New Forest Borough Council Community & Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Panel Meeting

It was noted that that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June would be submitted to the next Panel meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interest in the Agenda Items.

There were no issues raised during the public participation period.

The Panel received a report and presentation giving an update on progress with the Health and Leisure review since the last panel meeting, including the impact of Covid19 on the timescale of the review.

At the end of January 2020 the council had received four bids which were evaluated in full. 3 bids were due to through to progress to negotiation is in march but the review was paused until end of June 2021 due lockdown.

Due to the impact of Covid it was decided to re-issue updated tender packs on 1 September 2020. The changes were summarised as follows:

·         The contract term had been adjusted, with a transition year in Year 1

·         Years 2-11 original contract terms would apply

·         4 year extension rather than 5 year extension.

·         Pandemic provisions

·         Use of centres for emergency responses

·         Membership and pricing updated

·         TUPE list starters and leavers updated

·         Invited bidders to review their responses in light of Covid 19, plus regional reference sites requested.

·         Re - weighting of financial scoring to account for year 1 and 10 year term.

·         Regular Focus groups restarted. Trade union meetings monthly.

·         Meetings with schools and HCC planned for October

·         Task and Finish Group meeting every three weeks

The new procurement timeline had been revised a below:

·         3 bidders invited to re-tender on 1 September 2020

·         Bids due back 22 September

·         Evaluation outcomes to T&F and stakeholder panel by mid-Oct.

·         Best and final offers by mid November.

·         Preferred bidders identified by early December and presentations to focus groups and forums

·         Feedback from customer forums will be considered by T&F Group who will make a recommendation to Panel on 19 January 2021, then Cabinet and Council in February.

·         The contract start date will be 1 July 2021.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Panel received a detailed update on the work of the COVID-19 Recovery Community Stakeholder Engagement Task and Finish Group.

The Panel were reminded of the objectives of the Group as part of a multi-agency response led by local government in helping the community and businesses recover from the impact of the pandemic.

It was explained that after gathering evidence from 88 local organisations and assessing the impact of the pandemic, the Group was formulating initiatives to support recovery, whilst ensuring inclusion of marginalised groups, and providing feedback to coordination networks.

Themes identified included:

·         Frontline and most in need

·         Community safety and well being

·         Communities families and young people

·         Arts and cultural

·         Sport and physical activity

The Group split up into sub groups and each of the above themes were looked at in detail by two members, supported by officers.

Members noted the achievements to date, including improved networking and closer working between agencies.

Future workstreams included:

·         Deeper involvement with partner organisations and building capacity

·         Joint promotion and communication

·         Action Plan / gap analysis

·         Community and Youth Hubs

The Group’s recommendations focussed on pursuing the workstreams to improve community engagement and increasing the members’ community grants for 20/21, and to provide regular updates to the Panel.

The Panel received the six monthly progress update concerning the safer New Forest partnership plan for 2020/21.

The slides for the presentation are attached to these minutes as Appendix 2.

Panel received an update from the council's representative on the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel.

The last meeting of the Panel had taken place in July. The Commissioner had to remain in post for a further year due to the elections being delayed a year due to the pandemic.

£565K had been secured from the Ministry of Justice to support victims of domestic  abuse.  Local funds available would be made advised.

It was reported that 90 new police officers would join Hampshire Constabulary at the training base, compared with maximum number previously 6-18 per month. It was anticipated that 60 officers per months would be joining in coming months.  Information would be provided on the number of leavers.

The panel received an update on progress with the upgrade of the council's website. A copy of the side's used is attached as Appendix 3 to these minutes.

The website went live on 14 July 2020.

The presentation covered:

·         The purpose of the website

·         Staff Training

·         Customer uptake – 100,000 user pe month

·         Maintenance

·         Site performance

·         Top pages and Tasks / Optimisations

·         Search data

·         Roadmap for further work

·         Accessibility Compliance

·         Webchat Implementation

External monitoring was achieved via looking at feedback and usage and best practice from forums.

The portfolio holders gave updates on developments within their portfolios.

Cllr Steele

Negotiations were ongoing with MyTime about the management of Dibden Golf Centre in these difficult times. The course is operational with social distancing. Usage is up on last year’s. Catering income 50% down, a significant impact.  First aid arrangements were being reviewed at the course.

The Council had been awaiting Sport England advice following the recent Government announcement about the resumption of organised sports.

Gym memberships were 59% of previous levels but was in line with expectations. Swimming academy will start on 21 September with good demand. Fees and charges were due to be reviewed in January.

Cllr Andrews

The website upgrade had been delivered on time and under budget, despite the difficulties of COVID .

She had attended various meetings over recent weeks:

·         The Safer New Forest Strategy and Delivery Group met recently.

·         The Domestic Abuse Forum

·         HCC Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee

She was due to attend a webinar on Public Health hosted by Matt Hancock MP

Portfolio holders had been asked to review their fees and charges. The 2 relevant strands in her portfolio were CCTV and Appletree Careline, but increases were not felt appropriate at this time.

The Panel considered its future work programme.

The Performance Dashboard and Dibden Golf Course would be submitted to the January meeting, as well as the Draft Strategic Assessment in January 2021.

RESOLVED:

That the following dates for meetings for 2021/22 be as follows (Tuesdays at 6.00 pm):

·         15 June 2021

·         14 September 2021

·         18 January 2022

·         15 March 2022