18 that in part is being used to upgrade the City Hall.

43. HCL has also invested in gym equipment at Woodford (£160k) and in previous years to the cycle track (£314k) and City Hall kitchens (£364k).

44. HCL continues to pursue external funding to support additional services and to reduce the financial stress on the Council’s management fee. At outturn for 2017/18 against a total spend of £18.3m HCL had successfully secured 56% of its spend via income from external bodies (£3.4m) and fees and charges (£6.8m).

45. HCL’s accounts for 2017/18 have been independently audited and published with an under spend of £94k having been confirmed. In year, HCL expects to deliver its spending on target again and as at December 2018 there is a projected small overspend of £62k (equivalent to 0.36% of gross spending) but with a significant surplus on the Theatre and Hall ticket income remitted direct to the Council.

46. The Board also considers reports from the Council’s Internal Audit Services on a regular basis that highlights the outcomes to audit work, provides information about the ongoing implementation of actions and details proposed future audit work. The current position is that the Parks and Gardens follow up audit provides an Adequate rating with a Theatres and Halls audit (expected completion January 2019) but provisionally assessed as Adequate, with only 8 moderate and 3 low levels action due for completion overall.

47. The HCL Board prioritises all health and safety matters and receives regular reports and updates. HCL continues to audit and review related issues at every site under its operational responsibility, covering:

• Asbestos Control • Communication, Consultation • Competence, Training

• Confined Space • Control of Records • Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) • Data Control • Documentation • Display Screen Equipment (DSE) • Electricity at Work • Emergency Response • Fire Management • First Aid • Fuel Storage • H&S Objectives • H&S Policy • Implementation & Operation • Incident, Investigation • Inspections / Maintenance • Insurance • Internal Audit • Legal & other Requirements • Legionella • Lifting Equipment (LOLER) • Management Review • Manual Handling • Noise • Occupational Health & Safety Management Programmes • Operational Control • Performance Measurement & Monitoring • Personal Protective Equipment • Pressure Systems • Risk Assessments and Risk Control • Safe Working Procedures • Structure & Responsibility • Vibrating Tools • Waste • Work Equipment (PUWER) • Working at Height • Workplace Safety and Welfare

48. In addition, the directorate generates reports for the HCL and HCC client on health and safety and information covering RIDDOR reportable incidents,

incident statistics and trends, H&S audits and immediate notification of any RIDDOR incidents.

49. The directorate also provides regular reports covering repairs and maintenance issues including spend to date, a review of properties with highest repairs and maintenance cost, review of key repair and maintenance issues noted, review of utilities costs and annual comparisons.

50. As matters stand in 2018 and arising from the work undertaken, the total number of reported incidents is continuing on a downward trend that has been reported previously and when compared to the same period last year there is a small increase in the number of reported near hits and an increase in reports of property damage. No specific trends at venues have been identified.

LEISURE SERVICES

51. The Leisure Services directorate comprises managing the Council’s built leisure facilities, parks’ day to day operational management via the Ranger Service (including pitches and play areas), sports development and marketing, as well as also being responsibility for strategic leisure advice and the physical activity strategy working in partnership with the Council.

52. HCL continues to offers a range of programmes, events and activities including:

• 80+ Weekly Fitness Classes • 90+ outdoor play areas, water play, skate parks, fishing lakes, pitches, pavilions, courts. • A variety of fitness membership packages and concessions. • After school swimming lessons. • Animal education and conservation activities. • Education swimming lessons • Facilities for club usage (e.g. Football, Rugby, Ice Hockey, Swimming, Martial Arts, Athletics, Archery, Ice Skating, Roller Skating). • Free swimming for juniors in the school holidays. • Grant funded programmes targeting hard to reach and inactive groups and individuals. • Holiday programmes including free and promotional activities. • Learn to skate lessons. • Outdoor and indoor event spaces.

• Staff Referrals linked to sickness management • Tailored gym programmes and health referrals

53. The service was again successful in achieving an external award for Customer Service Excellence. More specific credit was obtained from the Royal Life Saving Society who awarded Ennerdale staff a Certificate of Commendation and Albert Avenue staff a Certificate for Meritorious Action, for saving the lives of a customer at the sites both of whom have thankfully gone on to make a full recovery.

