There was a change of membership for this meeting; Councillor Bolton replaced Councillor Cavinder.

The Chair advised that he was a member of Woodside Leisure Centre.  Previously it had been advised by the Head of Democracy and Governance that such a membership was not a pecuniary advantage and as such did not mean that he had to leave the room.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2016 to be submitted and signed.

Copies of the minutes of this meeting are usually available seven working days following the meeting.

(All minutes are available on the Council’s website.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2016 were submitted and signed.

Report of the Corporate, Leisure and Community Client Section Head

Following their tour of the facilities, the Scrutiny Committee is asked to review the progress of the contract.

The Panel began by reflecting on the tour they have undertaken of Central Leisure Centre and agreed that it had been worthwhile.

The representatives from SLM introduced the presentation by providing councillors with an overview of the company and its success in running leisure centre services. They also gave an overview of the recent history of the sites and the issues faced in the market.

They presented the 2015-2016 annual report for Watford citing statistics around the increased usage, health and safety and the staff employed in the centres.

The Corporate, Leisure and Community Section Head underlined the social value of the contract and the large number of people employed in the supply chain locally.  He agreed to provide an updated version of the Leisure Centre Overview to the Panel when it was available.

There was a discussion about the employment status of the staff and it was underlined that SLM did not use zero hour’s contracts and staff received a living wage.  A number of apprentices were employed by SLM.  It was noted that the table in the Annual Report showing details of the colleagues employed needed to be reviewed; the Panel asked to receive an amended version.

Councillors reviewed the health and safety statistics and the SLM representatives explained that an accident reduction plan was in place, there was often a spike in reporting after staff received additional training.

Central Leisure Centre and Woodside Leisure Centre had received ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ respectively in the Quest external accreditation for leisure facilities. These were significant achievements and SLM staff provided further details of scores for the respective categories to the Panel.

The Panel discussed the levels of complaints and compliments. Representatives from SLM gave details of the systems in place to encourage and record feedback.  Some examples were given for reasons why there could be an increase in complaints, such as cancellation of classes and the recent flood at Woodside.  They described the escalation process and the strict time limits on responses in the new customer feedback system.  Officers underlined that there had been approximately 450 complaints out of 1.2 million visits.

The Panel’s attention was drawn to the complaint escalation process and it was emphasised that this was the best way to address issues faced by users.

Following questions about how SLM worked with health providers, the Panel were provided with details of the exercise referral scheme which doctors could prescribe for their patients locally.  Another example of working in the community was that SLM offered health MOTs to the employees of large companies as well as corporate day packages.

Panel members asked about how the maintenance of the centres was carried out.  It was confirmed that local tradesmen were used where possible and that handymen were also employed.  Measures to increase the energy efficiency of the centres remained a priority including the recent installation of LED lights.

Following a question about the provision of female-only swimming sessions, the Corporate, Leisure and Community Section Head agreed to bring back  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Partnerships and Performance Section Head

The Panel is asked to note and comment on the performance of the identified outsourced service indicators at the end of quarter 1 (2016/17).

                                                                                    Chair

                                                                                    Outsourced Services Scrutiny Panel

              The meeting started at 7.30 p.m.

              and finished at  9.20 p.m.