There was one change of membership for this meeting: Councillor Collett replaced Councillor Greenslade.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2014 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 26 November 2014 were submitted and signed.

The update on actions is attached for the Panel's comments and sign-off of any completed actions.

The Panel received a report of the Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer updating Members on outstanding actions from previous meetings.   It was agreed that a number of the actions could be signed off.

With reference to item PR18 in the report, the SLM Contract Manager explained that price comparison analysis was conducted with competitors to ensure the best prices could be offered.  The Chair asked whether swimming only membership would be considered for the Leisure Centres; the SLM Contract Manager said that this was part of future plans.

With reference to item PR25 in the report, the Partnership and Performance Section Head explained that the current workload for Revenues and Benefits was increasing as a result of significant IT downtime in November and December on both Academy and Anite resulting in 100 more documents outstanding than the same time last year, and because as of October, Revenues and Benefits have been getting data match files from HMRC for pension credits going back up to four years which were identifying significant overpayments from pensions - and not explaining there were occupational pensions; this was new work.  There had also been significant changes to how persons from abroad were treated.  This had meant that these claims had been taking a lot of resource due to having to verify they had been in the country for five years and in paid work. Furthermore, a large number of these claimants were self-employed and had no accounts and this had also added to the workload.

Councillor Hastrick outlined a case where a constituent’s payments had apparently been cancelled within two days but had taken 11 weeks to reinstate.  The Partnership and Performance Section Head commented that this sounded like an exceptional case as reinstatement normally only took 30 days to complete.

Councillor Martins commented that he was a little worried about the increased workload for Revenue and Benefits although he appreciated the work had to be done.  The Partnership and Performance Section Head explained that the matter would be kept under review with further performance information being available in quarter three.  Councillor Joynes asked whether the data would go to the Budget Panel and/or Audit Committee.  The Partnership and Performance Section Head explained it would come to this Panel as it was a performance issue.

With reference to item PR26 in the report, Councillor Counter asked whether the information would go to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee - the Partnership and Performance Section Head said that it would.

With reference to items VE17 and VE18 in the report, Councillor Dhindsa asked whether the accuracy of the data was checked as there were still apparently problems in relation to both of these matters.  Councillor Counter commented that a special disinfectant could be used to remove the odour of cat urine that may help with regard to item VE18. The Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services advised that she would alert the Contract Monitoring Officer to increase inspections in relation to both of those issues and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

The Panel will receive a presentation of the Corporate, Leisure and Community Section Head.

The Panel received a presentation from the Corporate, Leisure & Community Section Head on the monitoring of the SLM contract.  At the conclusion, the Chair asked if there were any questions.

Councillor Dhindsa said that most targets appeared fine and asked how the targets that were not being met by SLM were monitored.  The Commissioning Manager explained that action was taken to establish why the target was not being met and then a plan was developed to resolve the issue.  She was confident that the targets set were realistic and the vast majority were being achieved.   The SLM Area Contract Manager commented that the present contract was drawn up on similar lines to others the company was involved in and having a one percent improvement rate was fair for a contract of this type.  He was confident that the target would be achieved - although if other budget gyms were to open this could have an impact on SLM. 

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services explained that within the contract there were legal solutions if matters went awry.  These included dispute resolution clauses.  She outlined how the contract differed from that in relation to Veolia and explained how default notices could be issued, mediation undertaken and escalation to other processes carried out.

The Chair asked about the process of determination of annual targets.  The Commissioning Manager explained that when the contract was first drawn up a one percent target had been agreed with SLM that was considered realistic.  In the 2014/15 financial year the focus had been on the services provided to 14 to 25 year olds so as to maximise their involvement and throughput in the Leisure Centres. Additionally there were targets to increase total throughput and total membership which would help to increase participation.

The Chair asked how it was known what age groups were making use of the various centres.  The SLM Contract Manager explained that members were issued with ‘Everyone Active Cards’ that were swiped to gain entry to the Leisure Centres and these contained the data that was provided to the Client Team. 