54. In addition to the Council spending of £8m at Woodford, HCL invested in new fitness gym equipment providing 100 stations (a 50% increase on the previous position) and with an adjacent virtual studio with the largest screen in the UK. This immersive studio has 30 spin cycles and special lighting effects that allows customers to work out to an endless supply of different quality video led classes, currently one every hour all day every day. Further HCL has delivered:

• Thirteen traditional coached fitness sessions. • Six water based aqua classes with 7,000 users of all ages using both pools. • A dedicated functional training area. • A cardio area full of the latest internet enabled machines and an area for traditional weight training.

55. HCL consider what has been done at Woodford as being the best possible model for future provision (combining wet and dry provision) that has directly resulted in an increase in fitness memberships, now over 6000 compared to a previous low three years ago of under 3000. Approximately 40% of memberships from across the service are attributed to customers at Woodford Leisure Centre. The new fitness gym has had 50,000 customer visits since opening, the junior gym sessions are very popular and always full, and the centre as a whole has seen the highest number of customer visits on record, with approximately 43,000 customer visiting Woodford in August alone.

56. A new marketing and customer retention team has been introduced to focus on income generation and keeping customers with us and create improved branding and social media presence. Also a new online booking system, as part of the HCL website, has been developed and introduced. Taken together these initiatives are starting to see improvements in income as a result,

57. The Animal Education Centre, significantly having achieved zoo licence status, is now developing an updated education and conservation programme.

58. Working with the Council’s Public Health team and the County Sports Partnership (Active Humber) HCL has delivered a key contribution to the development of a new Physical Activity Strategy for Hull that translates national policy and strategy to a local level with a 10 year vision of empowering, enabling and supporting communities and individuals of Hull to be more active.

LIBRARY SERVICES

59. The Library Services directorate provides a range of services to support Hull residents for them to enjoy culture and learning and to fulfil their potential covering lending, reference materials, inter-library loans and home library provision. In addition, the services also provides and has successfully delivered the following:

• A Business and Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) being one of only 10 UK BIPCs and one of only 15 Patent Libraries providing specialist information advice and guidance on business start-up and growth.

• Language and Literacy service as a national partner of the Bookstart Programme running 15 Under 5s sessions each week that focus on encouraging a love of reading and learning.

• The Hull Schools Library Service is a self-financing subscription based service to schools providing schools with annual loan collections of resources, termly themed project boxes, class read collections, Information Retrieval Skills training and workshops, staff and volunteer library, literacy and computer system advice and training, Chatterbooks training, author visits and reader development support.

• The Humber regions first Makerspace, providing individuals, groups and businesses with access to a vast range of tools, equipment and expertise from simple hand tools to a CNC machine, 3D printers and kilns. It facilitates ‘making’ in all fields and at all levels.

• The Prison Library Service, managed on behalf of HMP Hull, providing research facilities and reading materials for prisoners and opportunities for prisoners to improve their literacy and maintain contact with their families through projects such as The Family Book Share.

60. Following the operational relocation of Holderness Road Library to the East Park Pavilion, the directorate has led on the development of a new library strategy (due to report in 2019) as referenced in the City Plan as follows ‘Through a joint initiative between HCL and James Reckitt Library Trust, a vision of building a new, architecturally-inspiring, reconceptualised library offer and developing new and innovative ways of delivering library services in communities throughout the city.’

61. Funding has successfully been secured from Arts Council England for The Tool Appreciation Society, The Big Malarkey Festival (for 2018, 2019 and 2020), the Traces exhibition by Debi Keable, Makerspace Hull and the service is now currently submitting a bids for additional exhibition activities.

62. The James Reckitt Hull Children’s Book Awards consisting of two annual awards, one for Key Stage 2 and one for Key Stage 3 was delivered in year. Shortlisted titles are sent out to schools and the writers brought to Hull to spend time talking to children about writing and reading and encouraging them to do more. It is the children themselves who determine the winner of the awards.

