Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the head of economy, leisure, and property. 

The Cabinet member for economy, leisure and property, Councillor Elaine Ware, attended the committee to answer questions and to assist in the discussion of this item. Also present were: Chris Webb, Facilities Development Officer; Kate Arnold, Leisure Manager, Dave Rolls Active Nation contract manager, David Johns Active Nation Regional Manager, John Bates National Business Development Manager DC Leisure. DC Leisure/Active Nation is the contractor responsible for the Vale of White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre.

The chairman invited Councillor Dudley Hoddinott to ask his four questions on Dimension 2, customer satisfaction which is on page, 13, paragraph 18 of the agenda.

Question: Since every lost call is potentially a lost booking, how will the upgrade of the telephone system prevent lost calls, lost bookings and potentially lost income?

Question: At peak times can calls, if unanswered for a given time, be transferred to additional staff who do not normally answer telephone calls?

Question: How willing and “customer friendly” are any other staff to answer telephone calls at peak times?

Question: Has any trial been undertaken to see how well additional staff answer telephones at peak times?

Answer: There is a new online booking service which will assist in reducing the pressure on the telephone system. There will also be a new phone system in place from 11/12 September 2012 which will filter calls and divert them to the correct department. It will also be connected to a voicemail service and will notify the correct department by email.

The Scrutiny Committee considered the report of the head of economy, leisure and property and discussed it in detail, including asking questions directly of the cabinet member, council officers and representatives of DC Leisure/Active Nation. The responses were as follows:

• There has been improved data capture at the leisure centre, assisted by the issue of Active Nation cards. There has also been development of key activities and the combination has led to a significant improvement in attendance of total visits to the centre (12.1 percent). This compares favourably with other areas of the country. This is one of the better performing centres with people staying longer per visit as well as more visits.
• The new telephone system will provide statistics on all calls, both successful and failed which the current system does not do. It will also monitor the time between messages being left and being responded to.
• There have been a very small percentage of complaints during the year. Where there are complaints, the respondents feel that Active Nation staff have been exemplary in their follow up and resolution.
• Customer satisfaction with the centre has been “fair”. DC Leisure/Active Nation were pleased that the score had risen since last year, but were disappointed not to have received “good”. They will be working towards this in the coming year. Officers felt that “fair” was an appropriate reflection of customer feedback but also pointed out that the leisure centre provided a very wide range of activities and that it serviced a discerning customer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39