Local Government: Leisure Facilities

Lord Clement-Jones
asked Her Majesty's Government:

What guidance exists for trusts who manage local authority leisure facilities; and who sets such guidance. [HL3570]

Lord Davies of Oldham
The DCMS has not issued guidance to local authorities which opt to use a leisure trust model for the management of local leisure facilities. However, every local authority is under a statutory duty to establish an adequate and effective system of financial management and arrangements for the management of risk. The authority's chief finance officer also has duties to report to the council on proposed decisions or actions that would be unlawful or likely to cause a loss.

Lord Clement-Jones
asked Her Majesty's Government:

What recommendations and conclusions they intend to implement from the Audit Commission report of June 2006, Public sports and recreation services: Making them fit for the future. [HL3573]

Lord Davies of Oldham
The Government welcomed this important report, which highlighted the need for better, more strategic decision-making by local authorities on the procurement and management of leisure facilities. We want to help local authorities to revitalise their leisure facilities and to ensure that the right sports facilities are in the right places. Sport England has already developed a range of strategic planning tools to assist them. These include, among others: the active places database, which provides a comprehensive picture of sports facilities across the country; the national benchmarking service; a facilities planning model; and a sports facilities demand estimator. In addition, Sport England's facilities improvement service is working closely with local authorities to improve the quality of their sports facilities and service delivery.

On the specific recommendations:

where possible funding streams are being aligned and Sport England were successful in a bid for improvement partnership funding; and
 

the DCMS was not allocated PFI credits in CSR07 and will not therefore be supporting any leisure PFI projects but continues to work with councils which are currently procuring leisure facilities through PFI and with 4ps and regional centres of excellence on procurement guidance.