63. A summer reading challenge was again held whereby children read 6 books over the summer holiday with the aim of preventing the dip that occurs in reading attainment over the summer. The Challenge is supported by an out of school activity programme in every library and over 130 events were held during the summer break of 2018 with over 2,0000 children completed the challenge.

64. One legacy project from Derry-Londonderry (2013) that was brought to Hull in partnership with The Verbal Arts Centre and Hull 2017, is Reading Room. Funding has been secured to continue the programme which is very simple in structure but very powerful in the way it helps individuals , and to extend our work with housebound residents to combat loneliness with our new programme Forever Young.

65. Funding has also been secured to continue to develop the Untold Hull archive which aims to collect the stories of the people of Hull.

66. The Big Malarkey Festival was first held during Hull’s reign as UK City of Culture and was highly successfully put on again in 2018. The Library Service has secured funding to run it again in 2019 and 2020 but also to establish the festival as an annual event in Hull’s calendar

67. The Library Service has partnered with Wrecking Ball Press to produce and host Lyricull, a festival of British song writing and is a key partner in the Humber Mouth Literature Festival and the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Festival.

68. Further work has been undertaken by the directorate to deliver:

• Get It Loud: To bring up and coming bands to hold gigs in the library attracting a younger range of attendees. • Learning Programme: The Library Service provides a programme of digital literacy sessions, job search support and other learning opportunities. • Reader Development: Many events are delivered with writers, illustrators and storytellers with a view to get people reading more. • Reading Well: A national programme that helps people to maintain good mental health using reading materials to support them. The reading materials have all been validated by health professionals. • UKVI: this is data collection and document verification services for people applying for UK visas.

CROSS DIRECTORATE DELIVERY

69. Apprenticeships: HCL is in the process of applying to become an Apprenticeship training provider specialising in the Cultural Sector. AIM, the qualification awarding body for apprenticeship qualifications, when externally verifying HCL’s delivery found excellent work being undertaken with areas of good practice observed. HCL has also reviewed all job roles across the company in which teaching and assessment functions can be incorporated to create apprentice opportunities and has identified the necessary support service requirements.

70. Corporate Parenting : HCL has worked with the Council and successfully delivered a programme of support for young people in care and leaving care, contributing to the Council’s role as corporate parents. This covers:

• Access to offers made by theatre promoters. • Giving access to the different resources and facilities HCL has ranging from general reading materials and computers to more specialist work e.g. Business and Intellectual Property; The Makerspace; Music Library; courses etc. • Guaranteed interviews for all care leavers for apprenticeships as they arise.

• Offering guaranteed interviews for pre-agreed vacancies (e.g. scale 1, 2 posts) to those who successfully complete a pre-determine course and placement. • Providing classes for application and CV writing skills, interview technique, mock interviews for actual jobs, work place etiquette etc. • Providing discount membership cards for sporting activities. • Seeking to secure job opportunities with HCL’s external partners.

71. Environment and Sustainability : HCL has reviewed and delivered on a new Sustainability Policy and has recently submitted an ERDF bid to provide services to small and medium enterprises that support and encourage innovation and investment in research and development. The newly delivered approach makes clear the Company’s intention to reduce its impact on the environment by:

• Promoting responsibility for the environment within the organisation. • Communicating and implementing the policy at all levels • Reducing the use of energy, water and other resources. • Minimising waste through reduction, re-use and recycling methods. • Complying with all relevant environmental legislation and regulations. • Incorporating environmental factors into business decisions.

72. IT and Systems : HCL has worked in partnership with HCC to develop and successfully deliver a new look website that went live in March 2018 providing a clean and modern design that is easier to navigate and which has generated increased use. In addition:

• A new online booking and memberships system for leisure facilities has been successfully implemented. • The Makerspace in Hull Central Library has been successfully delivered to provide (amongst other elements) the latest design technology and equipment such as 3D printing. Film and VR technology is now available and WiFi capacity has also been significantly improved as part of the project. The Library Service has also introduced tablets and ipads for people to use for research purposes in the Reference Library along with Wifi printing. • Work has commenced to update the software used to manage the collections in its archives, libraries and museums and a new website is to be created to provide improved access to the museum catalogue.

