Agenda item

Cabinet Member – Councillor Nia Jeffreys

 

To submit a report on the above.

 

 

1. To accept the report and to note the observations.
2. To write to the Health and Social Services Minister highlighting the work being carried out by Cwmni Byw’n Iach in respect of the National Exercise Referral Scheme and the need for additional finance to fund its operation in Gwynedd.

 

 

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Operational Economy Matters, the Managing Director of Byw'n Iach and the Head of Economy and Community were welcomed to the meeting. 

 

The report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Operational Economy Matters was submitted inviting the committee to scrutinise the arrangements of Cyngor Gwynedd and Cwmni Byw'n Iach to provide leisure services in Gwynedd following the issue being placed on Cyngor Gwynedd's Corporate Risk Register due to the risk of Cwmni Byw'n Iach being unable to continue to provide services in Gwynedd leisure centres as a result of the side-effects of Covid-19 and the increase in the cost of living on their income

The Cabinet Member and Head of Economy and Community set out the context and thanked the officers for the report and to the Byw'n Iach Team and Council representatives on the Byw'n Iach Board for their work. The Managing Director of Byw'n Iach then detailed the company's performance during the year.
 

Members were then given an opportunity to ask questions and submit observations. 

 

Officers were asked to elaborate on the collaboration between Cwmni Byw'n Iach and Alliance Leisure to prioritise the plans to create additional income streams. In response, it was noted:- 

·         That Alliance Leisure was a specialist company that supported local authorities and commercial companies in the leisure field, and that the Council had also worked with them in the past.

·         That the main focus of discussions with the company over the past year has been focused on Bangor, largely due to the challenge facing the more traditional income streams to Byw'n Iach facilities in Bangor in light of competition from the private sector, and also the fact that Bangor was a very significant population centre.

·         The facilities in Bangor were not among the strongest, and there was a lack of dry side provision for sport. Also, the situation in Bangor was complicated due to the presence of the University and their respective facilities.

·         Bangor residents wished to see a broader offer, but currently holiday services could not be provided for children and young people in Bangor due to the lack of dry facilities, etc.

·         That there was a commercial opportunity in Bangor due to the size of the population, and that the discussions with Alliance Leisure were looking at two potential projects, one relating to a play facility as an extension to the existing building and the other looking at adapting the fitness offer in Bangor not to compete head-to-head with some of the private competitors, but rather to look more at the well-being sector, looking to collaborate more within the exercise referral programme, working with health partners and targeting older people and people interested in low intensity exercise.

·         Grant applications had been submitted to the Welsh Government for funding to make these schemes a reality and there were Lottery Fund applications also pending.

It was asked how Cwmni Byw'n Iach saw the risks in the future, i.e., in terms of the number of users reaching a plateau and the income not increasing further, the need to invest in fitness equipment so as not to lose users, RAAC or long-term investment in the buildings. In response, it was noted:-  

·         That the plateau was bound to come as it was not possible for the income to continue to increase forever based on the resources or population in Gwynedd.

·         Looking at the county as a whole, some of Byw'n Iach facilities only had catchment areas of around 5,000 people, and looking at Gwynedd's population in an urban context, we would probably only have 2-3 centres.

·         However, it was believed that by receiving investment and obtaining additional resources, there were opportunities for growth, although these were not limitless.

·         That the company was looking at some of the centres further to the South of the county and the opportunities there were of using income from visitors to the area in the summer as a subsidy for the facility throughout the year.

·         That after RAAC had been found in the roof of Arfon Leisure Centre Swimming Pool, the pool was closed for a period while the investigation was underway. Subsequently, the Council's Property Department received a report, shared with Cwmni Byw'n Iach, highlighting that there was no immediate risk to users, and based on that, the pool was reopened. Further monitoring would take place over the next few years. It was also confirmed that RAAC had not been found at any of the company's other sites in the county.
 

Officers were asked to elaborate on how the centres in Meirionnydd and Dwyfor were performing. The following was noted in response:- 

·         That the number of visitors and the amount of income was much lower at some of the dry centres, such as Y Pafiliwn, Barmouth and Glan Wnion, Dolgellau, compared to, for example, the Arfon site, but that the costs were also significantly lower, with a significantly smaller number of staff in those centres.

·         That the challenge was trying to offer a balanced service across all of those communities based on such varying population levels, and it could be difficult for customers to understand why they weren't offered as much, for example, as someone in Caernarfon.

It was asked what plans Byw'n Iach had in terms of supporting people on a lower income, and children specifically. In response, it was noted:- 

·         That this was very much alive in the consciousness of the Byw'n Iach Management Team and came up regularly in discussions with the Council.