Councillor Dhindsa made reference to the £24 million investment in the contract and wondered whether it was mainly Watford residents who were benefiting - particularly as the Woodside Leisure Centre was located near the area boundary.  The Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services explained that Three Rivers District Council had invested two million pounds in the Woodside Centre and that there was income generation potential from patrons using the facilities from outside of the area.  In response to further questions from Councillor Dhindsa, the Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services explained that there would be further opportunities for profit share of 50/50 in the future and she undertook to find out what the threshold would be to trigger this.

ACTION - Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services

The Panel will receive a presentation by representatives from SLM.

The Panel received a presentation from the SLM Contract Manager, supported by the SLM Operations Manager and General Manager, on the service provision of the SLM Contract.  At the conclusion, the Chair asked if there were any questions.

Councillor Counter asked whether there was an electronic survey device on customer feedback at Woodside Leisure Centre as the one at Central Leisure Centre had proved most useful.  The SLM Contract Manager explained that there was and this was currently located in the Cafeteria - although it was relocated regularly to capture feedback from the broadest range of users

Councillor Counter asked whether there were plans to carry out another customer questionnaire.  The SLM Contract Manager explained that one had recently been conducted and these would be carried out annually with results fed back to the Client Team.  Councillor Counter asked what changes were made as a result of the surveys.  The SLM Contract Manager explained that the main improvements were around cleaning and maintenance (always key issues) where work had been undertaken with the contract teams to enhance services.

Councillor Counter asked whether there would be any value in putting notices in the leisure centres asking people to leave the facilities in the condition in which they were found.  The SLM Contract Manager explained that some notices were already displayed but it was unclear as to whether people actually read them so their value was a little questionable.

The Chair asked why the cleaning figures at Central were not at such a high standard as at Woodside.  The SLM Contract Manager said he was aware that improvements were needed at Central and that changes were being made to address the issues.

Councillor Joynes asked when the ‘Everyone Health’ programme was introduced.  The SLM Contract Manager informed her that this centralised team were set up in March 2014 to work more closely with council’s on SLM’s contribution to the Public Health agenda and had recently won an obesity programme contract elsewhere in the country.  Councillor Joynes asked what qualifications SLM healthcare professionals were required to hold.  The SLM Area Contract Manager explained that these employees had wide experience of working in the field of public health.

Councillor Joynes asked for an explanation of the QUEST accreditation.  The SLM Contract Manager explained that this provided a complete and thorough look at the organisation so all aspects of the business and service delivery were assessed and graded.  This included such processes as ‘mystery shoppers’ who would report back on the level of service they had received.  In effect, QUEST was the industry standard benchmark accreditation for best practice and continual improvement.  He reassured the Panel that it was not simply a box ticking exercise and was more a validation of services as opposed to an assessment. 

Councillor Hastrick asked how people were referred in to the ‘Everyone Health’ programme.  The SLM Contract Manager explained that this was a new healthcare division and their recent contract elsewhere in the country included referrals being made by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

The Committee is asked to consider any conclusions and recommendations following the items on SLM.

These were as follows:

·        The Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services to find out what the threshold for 50/50 profit share was and report to the Panel.

·        The Contract Monitoring Officer to obtain data on leisure centre membership on the basis of age/gender/ethnicity/local resident and report to the Panel.

·        The Corporate, Leisure & Community Section Head to obtain details of the levels/grades of BME staff employed at the leisure centres and report to the Panel.

·        The Corporate, Leisure & Community Section Headto obtain a copy of the annual competency test questions for SLM staff and report to the Panel.

The work programme is attached for Members' information.

Councillors are asked to note that the Parking Service Annual Report is due to be considered by the CPZ Policies Task Group in the first instance.

The Panel has the opportunity to visit Central Leisure Centre and/or the Colosseum.  Councillors are asked to consider these visits.

The Chair introduced the Work Programme.  He explained that the Parking Services Annual Report would be considered by the CPZ Policies Task Group. 

The Panel agreed that a visit to the Central Leisure Centre would be beneficial and to decide whether a visit to the Colosseum would also be useful later in the year (and perhaps be held immediately before an OSSP meeting).

ACTION - Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer