South Bedfordshire District Council - see also Dunstable & Dunstable Cali-R

Extracts from Leisure Contracts Performance Report to Policy Review Committee 28.2.08 http://www.southbeds.gov.uk/Images/05_Leisure_Contracts_Performance_tcm6-21825.pdf  

Leisure Centres

Other closures were as a result of lifeguard shortages (sickness absence) or pool contamination. The issue of lifeguard shortages has been
raised with Leisure Connection as an improvement measure for 2008. Issues of pool contamination are an occasional, unavoidable
operational hazard for swimming pools, and are promptly addressed by Leisure Connection on each occasion.


During 2007, Leisure Connection received 126 separately recorded issues that are of concern to users of leisure centres.
-Dunstable Leisure Centre recorded 65 comments, mainly relating to cleanliness and maintenance.
-Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre recorded 44 comments, mainly relating to maintenance, programme and lack of café facilities.
-Houghton Regis Leisure Centre recorded 17 comments, relating to anti social behaviour and maintenance.

Survey feedback from users on what improvements they would like to see related principally to changing rooms, sports hall (Dunstable), fitness gyms and staffing. Responses to these issues have been addressed through new changing room lockers being installed, a review of cleaning arrangements, and preparation for renewal of the sports hall floor as part of the Corporate Maintenance Strategy, and installation of new fitness equipment.

Centre users have indicated that the main programming areas they would like to see developed are fitness classes and pool activities. Customers would also like to see more information on centre activities and services being made available, and improvements to reception services. These measures are being progressed through 2008 ...

Catering provision varies at each centre. Due to the need to accommodate a variety of sports and leisure activities, catering opportunities are relatively limited, particularly at Tiddenfoot and Houghton Regis due to their dual use nature. To maximise catering potential, at the beginning of 2007 Leisure Connection entered into a partnership with Crown Catering, a major national catering company, to develop it’s offered catering through a subsidiary, Leisure Xtra. Progress on this to date has yet to have an impact, and is being progressed through service development objectives for 2008.  

(Leisure Xtra was launched in February 2007. How much longer do they need to get up and running to a  standard that comes anywhere near the claims made at that time ? E.g. "Charles Beer, Chief Executive of the Crown Group comments, The Crown Group are delighted to have won the contract at all 75 units and by constituting Leisurextra we are certain of its success." http://www.crowngroup.co.uk/cateringnews/crown-group-extend-their-portfolio-with-leisurextra-m9d18  The main achievement so far seems to be taking an e out of extra. PB)

 Maintenance

...Equipment maintenance also impacts on service provision. Heavy and continual usage does mean that there are inevitable breakdowns, particularly with fitness equipment. During 2007, this became an operational issue during Leisure Connections transition from one equipment supplier to another, and resulted in it being activated as a performance matter for the Council. Rectification has now been made and Leisure Connection has new equipment installed across all centres.

Operational requirements and ongoing maintenance issues in order to maintain and develop the standard of service provided.
(b) During 2008, the Council and Leisure Connection will continue to progress the development of services based on improved systems
of management, operational procedures, continued programme development and customer service. Key aims in relation to this are:
 the completion of operational plan documentation in accordance with contract specifications;
 the completion and implementation of a Catering Plan for leisure centres
 the update of the 25 year Lifecycle and Maintenance Plan
 reduced incidents of closure due to leisure team shortages
 further development of the contractors customer consultation mechanism;
 improved standards and systems of cleanliness
 improved standards of equipment and facility maintenance;
 an improvement in customer satisfaction with levels of cleanliness and maintenance at each centre;
 a formal programming review to include pool and sports hall programming, training and courses;
 identifying and targeting key groups not presently utilising, or able to access leisure amenities;
 integrating safeguarding children safety training into team training programmes;
 a review of swim school class timetables on a term by term basis;
 improved systems of monitoring and recording usage levels, and development of monthly summary reporting; and
 Leisure Connection undertake an external quality assessment each year (Quest). The national average assessment rating is 65 percent. During 2007 Leisure Connection achieved Dunstable 68 percent (up 5 percent on 2006) Tiddenfoot 75 percent (up 1 percent on 2006) Houghton Regis 64 percent (up 1 percent on 2006)
(c) Leisure Connection’s target for 2008 is to maintain and achieve a minimum external quality assurance assessment rating of 65 percent at each leisure centre.
(This looks like a very safe target. Where's the continuous improvement for Dunstable and Tiddenfoot? How about some information for the councillors on the areas Quest identified as less satisfactory? PB)

Grove Theatre

Since opening, the Grove Theatre has received continual positive feedback from users in relation to the quality of the venue, range of programming and customer service by the Theatre Team. (Reading this one might think that there had been no mass petition about LC's running of the Grove. see Cali-R PB)
 

From July 2004 Audit Commission Comprehensive Performance Assessment

Section 68.  "Over three-quarters of a million people use the council’s leisure centres each year, the centres are QUEST accredited and satisfaction with them for 2002/03 was 83 per cent, although the 2004 MORI survey shows only 48 per cent of residents are satisfied with sports/leisure facilities and events overall. But the council does not yet have an approved cultural strategy and although it has increased its spend on the arts, there are no clear measures of the added value or outcomes this has achieved."

From Council Minutes 1.6.04  http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=U&start=10&q=http://www.southbeds.gov.uk/your-council/view_doc.phtml%3Fcsubitemid%3D2146&e=15055 

"In response to a question from Councillor Snelling regarding the staffing levels at the Leisure Centre and the health and safety risks due to staff shortages, Councillor McVicar advised that meetings were being held with Leisure Connection to discuss staffing levels."

Tiddenfoot

from Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre Joint Advisory Group 13.3.03 STANDARD INFORMATION REPORT

7.0 QUALITY MONITORING

7.1 The quality index score from 1st October – 31st January 2003 is 97.35 %. The figure represents 2 failures and 60 concerns on a random checklist produced fortnightly on unannounced visits to the Leisure Centre. The failures represented items on the check sheet that did not conform to the standards in the management contract specification. Concerns represent non-itemised checks that were picked up from the visit or items that were not serious enough to warrant a failure on the checklist.