Agenda and minutes

Proposed by Councillor Nawaz, seconded by Councillor Gowler and resolved that Councillor Mrs Davis be elected Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the Municipal Year.

Proposed by Councillor Mrs Davis, seconded by Councillor Nawaz that Councillor Sennitt Clough be elected Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the Municipal Year.

It was further proposed by Councillor Booth, seconded by Councillor Roy that Councillor Gerstner be elected Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the Municipal Year.

Following a vote, Councillor Sennitt Clough was elected as Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the Municipal Year.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 04 March 2024

The minutes of the meeting of 4 March 2024 were confirmed and signed.

Members to receive an update on the previous meeting’s Action Plan.

Members considered the update on previous actions.

Councillor Booth requested time to read through the answer given to the Clarion question before commenting further.

Presentation attached

Councillor Mrs Davis welcomed Matt Wickham, Andy Harris and, Dan Palframan from Freedom Leisure together with Phil Hughes and Councillor Miscandlon to the meeting.

Members considered the Freedom Leisure Operating Contract Annual Report which was shared in the form of a presentation. 

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough asked based on the current operational model and the hopefully positive impact of improvements across the three Leisure Centres, how confident are they of the financial viability of the centres going forward? Matt Wicken responded now that the company has come through Covid there has been support from Fenland District Council, Sport England and through Central Government’s general support funds phase one for swimming pools, which was received last year, which has put Freedom Leisure into a position above the forecast shown on the presentation just given. He stated that this has put the company on track on an annual basis which gives a positive platform to work on, there is always opportunities to do things better and opportunities for growth which are being looked at as the figures still show there is a drop in membership compared to the figures pre-Covid, with there being lots of reasons for that, people are walking and running in open air more now as this was something they could do during the Covid period and there is a lot more competition that has opened up with personal trainers offering one-to-one services. Matt Wicken added there are opportunities arising in the company looking at GP referrals, which is a market which is relatively untapped, corporately there has recently appointed a Head of Healthy Communities and her focus will be working on those harder to reach groups as studies show only a certain amount of the population commit to physical activity which can add up to 80% of the population to reach out to. He continued that there is a budget in place which shows some contracts are working well but equally some contracts do need addressing but corporately and locally the company is confident with the financial position.

·         Councillor Mrs Davis stated she would like to pick up on the comment about not being back to the pre-Covid level of membership for the gym, which does feel concerning as many other private gyms are stating their businesses are doing well, and asked is there an overall theory on why this is? Matt Wicken responded since Covid there has been a lot more personal trainers starting up their own business, offering personal training sessions for customers that potentially do not want to come into a big environment anymore, and there are many more online opportunities than before Covid, but the fitness side of the business is only one third of the wheel, with swimming being the other third and other activities offered making up the rest, so when looking at the overall wheel when one area is not succeeding there is an opportunity to overachieve in the other areas and  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC5/24

Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report reflects what has been undertaken and achieved by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel during 2023/24 and takes a forward look at the programme of work and challenges in 2024/2025 

Members considered the draft Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2023-2024 presented by Councillor Mrs Davis. 

Councillor Mrs Davis recognised the work the Overview and Scrutiny panel had undertaken during the year.

Members made comments as follows:

·         Councillor Booth stated under 5.3 regarding the task and finish group and the new data, he would like to see a line added that the panel will be monitoring this progress to help with the work of the committee.

·         Councillor Nawaz stated under 4.2 the table of topic and issues, he recognised the good work of the committee, and he suggested fuller presentation from Public Health in the future. Councillor Booth commented this would be an action when looking at the Future Work Programme going forward, and he also suggested inviting the Director of Public Health. Councillor Mrs Davis agreed but also stated there were not enough questions asked by the committee at the last meeting and she would like more questions when Public Health are due to visit in March 2025, there will also be a discussion before the March meeting so the appropriate people are invited.

Members approved the draft Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report for forwarding to Council. 

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview & Scrutiny Panel 2024/25.

Members considered and noted the future work programme.

Members made the following comments:

·         Councillor Booth stated that he would like to see a tracking system in place to work alongside the scheduled meetings so the committee could keep up to date on progress once the meeting has finished and keep a track of information that have been asked for during meetings. Councillor Mrs Davis agreed and suggested when the committee are coming up to a meeting they need to backtrack through the minutes of the last time that body was invited to an Overview and Scrutiny meeting, as a refresher and to use as a reference for any work unfinished. Councillor Booth added by using a tracker system the key points would be easier and quicker to see as sometimes information can get lost in the full minutes. The committee agreed.

·         Councillor Roy stated he has noticed that Clarion have not been included on the work programme, at the last meeting Clarion did suggest that everything was being dealt with but he is still receiving a number of repeated complaints from local Clarion residents and he feels that the main issues that were spoken about in the last meeting have not been addressed and feels that a meeting with Clarion would be beneficial. Councillor Mrs Davis stressed that if there are some issues that are not being dealt with since the last meeting contact can be made to follow this up with Clarion. Councillor Booth asked if Clarion are going to be invited back? Amy Brown stated that the Forward Plan has been reviewed and it was discussed which topics could be biannual and which ones would be annual, and the focus was on looking at the Council’s core priorities and making sure as an organisation those functions are covered, with Clarion being looked at as being biannual but if there are problems emerging as have been raised in this meeting, there is space within the Forward Plan to invite them back sooner but the thought was to invite new topics towards the end of the year but this can be looked at. Councillor Booth did not agree that Clarion should be biannual and that they need to be invited annually due to the number of problems arising, other councillors agreed. Councillor Mrs Davis agreed to review the Forward Plan with Amy Brown.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough stated there is a distinction between Clarion and Clarion Futures and would like it made clear who the committee are referring too. She continued to make the point that given their reputation and the fact that they are fronting a not insignificant amount of money to match fund with the Arts Council and the Arts Council are part of the Future Work Programme, how this would play out within the public consciousness regarding complaints and was wondering if there was scope to have both parties in on the same day. Councillor Mrs Davis expressed the view that it was better to keep both parties  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC7/24