Invitees:

Councillor Hywel Williams - Cabinet Member Communities 

Mark Shephard - Corporate Director – Communities

Mark Wilkinson - Group Manager - Learning Disability

Scott Pickrell - Day Services Manager

Richard Hughes - Chief Executive of Awen Trust

Alun Morgan- Chairman of Board of Trustees of Awen Trust

The Chairperson on behalf of the Committee, welcomed the Invitees to the meeting.

The Corporate Director Communities submitted a report, the purpose of which was to update the O&S Committee on the progress made by Awen Cultural Trust (the Trust) since it was established to manage a range of cultural services and facilities on behalf of the Council, with effect from 1 October 2015, including an update on the Wood B and B Leaf programmes.

He advised Members that the Trust was obviously still in its infancy stages, however, a considerable amount of work had been committed to the continuation of the provision of cultural services. As an independent organisation the Trust is governed by a voluntary board of trustees who have a duty to ensure it is viable and fit for purpose. He confirmed that attached to the report at Appendix 1 was a Service Plan for 2015/17, which included the partnership outcomes framework. The Service Plan would focus in particular, on organisational culture, developing values and behaviours that will underpin the Trust’s commitment to its customers.

He added that he also has regular meetings with the Chief Executive of the Trust, in order that the Trust and BCBC succeed in supporting each other as the programme moves forward.

He concluded his introduction by advising that Wood B and B Leaf were also developing further under the auspices of the venture.

In terms of Wood B and B Leaf, a Member asked if their viability would be sustained under the Trust.

The Chief Executive of the Trust, confirmed that both Wood B and B Leaf had integrated well since being transferred to the Trust, with both time and investment having been committed to these initiatives since they had been transferred from BCBC.

He confirmed that the cost in terms of budget for the operation of both of these initiatives was the same as had been with the local authority, ie £250k per annum in total for the operation of both entities. Both Wood B and B Leaf were progressing well and starting to generate increased income as a result of operating in a social enterprise environment - things were looking positive for the future. Progression it was anticipated would be incremental rather than accelerated with the needs of the services users always at the heart of what they do.

Both Wood-B and B-leaf support the wider functions of the trust – an ethos that works across the organisation. They particularly support Bryngarw Country Park, as well as produce their own products for retail. The Trust were presently looking to increase hours of business for both these projects, in order to promote business further.

The Corporate Director Communities reiterated that there had been a very smooth transition of services being transferred from BCBC to the Trust, and relationships with the Trust were very good. Plans were now being looked at to move services forward to the next level in order to increase profit margins etc. He reiterated that budget levels in terms of the support of these two work related projects were similar to that before the transfer had taken place. There was some commercial potential relating to the viability of Wood B and B Leaf, and the Trust are looking to engage specialist advice to do an analysis of this, and felt that there was a good strong base and platform within which products produced by both project groups could be promoted further. Therefore there was some optimism of the future of these going forward he added.

A Member confirmed that he had visited B Leaf and had looked at the products they were making, though he was also aware, that there had previously been limited engagement and advertising of these products with/to the public. He was pleased to see now that steps were being taken to promote these work related projects further under the Trust. He was concerned however over the budget reductions planned for Wood B and B Leaf under the latest round of the MTFS.

The Chief Executive of Awen Trust confirmed that whilst there were savings earmarked under the MTFS as the Members had correctly stated, these savings would likely be offset from other areas and efficiency across the  Trust. This will include developing external funding strategy, gift aid opportunities, as well as generating income elsewhere. Though there may be a small budget reduction in these areas, this would be less than if services such as these had been maintained by the Council.

A Member asked if any staff from BCBC had been transferred to Bryngarw House as part of the Trust proposals and were there library staff based at the House.

The Chief Executive of the Trust confirmed over 130 individuals transferred to the Trust and its registered office was at Bryngarw House. However, the House is predominantly used, and is increasingly successful, as a weddings venue.

