Agenda item

Further scrutiny of the Leisure Management Contract arrangements following on from the cabinet referral of the ‘Leisure Management Contract – Post Covid Review and Management Arrangements’ report considered at the July Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

Note:  The report relating to this item is due to be considered by cabinet at its meeting on 20 October 2020.  The agenda for that meeting is due to be published on Monday 12 October.  The report will be circulated to overview and scrutiny committee members following publication of the cabinet agenda.

Councillor Catherine Rose, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Environment and Roads introduced the report.  The committee also heard from Rebecca Towers, Director of Leisure.

The following issues were raised by members during the discussion and responded to by the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Environment and Roads and the Director of Leisure:

·  Request made by OSC to have sight of the Gateway 0 report scheduled to be considered by Cabinet in spring 2021 (ahead of cabinet consideration).

·  Observations made that recommendations to cabinet were just for ‘noting’ as opposed to positively making decisions.  Practical impact is that end up in the position where constantly renegotiating contract all the way up to 2023 in what is a significant decision.  Concern raised over governance and transparency.

·  Appearance in the report that free swim and gym is being put on the negotiating table with everyone active (paragraph 4).  Concern expressed over this manifesto commitment which has been delivered and should be considered non-negotiable.

·  Query over analysis and options appraisal - issue over whether there should be a closed session at OSC to enable discussion of closed/commercially sensitive information due to contract negotiations.

·  Challenges over contract even before Covid-19, question over whether should be bringing in house or considering other options before 2023.

·  Implications of moving to tier 2 and 3.

·  Committee members expressed difficulty in conducting scrutiny of the issue without information on the risk and benefits for the different options and not having access to the closed information.

RESOLVED:

1.  Overview and scrutiny committee recommends that cabinet consider again, the long timescales involved in continuing the contract with the current provider post April 2021 until its expiry in 2023, and makes it clear that arrangements for leisure provision may well change in advance of that date, including the preferred option of in-house provision.

2.  Overview and scrutiny committee recommends that cabinet also makes clear a commitment to the continued offer of Free Swim and Gym and states that this is not a negotiable element in discussions with the current contractor.

3.  Overview and scrutiny committee recommends that cabinet carries out another evaluation of this contract in April 2021, as we run the risk of just funding the current service until 2023 without getting value for money for the council and our residents.