Agenda and minutes

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests in any item on the agenda

No interests were declared.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the meeting on any matter relevant to the work of the meeting. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide three clear working days’ notice, in writing, in order for an informed answer to be given.

There were no members of the public present.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th January 2010.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th January 2010 be approved as a correct record.

To consider a report on the strategic direction of the Health and Wellbeing Service.

The Sub-Committee considered a report on the strategic direction of the Health and Wellbeing Service.

The Sub-Committee had considered the final report by the Council’s consultants, PMP Genesis Consulting, on the Cheshire East Leisure Management Options Appraisal at its meeting on 28^th January.

Since the consultants’ report had been received, the overall context of the leisure service had been reconsidered, taking into account the potential Building Schools for the Future initiative, changes to how customer services were managed, the need to invest in facilities and rationalise the links to the transformation of Adult services and Children and Families, and the need for closer working with the PCT and other strategic developments in Cheshire East. There was also an interest in making connections between leisure services and other strategic interests of the Council, such as library services.

The Sub-Committee had therefore advised Cabinet not to proceed for now with any further work to progress a Trust as the delivery model, and to place the Consultants’ recommendation on hold while further consideration was given to the wider strategic issues and opportunities identified.

Cabinet had accepted the recommendation of the Sub-Committee and had also resolved that the Sub-Committee be retained but that its terms of reference be developed to encompass wider considerations and aspects of the Health and Wellbeing Service.

The merger in August of the Health and Wellbeing Service with the Adults Service would create a new Directorate known as the Adults, Community Health and Wellbeing Department. As a result, there was a need to review the strategic thinking about the Service and its components individually and as a whole.

Any discussion about the future direction and composition of the Health and Wellbeing Service needed to be framed within the Commissioner/Provider model and the universal-to-targeted continuum (looking to shift more resource towards targeted interventions).

The Service was now developing a leisure strategy that took into account the research from the Consultants’ recent work, the outcomes of the Facilities Improvement Strategy and other opportunities identified. 

In this respect, it was noted that the Consultants’ report had acknowledged that the Council ran its leisure facilities well, achieving a high level of satisfaction among users. For this reason it was felt that a Trust approach was no longer the most appropriate way of taking the Service forward.

Members received a welcome pack on the Council’s leisure facilities, together with the performance monitoring report for March 2010. Members felt that the welcome pack managed successfully to harmonise the disparate range of services which the Council provided.

Members were invited to offer suggestions on the future direction of the Service and in doing so had regard to a proposed framework for examining Leisure provision which drew upon the Facilities Improvement work, the outcomes of the Leisure Options Appraisal and the priorities of the draft Corporate Plan.

Members offered a variety of comments and suggestions about the future direction of leisure provision:

1. different parts of the Borough had their own unique circumstances and could therefore benefit from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The next meeting would be held in about a month’s time on a date to be agreed.