Agenda and minutes

Minute of the Meeting held on 5 September 2023 to be noted.  (Copy attached.)

CHAIR’S REMARKS

With the announcement of his retiral, The Chair thanked Mr Ewan Jackson for his 20 years of stewardship of Borders Sport and Leisure Trust and latterly Live Borders.  Members expressed gratitude for his work in preparing for the meetings of this Committee and the Joint Steering Group and wished him well for the future.

1.            Minute

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the Meeting held on 5 September 2023.

DECISION

AGREED the Minute for signature by the Chair.

(a)        Consider report by Director Resilient Communities.  (Copy attached.)

(b)        Appendix 1: Live Borders Quarterly Contract Performance Report.  (Copy attached.)

2.1    There had been circulated a report by Jenni Craig, Director Resilient Communities, the purpose of which was to provide Members with performance information regarding the Live Borders partnership agreement for Quarter 2 2023/24. The report at Appendix 1 provided Members with performance information on the delivery of the commissioned sport, physical activity and cultural services.  Live Borders continued to face challenges including lower than anticipated participation levels due to the cost of living crisis and a protracted recovery from the pandemic; inflation and energy costs; and continuing changes to the ways in which some services were consumed.  In March 2023 Scottish Borders Council approved a joint strategic review with the aim of strengthening the partnership and service delivery arrangements to build a long-term sustainable offering for communities and service users.  Key outputs from the joint strategic review were considered at the November meeting of Scottish Borders Council and a 12-month joint transformational change programme was approved to implement the consolidated set of recommendations, review existing governance arrangements, and create a new Service Provision Agreement and a new Performance Management Framework.    

2.2     Ewan Jackson presented the report at Appendix 1 which detailed the service update for quarter 2 2023/24.  Regarding Sports Facilities, Teviotdale Leisure Centre had closed on 7 September due to a boiler failure which was then deemed beyond economic repair.  A temporary containerised boiler was installed and the Centre fully reopened on 23 September 2023.  Kelso Leisure Centre had closed for 10 days due to boiler flue issues and reopened on 2 October 2023 following remedial works.  Notwithstanding, participation figures across all sports for quarter 2 were 231,587 which had surpassed the target of 229,083.  With reference to paragraph 2.2 of the Minute of 5 September 2023, work continued at Eyemouth Leisure Centre to install a new energy efficient air handling unit, with a scheduled reopening of early February 2024.  Active memberships were at 85% of quarter 2 target where marketing had successfully generated new members, however work was ongoing to retain members beyond the short-term.  Membership of Learn2 (swimming) was also down at 74% of quarter 2 target.  Immediate measures to address recommendations in the joint review were to be taken forward as follows: an additional eight swim teachers to be trained; junior membership launched which provided 12-17 year-olds with unlimited swim and gym usage for £9 per month (60 youth members to date); and a designated management lead for Sales & Retention.  Regarding the Active Communities, quarter 2 had seen strong performance due to the rollout of the Summer Activity Programme with 2,559 participations covering 22 camps across the 9 high school cluster areas.  52% of places were accessed free of charge by targeted low-income families, supported by the SBC Cost of Living Crisis Fund and the CYPPP.  Older adult participation increased with 192 health referrals against a target of 150 for the quarter.  Library visits, in-person and digital, had increased with 1,162 unique digital users of Borrowbox and 345 unique users of Pressreader in September. A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.