·         That there was a link between deprivation and being active. The pandemic had exacerbated that link and ensuring that all Gwynedd residents were active and receiving the resulting health benefits was a priority for Byw'n Iach. 

·         That children's swimming ability levels at the end of Key Stage 2 are clearly linked to deprivation, and that the percentage of children able to swim had fallen from 80%-90% before the pandemic to around 50% now, and lower for some groups of children in the county.

·         That our ability to change the situation at this time was quite limited as the Free Swimming Grant was halved some 5 years ago.

·         As part of the provision, Sport Wales required that children and the over 60s had to be offered a free swim session every week at each pool, but it was quite expensive to do so as we had 7 swimming pools. We tried to make the case that it would be better for Byw'n Iach to have the right to use the money in a more targeted way, e.g., swimming lessons and targeting specific families or schools, as many schools struggle to meet transport costs to bring children to swimming lessons. There had been no positive response to date in terms of our ability to do so.   

·         They had sought to extend the funding available to offer a free swim to the holders of the Cerdyn Max, a national card for foster families and families with children with a disability. A scheme had also been developed in conjunction with the Council's Children's Service to provide free swimming to all young people with a Young Carer card, along with one friend/family member, and in recent years free family swimming tickets had been shared with the county's food banks. 

·         There had been very good support through the Children's Service in terms of Government play schemes in recent years, with the majority of holiday programmes having been available free of charge. We also secured a grant from the Police Commissioner with support from the Youth Service for the launch of an outdoors play scheme over the past year, which involved opening all courts and synthetic pitches during all school holidays free of charge to children and young people for informal game play.

·         That the Partnerships Unit Team does innovative referral work with people like the Children's Service and the Team Around the Family and the young carers charities and accepts referrals for families or individual children and young people and they work at a very intensive level with those who, for whatever reason, do not currently participate in sport.

·         That a great deal of work was being undertaken around young people's mental health, such as one-to-one sessions with the young person to find out what would motivate them to become active.

It was asked to what extent was exercise prescribing being undertaken in Gwynedd and whether there was potential for more marketing for this to get more doctors to make referrals. In response, it was noted:- 

·         That the grant for the NERS (National Exercise Referral Scheme) had remained frozen for a decade and 99% of the money was now spent on salaries. As such, the team was dwindling in real terms every year.

·         That the staff employed on the scheme were on one-year contracts only, and although some of them had been in post for a decade, they faced the same situation of uncertainty every year as confirmation of grant money for the coming year was not received until the last minute.

·         That these were staff with very high skill levels and qualification and losing them would mean having to train someone all over again.

·         Byw'n Iach does not market the programme as there are waiting lists that cannot be coped with, and the number of residents receiving the support could be doubled or even tripled if the team were larger.

·         That the situation was extremely frustrating as the evidence of the benefits of the programme were very clear.

 

It was suggested that the fact that the income was based on a fixed grant, rather than on the number of patients referred, was a weakness of the scheme and a matter to be followed up at a political level. In response, the Cabinet Member noted that she and the Chair of Byw'n Iach had corresponded with the then Health Minister on this very issue and would welcome it if the committee sent correspondence again along the same lines.
 

It was asked where Byw'n Iach was in terms of having enough Welsh-speaking staff to provide a bilingual service, and specifically in terms of swimming lessons for children. In response, it was noted:- 

·         That Byw'n Iach would have had more choice of candidates in the past, but over the last 2 years we had to go out to advertise repeatedly to attract any candidates for certain positions.

·         Language skills were obviously important in recruitment, but we had faced a situation in recent years where 1,000 children in Arfon were waiting for swimming lessons and Byw'n Iach were unable to recruit enough swimming teachers who were confident in their Welsh.

·         No one had been recruited with no language skills at all, but there were situations where it was a choice between not recruiting and leaving an extra 40-50 children on the waiting list for swimming lessons for the next 2-3 years, or recruiting people with lower-level language skills, and working with them to develop their language skills and confidence to use Welsh in the workplace.

·         That the swimming teachers' work contracts give Cyngor Gwynedd staff access to the same learning and development support available so that the individuals can receive support from the Council's language officers and take advantage of the development programmes available. Also, a swimming officer worked with those individuals in terms of their swimming vocabulary, and posters had been placed in the staff rooms reminding people of that vocabulary. However, building the confidence of the swimming teachers to use Welsh at work was going to take time and wouldn't happen overnight.
   

RESOLVED

1.    To accept the report and to note the observations.

2.    To send a letter to the Minister of Health and Social Services highlighting the work being done by Cwmni Byw'n Iach in relation to the National Exercise Referral Scheme and the need for more funding to fund its Gwynedd operation.