Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health

The committee received a report on a review of the Leisure Services. The purpose of the report is to understand the reasoning behind the closure of some facilities and to identify lessons learned to ensure that the procurement process and any Community Asset Transfers benefit by learning form the Council experience.

A five-stage review has been proposed;

Stage 1

This stage will consider the scope of the report and propose how it will be undertaken detailing the evidence gathering topics and presenters.

Proposal

·           4 September 2023 - Scoping report to Scrutiny Committee presented by A Tickner.

Stage 2

Leisure Evidence may be gathered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee making visits as necessary or inviting persons and organisations to give evidence before it. Relevant Group or Strategic Directors and the Chief Executive will assist the Overview and Scrutiny Committee as necessary.  The evidence gathered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be written up by officers.

Proposal

·         16 October 2023 - To have 3 evidence gathering session as set out below:

·         Evidence of the previous Leisure Services Strategy and its implementation from 2015 to 2023 presented by Lindsay Murray and Michael Lamb.

·         Deep dive into the Leisure Service Financial Performance presented by John Shiel/Jill Bradley

·         Market context, benchmarking and impacts of COVID presented by Andrea Tickner and Michael Lamb.

Stage 3

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee will then meet (as many times as is necessary) to analyse the information gathered and prepare its conclusions.

Proposal

·         27 November 2023 –Interim Report presented by A Tickner

Stage 4

Officers will then prepare a report on the issue based on the views of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Officers will submit this report to the next practicable meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to secure agreement that the report is a fair, accurate and complete reflection of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s conclusions.

Proposal

·         22 January 2024 - Final report to be considered by the Committee.

Stage 5

The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will then present this report to the Cabinet.  The Cabinet may take note of the report, approve all or some of the report’s recommendations or refer the report to full Council or to an Advisory Group for further consultation.

Proposal

• Presented to Cabinet on 20^th February 2024 by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

It was proposed that an invitation was extended to other local authorities in the North East England who have successfully invested in their leisure services. This will help to understand how other local authorities have been successful and compare against where Gateshead has gone wrong, and if there is anything that can be done differently in the future. It was also suggested to invite those people who are interested in the asset transfer to understand their plans for the leisure services and show support as a council.

It was queried if further meetings could be held to accommodate meeting with other local authorities to ensure the same mistakes are not made in another service. It was advised this may delay the procurement process, but this will be looked at to see how further meetings can be incorporated.

RESOLVED:  -            (i) that the information contained within the report be noted.

(ii) that the committee agree the scope, process and timescale as set out in this report.