Councillors to consider future delivery of Sport and Cultural Services

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Following agreement from the Education, Learning and Leisure Committee in March, officers, external consultants and Trade Union representatives have been considering different ways of delivering those services.
Alternative models under consideration include the creation of a charitable trust, which would deliver the services on behalf of the council, as well as the potential of an enhanced status quo, through which they would continue to be directly delivered by the council.
Next week’s report asks for committee members’ comments before a preferred option is chosen by all councillors at next month’s full meeting of Aberdeenshire Council.
The committee will also be asked to agree that Community Learning and Development (CLD) services provided by the council are removed from the scope of any further work on the project.
Head of Lifelong Learning and Leisure, John Harding, explained: “I am very proud of the sport and cultural services our staff deliver across Aberdeenshire and this report is clear that this work is not about reducing what we offer.
“The work we have carried out so far has looked at how we can sustain sport and cultural facilities for years to come while taking into account the financial challenges the council is facing.
“That work has highlighted the significant differences between the way our sport and cultural services are run, and the way we provide Community Learning and Development services.
“Officers are therefore recommending that CLD remain under the management of Education & Children’s Services so the council can continue to support learning and personal development opportunities for people of ages in Aberdeenshire.
“This work is still at early stages and it will be a considerable period of time before any preferred option chosen by councillors next month is fully implemented. We will continue to work closely with Trade Unions and senior managers are available to answer any concerns from staff directly.”
A project email address has been created through which senior managers in Culture, Sport and CLD can be contacted – adm@aberdeenshire.gov.uk ​
To read the report being considered by EL&L next week, visit http://bit.ly/ELLarcadia 
The next steps:
EL&L Committee meeting this month and Full Council in November will consider an outline business case which states the different options available to the council as well as the overall benefits of each.
There are some aspects of each model which would only be able to be considered as part of a more detailed full business case.
Councillors are therefore being asked to agree a preferred model which would be subject to a full business case to be presented to them at a later date.