Issue - meetings

The Head of Environmental Services submitted a report on the fifth annual review of the Council’s ten year leisure contract with Sports & Leisure Management Ltd (SLM) trading as “Everyone Active”, the detail of which was set out in the report now submitted and Essential Reference Papers.  The Leisure Services Manager stated that it was a successful partnership and summarised the key points in terms of performance, service, satisfaction levels, throughput, finance, successes and new developments. 

The Leisure Services Manager referred to the management tools (QUEST and GovMetric) used by SLM in order to help managers improve the quality of service provided and the new system which had been introduced called Net Promoter Score (NPS) which was a way of measuring customer satisfaction (loyalty).  He provided background information concerning how NPS worked, and how the value scores were arrived at.

The Leisure Services Manager provided a summary of customer throughput in relation to gym and swim usage.  Overall, there had been an increase at the five sites with 725,000 visitors using the facilities.  In terms of financial performance, it was noted that total income from the five sites was £3.89Million and that SLM had incurred expenditure of £3.84Million.  The threashold for a profit share with the Council had not been achieved in 2013.

The Leisure Services Manager provided a qualitative summary of notable activities to promote and encourage sport and exercise within the last 12 months.

Councillor C Woodward acknowledged the financial performance and “excellent” service provided.  In response to a query regarding the introduction of swimming for the disabled at Grange Paddocks, Mathew Nicholson advised that a time slot had been identified but that he was hoping to focus this around families and SLM’s preference was to identify a time on a Sunday.  He hoped to introduce the arrangement within the next two to three months.

Councillor R Beeching congratulated Officers on the report and sought clarification on the reference to Leventhorpe sitting within the “Fair” Band.  The Leisure Services Manager advised that there had been some problems at the gym which were being addressed.  The Head of Environmental Services explained that the NPS score in this instance was about the number of people who would promote the site as “Fair” and that it was a scoring system used to target people who would actively promote the service to others and not to be confused with how the Council evaluated performance through an individual customer’s level of personal satisfaction with the service.

In response to a query from Councillor R Beeching regarding accountancy checks, the Head of Environmental Services explained that SLM provided annual accounts to the Council which were audited independently.  Additionally, monthly income reports were provided, which the Council was able to check against annual figures. 

In response to a further query concerning service delivery set out in Essential Reference Paper “C”, which had been summarised using GovMetric and the new NPS method, the Head of Environmental Services explained that the NPS system was a completely different  ...  view the full minutes text for item 588