Agenda item

With reference to article 27 of the minute of meeting of 6 May 2014, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which provided information on the progress by the Access to Leisure (A2L) Working Group which was established to identify the recommended operational charges to the current A2L Scheme.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)       note the work undertaken by the Access to Leisure Working Group in preparing for, and identifying the required actions, of the policy changes as previously recommended;

(b)       note that further work in relation to the implications of free swimming is required and would be brought back to this committee;

(c)        note that further work was required on simplifying the application and administrative processes and this would be brought back to this committee;

(d)       note that enhanced monitoring of A2L card use would be enforced by all operators, ensuring that all usage is recorded, misuse of A2L cards minimised to provide a more robust framework for the measurement of the success and outcomes of the revised A2L scheme;

(e)       note that further work on identifying the implications of restricting eligibility in the future to those over the national state retirement age in receipt of benefits related to income and / or disability was to be undertaken and brought back to this committee;

(f)        note that further work in linking the A2L scheme to a robust, evidenced GP Referral scheme was to be undertaken;

(g)       approve the deletion of the following categories from the eligibility criteria: those in receipt of bereavement allowance, those with a hearing / vision impairment, those receiving a home education, those receiving widow’s allowance, asylum seeker, bereavement allowance, guardians allowance, industrial injuries disablement benefit, learning disability and physical disability;

(h)       approve the provision of subsidised teas and coffees only be provided by partners ‘Loyalty Card’ arrangements;

(i)         approve the reduction in discount for crèche and childcare related activities to 25% across the services and the discount for crèche provision in sports centres should only be applicable when the parent/carer was taking part in sport and physical activity;

(j)         approve the proposal that those residents who had current A2L entitlement at the age of 60 should retain this entitlement;

(k)        approve the proposal that future eligibility was specifically related to the national state retirement age ie age of entitlement was automatically phased in accordance with the current legislation;

(l)         approve the proposal that the revised A2L scheme be applicable during all public opening hours of the facilities and services.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note the recommendations contained within the report originates from the Working Group led by Sport Aberdeen;

(ii)        to instruct Officers to pass the report in its entirety to the Disability Equity Partnership for their comments and recommendations and also to Grampian Regional Equality Council for their views;

(iii)       to instruct the Director of Education and Children’s Services to bring a final report to the Finance Policy and Resources Committee in December taking cognisance of the comments from the Disability Equity Partnership; and

(iv)       to instruct the Director of Education and Children’s Services to set out the Financial Implications of the proposed recommendations contained within the December report.