Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 3rd May, 2006
|
Bath & North East Somerset Council |
|||||
|
MEETING: |
Council Executive |
||||
|
DATE: |
On 3 May 2006 |
PAPER NUMBER |
13 |
||
|
TITLE: |
Contracts for Services : Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus 2006-2009 |
EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN REFERENCE: |
|||
|
EWP |
01357 |
SU |
|||
|
WARD: |
All |
||||
|
AN OPEN PUBLIC ITEM |
|||||
|
List of attachments to this report: 1. Festivals
Organisation : draft SLA 2006-9 |
|||||
1 THE ISSUE
1.1 New Service Level Agreements for the three years 2006-2009 for services to be delivered by Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus are to be agreed. Services to be delivered by Festivals Organisation comprise: City of Festivals and festivals development; Bath International Music Festival; Bath Literature Festival. Services to be delivered by Bath Tourism Plus comprise: tourism development ; visitor services ; destination marketing ; conference marketing ; membership services ; event management & promotion.
1.2 These Service Level Agreements will be administered and monitored by Council officers in the Customer Services Directorate together with the Executive Member for Culture Leisure & Tourism. The draft Service Level Agreements and Service Schedules for each of the two organisations are attached as Appendices 1-4 to this report.
2 RECOMMENDATION
The Council Executive is asked to agree that:
2.1 That the Council agrees in principle to three year funding agreements to the Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus for the financial years 2006-2009 for the delivery of the services detailed in the attached draft Service Level Agreement and Service Contract subject to an annual review and Council budget.
2.2 The Director of Customer Services, in consultation with the Executive Member for Tourism Leisure and Culture is authorised to make appropriate amendments to the draft Agreements attached to this report in order to secure the Council's objectives and to complete formal Service Delivery Agreements with the Festivals Company and Bath Tourism Plus
2.3 Contract Standing Orders are waived in relation to the completion of the Service Delivery Agreements with the Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus for the reasons set out in sections 6 and 7 of the report
3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
3.1 The budgeted amount for the annual grant (contract fee) to Festivals Organisation in the current year is £296,666. In addition the Organisation will receive the following benefits from the Council: payment of rent for occupation of Council-owned office premises £19,600 : payment of room hires in Council-owned buildings £13,310. The total cost of Council support in 2006/2007 is therefore £329,576.
A further sum of £20,000 has been allocated to the Arts Development budget for 2006-7. This sum is to be used specifically to support additional festivals development work in order to meet the aims of the City of Festivals project. The sum will be payable to Festivals Organisation on agreement of an annual work programme for festivals development, and will be subject to annual review.
3.2 The contract fee payable to Bath Tourism Plus in 2006 / 7 is £387,000. In addition the Company occupies Council owned office accommodation which is provided rent free under the terms of the Contract. The current rental value of this accommodation is estimated at £236,000. The total value of Council support in 2006/2007 is therefore £623,000.
3.3 The current year's contract fees and rent payments are contained within the agreed Service Plans and budgets for Economic Development and Arts Development. The Contracts provide for the fee payable to be reviewed on an annual basis linked to the Council's budget setting process.
3.4 The move of the Festivals Organisation from their current offices in Broad Street and the Box Office in Abbey Green will provide an opportunity for the release of those buildings for commercial rent or for the realisation of a capital receipt.
4 THE REPORT
4.1 The Council wishes to develop festivals and tourism in the local authority area in order to achieve Council aims and objectives, improvement priorities and the Vision for Bath
4.2 The Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus are the two organisations which the Council wishes to contract for a period of three years 2006-2009 to deliver programmes of work that achieve its aims, objectives and priorities
THE FESTIVALS ORGANISATION
4.3 Festivals Organisation is the new organisation created from the former Bath Festivals Trust and incorporating City of Festivals. The City of Festivals project was initiated by the Council in autumn 2003 and, over the past two years, officers and Members have worked with the private sector and the arts and cultural organisations to articulate our ambitions for festivals development. Throughout this process, all stakeholders and partners have been completely committed to achieving the aims and outcomes of the project; therefore Festivals Organisation has a strong basis of support and expertise on which to build.
4.4 As part of the Service Level Agreement, Festivals Organisation is required to work with Bath Tourism Plus to identify how operational efficiencies and increased delivery may be achieved through joint working between both organisations. The Council requires some significant changes to be made in 2006-7 (including co-location of both organisations in Abbey Chambers), but recognises that other developments require a longer implementation period over the duration of the Agreement.
4.5 It is recognised that Festivals Organisation has achieved visible change and development during 2005-6, with the appointments of a new Chief Executive, a new Artistic Director for the Bath International Music Festival, and a new Chair, and significant additional investment from Arts Council England. The organisation has also made major changes to the programming of the Music Festival, which is now far more wide-ranging, exciting and accessible, aiming to reach new audiences and participants who have not engaged with it before. The scale of change is such that the 2006 Music Festival will be very different from previous years, and so it will not be possible to measure it against 2005 exactly like-with-like. However, officers are confident that the new approach for the 2006 Music Festival is very positive and will be well received by the general public.
