Agenda, decisions and minutes

Resolved: that Councillor John Muldoon be confirmed as the Chair and Councillor Coral Howard be confirmed as the Vice-Chair of the Select Committee.

John Bardens (Scrutiny Manager) opened the meeting and asked Members to confirm the appointment of the Chair and Vice-Chair.

Resolved: that Councillor John Muldoon be confirmed as the Chair and Councillor Coral Howard be confirmed as the Vice-Chair of the Select Committee.

Resolved: the minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a true record.

2.1       The committee discussed its previous referral to Mayor & Cabinet regarding the public health cuts and proposals relating to health visiting services. The committee requested a formal response to its referral and discussed receiving feedback on the discussions between Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust (LGT) and the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign on health visitor ratios and the role of health visitor assistants.

2.2       The committee were informed that LGT and the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign have been having discussions and that the outcome would be fed into the council’s Early Help Review.

2.3       The committee discussed its referral to Mayor & Cabinet regarding advice and support services for people with disabilities and requested a formal response.

2.4       The committee were informed that £35k has been held back for allocation for these services based on the findings of the disability access commission later in the year.

Resolved: the minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a true record.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no responses to consider.

Resolved: The committee noted the report and agreed to receive a follow-up item on the Fusion contract at its next meeting, as a Part 2 item, in order to examine financial performance data, including financial penalties applied, and contingency plans.

James Lee (Director of Culture and Community Development) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

5.1       There are a number of structural issues with the current Fusion contract which mean that it is losing a significant amount of money. There have been market changes, with a significant increase in the number of budget gyms. Fusion’s response to this, which has been to tighten expenditure control, has led to performance dropping. Gym memberships have subsequently decreased.

5.2       The council commissioned external contractors to examine the Fusion contract to see how much of the poor performance is due to structural issues and how much is down to Fusion’s response. The analysis found that it is roughly an even combination of the two.

5.3       The analysis also stated that if the council sought to terminate the contract with Fusion it would be liable for significant costs and would be unlikely to be able to attract a new contractor to deliver those services on similar terms.

5.4       The message from the analysis is that the council needs to redouble its efforts in terms of its management of Fusion to ensure that they are delivering against their contractual terms.

5.5       Council officers have recently carried out a number of site visits and taken photographic evidence and financial performance data to a special contract review meeting with Fusion’s senior directors.

5.6       A detailed action plan has since been drafted which will be closely monitored by the council’s corporate procurement and legal teams.

5.7       The committee expressed concern about the decline in leisure attendances by women and BAME people. The committee noted that the cancellation of some aerobics classes has had an impact but queried whether there were any other the underlying reasons.

5.8       The committee asked if there are contingency plans for continuity of service if there was provider failure at short notice.

5.9       The committee were informed that if there was provider failure at short notice the council would have to go to emergency procurement. There is currently no capacity to bring the service in house.

Resolved: The committee noted the report and agreed to receive a follow-up item on the Fusion contract at its next meeting, as a Part 2 item, in order to examine financial performance data, including financial penalties applied, and contingency plans.

Resolved: the Committee agreed the work programme for 2019/20.

John Bardens (Scrutiny Manager) introduced the draft committee work programme for 2019/20. The committee made the following comments and suggestions:

6.1       The committee noted that there may be some changes stemming from the NHS Long-term Plan that it may wish to consider over the course of the year.

6.2       The committee noted that there will be an all-member briefing covering the NHS Long-term Plan in July.

6.3       The committee discussed BAME mental health access and agreed to consider the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board on BAME mental health inequalities at its next meeting in order to understand the remit of the Board’s work and to see there are any areas where the committee could add value through scrutiny.

6.4       The committee discussed the council’s Early Years Review and having sight of the parts of the review which fall with the committee’s remit, particularly those relating to public health.

6.5       The committee requested an update on the discussions between Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign on health visitor ratios and the role of health visitor assistants.

6.6       The committee requested a briefing on how the public health grant is spent.

6.7       The committee discussed receiving an update in June on the council’s asset-based approach to adult social care. This would include the role of and impact on the voluntary sector.

Resolved: the Committee agreed the work programme for 2019/20.

There were no referrals.