Verbal Update
Minutes:
The Panel undertook a question and answer session with Cllr Amin, the Cabinet Member for Corporate and Civic Services on her portfolio. The Cabinet Member gave a short verbal update:
· The update and refit programme for Haringey’s libraries was underway and works had begun at Hornsey Library.
· The Physical Activity and Sports Strategy was in the process of being implemented. This looked at how leisure facilities could be more accessible and included investment in green gyms in parks.
· The Committee was advised that Haringey had been shortlisted for the London Borough of Culture.
· Haringey was going through a redesign and restructure of its HR processes. This included a recruitment focus in supporting local people. Examples of this included the development of a local graduate trainee programme and working with local schools on apprenticeships.
The following arose from the discussion of this item:
a. The Committee sought assurances around what meetings the Cabinet Member had with The Friends of Libraries groups, following the concerns raised about Marcus Garvey at OSC in July. In response the Cabinet Member advised that she met with the Friends of Marcus Garvey about every 2 months. The Cabinet Member commented that one of the issues raised at OSC was around staffing levels in the children’s library. There was now a member of staff focused on the children’s library. As part of a review of children’s library provision, the service had introduced a libraries promise and were meeting with children and parents to talk about how to improve provision.
b. The Committee enquired how access to leisure services and undertakings to improve physical activity levels, would be monitored. In response, the Committee was advised that there was significant monitoring and data available on this, particularly around take-up levels for the concessionary rate and engagement with the summer activity programme. Officers agreed to share a breakdown of the take-up for the concessionary rate for leisure facilities. (Action: Zoe Robertson).
c. In response to a question around whether consideration had been given to bringing the Hays contract back in-house, officers advised that they were approaching the final year of this contract and discussions were ongoing around any potential future redesign of that service. However there were concerns around commercial sensitivity that prevented discussing this in a public forum.
d. The Committee welcomed the previous use of autism-friendly colour-coding of library books in Marcus Garvey and enquired whether this could be brought back. In response, officers agreed to look into this and give further consideration about how to develop a consistent approach across Haringey libraries. (Action: Charlotte Pomery).
e. The Committee raised concerns about the use of Wood Green and Marcus Garvey Libraries as customer service centres and sought clarification as whether Cabinet Member planned to continue with this policy. In response, the Committee was advised that significant capital resources had been invested into these sites to merge libraries and customer services. However, the Cabinet Member acknowledges some of the Committee’s concerns and advised that they were looking at ways of how to ensure two distinct service areas and how the library space could be protected at Wood Green. However, it was acknowledged that this was not an easy task.
f. The Committee also raised concerns about Fusion’s management of Tottenham Green leisure centre. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that a report had been commissioned following a recent incident where the pool was closed following service users reporting adverse effects from excessive chlorine exposure. In addition, there was also an extensive monitoring programme in place for this contract and officers advised that they were working hard to ensure that a good standard of service was provided. Cllr Amin advised that she was due to meet the UK-wide MD of Fusion soon to discuss some of the issues identified and remained committed to working with Fusion to improve the service.
g. In response to some other concerns raised, the Committee was advised that the Tottenham Green leisure centre was incredibly popular, with around 40k visits per month, which created its own challenges. Participation at the centre had doubled since Fusion took over the contract. Officers also acknowledged further concerns around queues at peak times and advised that this was something that Fusion were working on and had recently improved their website to provide better signposting and online services.
h. The Committee raised further concerns about the use of libraries and suggested that books had been removed from Marcus Garvey in order to make room for the customer service centre and study room. The Committee suggested that restoring libraries to their core function as a library should be included as part of the review of libraries.
i. In response to concerns around the customer service centres, the Committee were advised that overall numbers of people using the customer service centres was declining due to improved online services and that further work was being undertaken to support this transition through workshops and digital help sessions. The Committee noted concern with plans to utilise parts of Wood Green library for a business centre and requested that space for students to use the library for studying be preserved, particularly during exam times. The Cabinet Member agreed to look at this as part of the next phase of work. (Action: Cllr Amin).
j. In response to further concerns around Fusion, officers advised that additional contract monitoring was brought in following the incident in November. The Committee was advised that Fusion were meeting most of their KPIs and that overall contract satisfaction was around 78%.
k. The Committee requested that an all Member briefing session be set up around leisure and the Fusion contract. Officers and the Cabinet Member agreed to do this and would give some consideration on when to schedule this. (Action: Cllr Amin/Zoe Robertson).
RESOLVED
That the update and responses to the Q&A session were noted.