Agenda item

To scrutinise the rolling Service Plans 2021-24. Led by Head of Commercial Services, Head of Environment and Regulatory Services,.

The Head of Commercial Services outlined the areas of the service plan relating to arts and culture, Careline, Waverley Training Services and leisure which were the areas of his service within the committee’s remit.

Highlights were:

·         Arts & Culture using outreach work through art to reach out to the community/

·         Careline are a service that provides the safety alarm for residents allowing them to live independently longer at home, Careline were impacted considerably due to Coronavirus as they have been unable to bring new clients into the service and have had to focus on supporting the current client base.

·         Waverley Training Services look after the apprenticeships, work based learners and young people who have been failed by the normal school system and need to get back into education or employment.

·         Leisure which is split into community outreach which uses leisure in the same way as art above to reach out to the community, Health & Wellbeing which manages the leisure services and finally the Leisure Centres.

·         Team are in process of updating the Health & Wellbeing Plan and Strategy which will be brought to committee when completed.

·         Leisure Centres have been hugely impacted during Covid and the council is looking to re-open them in line with the governments road map.

·         The next two years will also focus on the leisure Management contract which is up for renewal/retender in June 2023.

A member of the Committee commented on approaching partners to seek opportunities to attract new clients and asked if there were issues with working with partners? The committee were advised that the manager and team leader at Careline would be focussing on engaging with adult social care and GP’s to improve referrals. It is hoped that with the lessons learnt from the pandemic that our partners will be more aligned to this way of working.

It was suggested that if this engagement does not happen these partners could be asked to come in and explain to the committee their issues in not engaging.

The Committee also enquired about the art piece for Brightwells in Farnham and whether a CIL bid had been submitted to fund it? It was explained that this piece of artwork was fully funded through a section 106 agreement with Crest.

The officers were asked about the proposed refurbishment of the Royal Hill Pavilion and when this was supposed to happen?  It was highlighted that a number of applications for external funding had been submitted and once the decisions on these have been made officers would be able to give a clearer timeline.

Officers were asked when the tendering process for the Leisure Centre contract and the feasibility study for Cranleigh Leisure Centre were to start.  They were advised both of these were in the planning stages and that a clearer timeline would be brought to the next meeting.  It was highlighted that a new leisure centre at Cranleigh would not be built before the new contract is awarded so this is something that would need to be written in.

The Head of Housing Delivery and Communities then outlined the areas of the service plan relating to his service under this Committees remit.

He highlighted that the communities team have been heavily involved during the coronavirus pandemic in assisting the vulnerable and elderly and the workstreams that fall under prevention.  The team have worked closely with communities and partners to provide support and help wherever possible.

Work with the Safer Waverley Partnership has blossomed with work on serious organised crime, modern slavery and prevent.

Finally safeguarding is always on the agenda. The team are working hard to develop the safeguarding work with the results of two audits, the Surrey County Council Section 11 Childrens Service audit and an internal audit, both due out soon.  It is felt that there will be more requirements for record keeping and training for officers and members.

The Committee NOTED the updates on the service plans within their remit.