The Chairperson referred to page 20 of the report and paragraph 4.7 of the report, where it stated that the Trust was a separate independent organisation with a charitable status. He noted that due to the significant amount of public funds invested in the new venture, Internal Audit had audited the assessment of controls, in order to provide the Council and the Trust with reasonable assurance that they are adequate. Paragraph 4.9, also referred to issues regarding strengthening client arrangements between both organisations. He asked how the above intended to be monitored.

The Corporate Director Communities advised that the undertaking of an audit was agreed between the Finance Department and himself, due to the organisation being in its infancy. It was particularly necessary to complete an audit, so as to ensure that there were sound financial processes and procedures in place, and the result of the audit confirmed that there were. In terms of monitoring the business going forward, the Corporate Director Communities confirmed that the Authority were acting as a Strategic Commissioner for Awen, and therefore, the Council’s Corporate Priorities were being aligned against the Trust’s Draft Service Plan. He confirmed that the relationship between the Trust and the Council, operated in a similar manner to that of Halo and the Authority.

A Member referred to page 30 of the report, and the paragraph headed Performance Indicators and Targets, and that as an approach to measuring the Trust’s success against the Outcomes Framework, Awen were proposing adopting elements of their Performance Scorecard. This had been developed to consider their charitable/outcome objectives, whilst also delivering a user friendly overview of the organisation’s overall health and performance. The scorecard was shown at Appendix C to the report. He asked if this Scorecard adequately catered for and reflected all the different services that the Trust supported, for example library services, the Grand Pavilion and other theatre venues, and Bryngarw House/Park, all of which offered something different. He also made reference to the fact that the outcome measures were developed using the logic basis where longitudinal and academic evidence supports that participation has benefit, eg that children who use libraries perform better at school and have better literacy skills.

The Chief Executive of the Trust, confirmed that the above outcome measure had been introduced on the assumption of there being evidence to suggest that if a child regularly visits a library, then their literacy should improve. Similarly, if young people attend dancing classes then they eventually obtain specific dance as well as transferable skills and confidence.

The suggested indicators included in the draft Service Plan, reflect that if the Trust examine ways to encourage people to visit libraries, hence In turn, increasing the number of visitors there, this would fit in with the Authority’s School Improvement Agenda for pupil attainment for literacy. If an advertising campaign was undertaken with regard to get more visitors to visit Bryngarw House and Park, then this would have a positive effect on the economy and bring inward investment to the Trust etc. He added that any surplus that the business accrued would be used to secure the viability of the Trust and then invested back into the Trust and the services it delivered. The Trust was a Charity and was governed by charity law, and therefore investment made was committed to the delivery of its charitable purposes.

He further added that the Trust were obliged to deliver on the Contract for the Council, including the aims and objectives contained within this. However, he also explained that it had to operate as a business and to make an improvement in people’s lives through the provision of cultural changes and improvements. The more sustainable the organisation was, then the better services it would provide.

The Chairperson of the Trust confirmed that obviously the organisation had to make a surplus in order to maintain its existence, the main thrust of the Trust was meet cultural demands. So it was a combination of making both a financial return and cultural return to benefit the inhabitants of the County Borough. The Board that supported the Trust was made up of individuals with a wide range of skills and were interested in seeing service provision grow within the business. A balance would be struck he reiterated, between securing profit within the business and offering in due course as the Trust developed a range of different cultural services.

A Member was aware that the likes of Wood B and B Leaf were supported by individuals who were being trained purposely to develop their skills, as opposed to being paid employees. She asked if these initiatives became more successful in terms of making and being able to sell-on more products that they developed, then could the service users supporting these ventures possibly be paid/receive an allowance.

The Chief Executive of the Trust confirmed that it was an ambition of the Trust to realise this, as the people supporting Wood B and B Leaf were seen more as colleagues than service users. The cost of this could not be supported formerly through the Council, due to financial restraints associated with the MTFS, but would be looked at as the Trust developed. These colleagues were however developing training opportunities which in turn, would develop their skills, which would in turn, enhance their prospects of seeking paid employment elsewhere. He added that Wood B and B Leaf were being campaigned more via the web site and through the avenues of social media in order to encourage the sale of the products they produced, particularly with regard to B Leaf.

