Agenda item

2016/17 performance review of GLL

To consider the report of the head of waste, leisure, parks and environmental health on the performance of GLL in providing the joint leisure management service in South Oxfordshire and Vale of the White Horse for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 – report attached. 

 

Minutes:

Steve Hercus and Ben Whaymand from the contractor GLL were in attendance.

 

Councillor Charlotte Dickson, portfolio holder at Vale of White Horse; Councillor John Cotton, leader, South Oxford; Chris Webb, Facilities Development Officer (Leisure) and Ian Matten, Interim Head of Waste, Leisure, Parks and Environmental Health attended the meeting.

 

The Cabinet members introduced the performance report which related to the 2016/17 financial year and provided the committee with the details of the performance from GLL in delivering the leisure contract.

 

The scores were based on the review framework used by the councils and these indicated improvements across the scoring criteria which would hopefully lead to an improved overall score in 2017/18.

 

The ongoing relationship between the councils and the GLL team remained strong and there were continuous improvements being made both to the facilities and the standards of service delivered to customers.

 

GLL had recently achieved Quest scores of Excellent for the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre: there were only 17 centres in the country with an excellent score. They had also achieved Quest scores of Very Good for Thame Leisure Centre, Wheatley Park and Abbey Sports Centre. Quest was the leisure industry externally validated scheme which defined industry standards and good practice and encouraged their ongoing development and delivery within a customer-focused management framework. Although these outcomes would be recognised in next year’s report, the preparatory work to achieve those outcomes had been done in 2016/17. This outcome was a good example of the direction being taken across the contract.

 

There had been many examples of service improvements and developments between the councils and GLL in the reporting year, in particular the participation work and health improvement work which ran alongside the more traditional centre based work that GLL provided, which expands the range and activity base of the community with an ultimate aim of getting more people active and healthy.

 

Officers from the council and GLL continue to work to develop the leisure service and next year it was hoped the overall score would be one of excellent.

 

The committee discussed this item and the following matters were raised and responded to by the officers, Cabinet members and the contractor.

 

The divergence between the customer satisfaction (“excellent”) and officer satisfaction (“fair”) was due to the fact that customers were offering a snapshot, based on single visits, whereas officers have a long-term relationship with the contractor and are looking at different, broader criteria.

 

The scoring system used was based on the councils’ corporate system.

 

In order to improve staff retention and development, GLL had undertaken bench-marking of salaries to improve staff retention rates. They had undertaken a significant recruitment of apprentices. There had been supervisory staff training to reduce the attrition of staff.  There had also been recruitment of more mature staff.

 

In order to ensure an accurate assessment of standards, council offiers carried out spot checks at the leisure centres at “odd” hours and without notice. Mystery visits were also carried out by external organisations commissioned by GLL.

 

The committee asked for some examples of GLL’s plans for continuous improvement next year. Examples included: an improved café menu, upgrading services and introducing a customer service office at the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre in Abingdon. Vale Council was also planning to provide astroturf at the Faringdon Leisure Centre.

 

The committee raised some issues relating to specific KPTs (Key Performance Targets):

 

·           KPT 2: “increased total activity visits year on year” had not been achieved due to unplanned closures of the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre pool due to the need for structural works which were identified, and of the refurbishment the gym.

 

·           KPT 9: “Percentage of referrals completing the Healthwise programme (GP referral).” The committee raised concerns about people with mental health issues who had been referred on this scheme. GLL confirmed that front line staff had received additional training as had other staff including first aiders. They were considering introducing bespoke courses for groups of people with compatible referral reasons.

 

·           KPTs 11,12 and 13: “Decreased year on year energy usage (electricity, gas and water)”. GLL had scored Excellent on all three of these KPTs. The committee was reassured that this performance was not attributable to the closure of the pool at the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre.  The measure was in kilowatts per person per visit, so there would have been a reduction in the number of people coming through the door when the pool was closed. New elements of plant had been introduced which meant that energy usage was likely to decrease in the next year.

 

Members of the committee wished to know whether the geographical profile of centre users had been monitored and whether it had decreased since the removal of the Oxfordshire County Council bus subsidies. They also wished to know how this profile could be improved. GLL representatives confirmed that they were able to provide outreach services to village halls etc, for example the “Active Gold” programme. This was being further developed to provide more exciting opportunities.

 

RESOLVED

To accept the officers’ report and to recommend the scoring, including the overall score of “Good”, to the Cabinet members.

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

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