73. Property Investment : In partnership with the Council’s Major Projects and Property Services teams, and with NPS, plans are well advanced to further invest in facilities and work continues to ensure the successful delivery of the various

site upgrades. This will build on the successful delivery of the improvements to the Woodford Leisure Centre that reopened in May 2018 and will include works to upgrade City Hall and replace the defective Central Library roof. HCL’s contribution is primarily at the preparatory and design phases prior to leading on recommissioning if a site has had to be closed or ensuring access and safe site management when temporary closure is not necessary and ensuring that essential health and safety requirements are in place on the reopening of any changed facility.

74. Safeguarding : In May 2018 HCL completed a review of its approaches and practices relating to safeguarding. Undertaken by an independent safeguarding specialist, this involved visiting a selection of staff team meetings and carrying out a staff survey. This exercise has confirmed that staff feel they understand why safeguarding is important and know how to make a referral, or who to speak to for advice and guidance on any matter. As a result HCL’s Safeguarding policy has been updated. The changes made are summarised as follows:

• A company inbox has been set up [email protected] and a process of confidentially recording all cases that are referred or encountered will be established. • A referral route for vulnerable adults has been added. • An end of year annual review will be carried out, using the data collected through record keeping and any other relevant information with the aim of learning lessons and continual review of the policy. • Three safeguarding Champions have been introduced to support the Safeguarding Lead to provide comprehensive cover for staff enquiries and advice. • Training for staff will be clarified, and this work is ongoing to identify suitable training courses.

75. Staff Attendance : HCL Board monitors the management of sickness quarterly and has set a high target rate of 97% for attendance. In 2017/18, attendance was just under target at 96.89% but which represented an improvement of 0.39% on the previous year. At the mid-year point of the current year attendance was 96.99%.

76. Targets and Performance : The company service performance is monitored through the levels of participation measured by visitor numbers against a specific target as set by the Council and HCL Board. The latest position for visitor numbers, as reported at December 2018, is as follows:

Visits: Client Target Current Projected

City Hall & Hull New Theatre 325,000 224,877 337,316 Hull Museums 732,000 470,203 699,616 Leisure Facilities* 980,000 737,912 1,106,868 Libraries 940,000 694,014 1,001,021 Totals 2,652,000 2,127,006 3,144,821 *Excludes visits to Parks.

77. For context, in in the last financial year 3.48m visits were recorded, against a target of 3.240m (set to reflect the opportunities of 2017) representing an over achievement of 7%. HCL is on course to meet the overall visitor performance targets (given the so called “new normal” post 2017) perhaps by as much as 18%, albeit the actual number of visits is projected to fall by circa 9%.

78. In addition, the HCL Board set targets for satisfaction levels in key areas of provision. Overall very high ratings are being achieved against what are very high target expectations as shown below:

Satisfaction Levels: Target 2017-18 Actual to December 2018 Actual date

City Hall and New Theatre 95% 96% 97%

School Users Museums 90% 98% 100%

Catering Venues 90% 91% 82%

Leisure Facilities 98% 98% 95%

Parks Management* 80% 80% 90%

Libraries 94% 90% 99%

*Baseline target figure as set by HCC pre formation of HCL.

SUMMARY

79. Generally, HCL continues to deliver on its financial and operational targets and has successfully continued to deliver on reductions in the Council’s management fee.

80. The HCL Board takes into account three key elements in measuring the company’s success and sustainability (i.e. finances, performance, people) and in doing so the Directors have stated that they have no reason to believe that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt about the ability of HCL to continue as a going concern or its ability to continue with the current banking arrangements.

81. The HCL Board continues to seek to improve all offers to the public and its paying customers, to generally improve the customer experience by giving practical effect to seeking to improve life chances for people by providing high quality, affordable and accessible opportunities for cultural and physical activity.

82. Given the above, HCL’s primary focus remains to:

“Provide quality, affordable and accessible opportunities in the most efficient and economical way possible, operating within the financial envelope provided by the Council and to seek to reduce our management fee by achieving greater income through improved commercial offers and better costs effectiveness.”

Hull Culture & Leisure Ltd, Dock Office Chambers, New Cross Street, HULL HU1 3DU