Agenda item

            The Director of Parks and Leisure submitted, for the Committee’s consideration, the undernoted report:

“1        Relevant Background Information

            In March 2012 Audit, Governance and Risk Services completed an audit in Parks and Leisure Department which examined the operation of Facility Management Agreements in Parks and Leisure in the year 2010 -11.  Audit indicated that there were shortcomings in the monitoring and management of the FMAs and a number of recommendations for improvements were made. Parks and Leisure Managers accepted the recommendations and produced an action plan to address the issues, outlining agreed actions, responsible officers and target dates for implementation.  There are currently 18 Facility Management Agreements.

            One of the recommendations was the submission of an evaluation report to Committee each year.  A report was submitted to Committee last year, and the current report will review the year 2011 – 2012.   This report sets out the current position in terms of issues and compliance for the financial year ending March 2012 and actions taken in 2011-12 to mitigate further risks that were identified by Audit.

            Currently as part of the Pitches Strategy, the Committee is reviewing and deciding on the future options for facility management agreements / partnership agreements.

2          Key Issues

            The key issues for 2011-12 regarding compliance and reporting on FMAs were:

·     Usage returns – Clubs have provided their usage returns during the year.  Two are overdue for the month of March 2012 and are being actively managed through the agreed procedures.

·     Cancellations – There were 3,969 football pitch / MUGA bookings take over the year and of these, 149 were cancelled.  The reasons for the pitch cancellations were due to weather conditions or teams failing to field a team.  The patterns regarding cancellations were similar to previous years with a higher number of cancellations occurring during poor weather conditions. 

·   Refusals – In total there were 27 refusals i.e. a booking that could not be accommodated at the time of request.  Twenty two were due to renovations or waterlogged / flooded pitches.  Four were due to lack of facilities on the site concerned for primary schools (toilet and changing facilities).

·     Financial information - Annual accounts have been submitted for 14 out of the 18 Clubs.  The remaining clubs are in the process of finalising their accounts, this is being actively managed.

·     Accidents – Three accidents were reported.  Culpability / negligence by the Clubs does not appear to be a factor in any of these.

·     Vandalism – There were 26 issues of vandalism reported and the incidents have been addressed quickly.  Dog fouling appears to be an ongoing issue on a number of sites and has be passed to the Park Wardens scheme and the Managers concerned to tackle.

·     Complaints – There were 16 complaints received which were mostly due to pitch condition.  These have been addressed and are not reoccurring.

·     Child Protection Incidents – There were no child protection issues.

·     Quarterly Meetings – Almost all the quarterly meetings took place in 2011/12.  There is one quarterly meeting outstanding for period 3 and 1 for period 4; the issues are being escalated through the agreed procedures.

·     Management’s monthly management returns – One report is outstanding and it is less than one month overdue.  This is currently being followed up with the staff concerned.

3          Resource Implications

            Financial and Human Resources – There are financial and human resource implications arising from the requirements to demonstrate rigorous monitoring and management of the key risks associated with FMAs.  Assistance is currently being provided in the management and monitoring of FMAs by an agency member of staff. 

            The Open Space and Active Living Unit which is responsible for Outdoor Leisure is currently being reviewed and recommendations will be made to the Parks and Leisure Committee in June regarding an appropriate structure / role for the Unit going forward.  The resource needed to monitor and manage FMAs has been considered as part of this review. The exact financial and human resource implications will then be assessed.

4          Equality and Good Relations Considerations

            Currently there are no equality or good relation considerations.

5          Recommendations

            The Committee are asked to note the issues highlighted in the report and that there is an increasing level of FMA monitoring, management and evaluation.”

            After discussion, the Committee adopted the recommendation and noted that an updated report on Facilities Management Agreements would be submitted to a future meeting which would incorporate the outcome of the recent workshops and Party Group Briefings which had been held in this regard.