BATH TOURISM PLUS
4.6 Bath Tourism Plus is a local authority controlled Company limited by guarantee. The Company members are the Council and the Initiative for Bath & North East Somerset. In 2003 the Council entered into a three year Contract with the Company to deliver visitor services, destination and conference marketing services and event management in Bath & North East Somerset.
4.7 During the term of the Contract the Company has :
- overhauled its tourist information services : in 2005 the TIC dealt with 324,000 walk in visits, 49,700 telephone enquiries and increased the number of accommodation bookings made (5400) and tickets sold (17,000)
- re-designed and re-launched the tourism web site visitbath.co.uk : in 2005 the web site attracted 727,618 visits a 60% increase over 2004
- introduced through "visitbath" a new online marketing and database system allowing on line accommodation bookings : the system is designed to link to the national system EnglandNet and on line bookings now account for 40-50% of total bookings
- increased its membership base beyond business plan targets : the Company has 329 members with a current retention rate of 90%
- taken over the operation of the Bath Christmas Market increasing the overall number of stalls and turning a small operational loss in 2004 into an operational surplus in 2005
4.8 The proposed Contract for 2006 - 2009 is similar to the previous three year Agreement but with a number of important changes :
- a clause has been added to the Contract requiring the Company to publicise all Director vacancies with the exception of those nominated by the Council and the Initiative for Bath & North East Somerset
- section 10 of the Contract has been revised to take into account the latest employment situation and regulations and the transfer of staff previously employed by the Council to the Company
- schedule one part one (the Schedule of Services) has been substantially revised : targets have been added to each area of core service delivery and a new "strategic management" core service section has been added to cover the development of joint working with the Festivals Organisation, the development of a Destination Management Plan with South West Tourism and participation in the preparation of a Tourism Development Plan for the West of England.
4.9 Service Level Agreements and in the case of Bath Tourism Plus a Services Contract, are the formal mechanisms for ensuring effective delivery of the services required from the organisations, measuring performance, and achieving best value from the Council's financial investment.
5 RISK MANAGEMENT
5.1 The report author and Executive member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.
5.2 Officers have advised that other public sector grants to Festivals Organisation (most notably, regular core funding and Recovery Programme funding from Arts Council England) are contingent upon the Council's continued support and investment at the level set out in (3.1). In addition the ability of Bath Tourism Plus to generate other income streams could be affected by a reduction in the level of financial support to the Company.
5.3 Both Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus generate income through a combination of Council funding, other public sector funding, earned income (including box office and ticket sales), sponsorship, and other external sources. Officers expect both organisations to work to achieve increased funding from sources other than the Council, so that the proportion of Council funding in relation to total income decreases over the three year period of these Agreements, and the Council's investment acts as `leverage' to draw down other investment.
5.5 Festivals Organisation's business plan projects that its income from sources other than the Council will increase from approximately 25% of total income in 2006-7 to approximately 40% of total income by the end of 2009-10.
5.6 The contract fee paid by the Council to Bath Tourism Plus represents approximately 40% of the Company's turn over of just over £1.1 million. The Company is developing a 3 year Business Plan which is seeking to rationalise existing and develop new income streams. The aim is to reduce the proportion of Council financial support to between 30-35% of total turnover.
5.7 These projections are targets and will be reviewed in consultation with officers and the Executive Member for Tourism, Leisure and Culture.
6 RATIONALE
6.1 Officers advise that both Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus can, with Council investment, contribute very positively to delivering our aims, objectives and improvement priorities.
6.2 Both organisations are required to develop a closer working relationship, and to identify where and how they can work together to achieve efficiencies - for example in administration and office support, customer-facing services such as box office and tourist information, and promotions and marketing. The Agreements set targets for both organisations to have made some efficiencies by the end of 2006-7, and to identify medium and longer term changes for 2007-9.
6.3 The Agreements for both organisations have been developed by officers in parallel, to ensure consistency between the two contracts and clarity of performance indicators.
7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED
7.1 The two organisations were established by the Council, working with public and private sector partners, to specifically deliver festival and tourism related services. This approach has allowed external funding and income streams to be levered in. Both organisations are local, well established and well placed to build on their existing track records to deliver the services and programmes of work that we require. It is officers' view that it would not therefore represent best value to go out to open tender for delivery of these services at this time.
7.2 It is officers' view, therefore, that entry into the proposed Agreements for the provision of the Services by the Festivals Organisation and Bath Tourism Plus will ensure best value for money and a high quality of services delivered to residents of, and visitors to, the local authority area.
8 CONSULTATION
8.1 Executive councillor, Other B&NES Services, Stakeholders/Partners, Section 151 Finance Officer, Chief Executive have been consulted.
8.2 Officers have discussed their advised recommendations in detail with the Executive Member.
8.3 Colleagues in other Council services who work with the former Bath Festivals Trust, other festivals, and Bath Tourism Plus have been consulted.
|
Contact person |
John Cox - 01225 477294 Ann Cullis - 01225 396455 Ann_cullis@bathnes.gov.uk |
|
Background papers |
Arts Development Strategy 2005-8 City of Festivals Working Group : minutes of meetings Tourism Services Contract 2003 - 2006 |