A Member noted that on average Bryngarw Park received about 200,000 visitors per year. He was pleased to note that last Christmas, B Leaf produced some clever and extremely well made Christmas reindeers that sold well and brought in income. He felt that it was a shame that more of these weren’t made due to there only being a few trainees working there as they generated income for the Trust,that could be re-invested in Projects.

The Chief Executive of the Trust advised that the service users were very proud due to producing these, and the income generated from the sale of the product exceeded £1k, which was a fine example of a social enterprise working effectively. This project would repeated next Christmas. The wood used to make these also came from Bryngarw Park he added.

The Day Services Manager concurred with the above, adding that this project had been positive for the Trust. He added that Wood B and B Leaf had now been in existence for two decades, with both these originating from Day Care Centres. He confirmed that the new Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 would help support both these initiatives further, and more work was planned in consultation with people with learning disabilities, to develop their skills further through expanding them by providing extra training for services users (for example in carpentry and joinery), in order that they could make not just more products, but different ones also.

The Cabinet Member Regeneration and Economic Development added that the marketing and sale of products were more achievable through a Social Enterprise like Awen Cultural Trust than they would be through the local authority. They were in a better and more viable position than BCBC he confirmed, to both market and allow for the sale of any products that they made.

A Member referred to page 36 of the report, and the current charges for the hiring of Awen Community Centres, and he was pleased to note, that not for profit organisations get a reduced rate for the hire of these buildings. He noted that there was no mention in this section of the report to the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl or the Maesteg Town Hall, and asked for information regarding the charges for the hiring of these buildings.

The Chief Executive of the Trust advised that Community Centres were protected, in that there was no increase to the hire of these beyond a cost of inflation. The Trust had been gifted with the capacity to use discretion in the hire charging of other buildings. There were both commercial and not for profit rates applicable, and these had to be competitive, in order to attract customers. He confirmed that he would provide further information on this matter over and above that included in the report to the Member outside of the meeting, including information regarding rates of hire charges for both the Grand Pavilion and Maesteg Town Hall.

Conclusions:

The Committee noted the report, which provided Members with an update on the work of the Trust since it was established, including specific information on the Wood B and B Leaf projects.

·            Members asked how well Wood B and B Leaf had been integrated into the Trust and asked how much it cost to run the projects. The Officer responded that it had been a positive experience, that the overall budget is currently the same as when the services were run by the Council and that there was potential for reducing costs using the Social Enterprise Model.

·           Members raised concerns regarding the lack of public awareness of the projects. The Officer responded that the new arrangements include identifying opportunities to promote the projects.

·           Members asked how the performance of the Trust was being monitored. The Officer responded that the expectation is that the Trust would be responsible for the monitoring framework and that there is a potential to put other monitoring in place, as necessary.

·            Members asked for clarification regarding the methodology used to develop outcome measures; in particular they referred to the term ‘longitudinal and academic evidence’.  The Officer responded that this methodology would enable the service to ensure that commercial success can be balanced with the achievement of priorities for local communities.

·            Members asked for clarification where figures in the draft balanced scorecard were expressed as actuals rather than percentages.  The Officer responded that the figures in the final version of the scorecard would show percentage values.

·            Members queried whether there could be an allowance, either monetary or otherwise, for trainees contributing to the work and output of Wood B and B Leaf.  The Officer responded that this was a possibility in future.

·            Members requested that this item remain on the Forward Work Programme to enable them to monitor the work of the Trust.

Further Information requested

• The Committee requested benchmarking information to enable them to compare performance in context with performance information from Local Authorities.
• The Committee requested a breakdown of figures relating to the Pavilion and Maesteg Town Hall to show charges before and after they were moved to the Trust.