Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee Item 9

21 November 2002

Charging principles and fee levels at the Hampshire and Unitary Authority Outdoor Centres.

Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Stuart Nundy ext 5015

1. Background and current position

1.1 The stated mission of the Outdoor Service is to "provide for the residents of Hampshire, and young people in particular, a wide range of opportunities to participate in adventurous outdoor activities and education", as part of the Strategic Action Plan for the service accepted by Members of the Recreation and Heritage PRC, and agreed by the Executive Member in May 2002.

1.2 In order to achieve this the service pursues three levels of provision:

1) The four directly managed outdoor centres at Calshot, Beaulieu, Tile Barn and the Mountain Centre in Wales.

2) The continuance of grants awarded to the three former Hampshire Outdoor Centres at Woodmill and Floating Bridge Road (Southampton), and Eastern Road (Portsmouth) that are now part of the Unitary Authorities of Southampton and Portsmouth.

3) Monitoring the impact of the Recreation and Heritage Grants awarded to four charitable and independent outdoor centres within the County. These are at Avon Tyrell Activity Centre, (New Forest), The Countryside Education Trust (Beaulieu), The QE 2 Silver Jubilee Activity Centre (Bursledon) and the Gilbert White Centre (Selbourne)

1.3 This report is intended to summarise the nature of charging and fee levels at each centre as they apply to Hampshire's young people, and will deal with those centres in categories one and two (the directly managed centres and those centres once part of Hampshire but now within a unitary authority). The grants currently awarded to charitable centres (category three) will be the subject of a future and separate report.

1.4 The charging levels of each centre reflect in the main `what is on offer' and a series of past decisions. From that start point, a set of guiding principles inform the current levels of charges for groups and these are taken into account during the development of each centres' annual business plan (in the case of the Hampshire centres), and many are implicit in the charges set by the Unitary Authority centres in the context of their own situations. These principles are:

i) The overall total cost of running the centre on a day to day basis.

ii) The need to maintain and improve the quality of service provision over time.

iii) The need to work within specific budget levels for revenue support set by the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage Department.

iv) The need to address the strategic objectives of the County Council and, in particular, the issue of access and inclusion for all Hampshire's young people.

v) The need to provide Best Value in the context of a comparison with competitors.

vi) The overarching need to promote and maintain the highest possible levels of Risk Management in all residential and hazardous activities.

2. Historical background to current charges

2.1 Historically, all seven centres were part of the Hampshire group of centres prior to 1997. Prior to 1992, all the centres provided outdoor educational opportunities at very little cost to participants. In all the centres tuition was essentially free to schools. In the residential centres, (Calshot, Tile Barn and the Mountain Centre), there was a modest charge to cover the cost of board and lodging. In those centres which were non-residential (Beaulieu, Woodmill, Southampton Water Activity Centre and The Portsmouth Sailing Centre), visits were free. Revenue support grants were provided by the County to offset the cost of each centre's educational operation.

2.2 Calshot Activities Centre was the first to break with this model when, in 1992 and for capital reasons rather than operational reasons, the county decided to reduce the revenue support from a figure approaching £600,000 to a figure of some £150,000. As a consequence, Calshot had to increase charges to schools to cover the cost of instruction as well as the `residential' element. In 1994, the Mountain Centre began to introduce an ` instructional charge' on top of its residential charge, and later a small fee was imposed for the use of the Beaulieu Development Centre. Consequently, fee levels at all the directly managed centres are now set within the context of a business planning process that is engaged in annually and which takes account of the principles noted in 1.3 above.

2.3 Additionally, over this period, changes to funding structures within schools, and the increasing numbers of commercial providers in the market, dictates that centres can only survive if they can offer schools an appropriate quality of experience and good value for money.

3. Charges within the Unitary Authorities

3.1 In 1997, upon the achievement of Unitary Status, the centres in Southampton and Portsmouth moved from County control. Negotiations at the time resulted in an agreement that County Council schools would still access those centres for free as day provision, in exchange for a revenue grant being paid by the county to the two cities. This grant was in the order of £75,000 for Southampton and £85,000 to Portsmouth and was based upon the number of young people from Hampshire accessing those centres at the time of unitary status. In June 1999, a report was taken to the Sport and Community Panel of the Recreation and Heritage Committee at which a decision was made to:

i) Reduce the level of grant payment to the Unitary Authorities at a rate of 10% per annum.

ii) Introduce a direct charge to schools, levied by the Unitary Authority Centres themselves, as a means of balancing the reduction in fees paid by the County Council.

3.2 This was done with the intention of reducing the grant burden to the county, but led to rapidly increasing charges to Hampshire Schools, and consequent widespread concern by users. In 2001, and in response to this lobby, officers negotiated a tentative agreement with the two city authorities that would have halted the 10% reductions, set a basic grant of approximately £65,000 per authority and identified a specific number of `sessions' that Hampshire would buy for this amount. At that stage a fee increase of 75p per session paid by schools was mooted. However, in response to further concern from schools, and a lack of clarity concerning the fees charged at other outdoor centres, members requested a further report which would clarify the fees paid at all the Hampshire (and former Hampshire) Outdoor Centres. The original report was therefore deferred.

3.3 In June 2002, after consultation with the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage and in order to stabilise the funding of the city authority centres pending this further report, a decision was taken to suspend the 10% pa reductions to Southampton and Portsmouth, capping their grants at April 2002 levels.

3.4 As a consequence Hampshire schools currently visiting both the Portsmouth and Southampton Outdoor Centres pay a fee of £2.75 per pupil per session, or £5.50 per pupil per day (two sessions). It should be noted that Southampton charge their own schools a fee of £3.00 per pupil per session (£6.00 per day), although Portsmouth charge their own schools the same as for Hampshire schools. For this, approximately 3500 Hampshire children visit the Southampton centres (7000 `unit' sessions), and just over 3200 (6400 `unit' sessions) go to Portsmouth. Most of these children are from the urban fringes of those cities - Totton, Leigh Park, Eastleigh, Waterlooville, etc.

3.5 The unit cost of a `session' at Southampton is £11.75, and £14.00 at Portsmouth. The grant from Hampshire supplements the direct charge levied upon schools towards meeting this unit cost. The situation is currently stable in terms of the centres (who receive what they regard as adequate remuneration), and the user schools who are happy that they are currently guaranteed access at what they consider to be reasonable rates. If no change is made to the grant structure, the direct fees will rise with inflation over time, and the County Council will have the opportunity to add inflation to the grants if appropriate.

4. Principles affecting current charges at the Hampshire Outdoor Centres

4.1 Criteria 1 - The total running cost of the centre.

4.1.1 This figure varies enormously from centre to centre. The four issues affecting this cost are:

i) Staffing levels - the outdoor industry is very staff intensive because of the ratios of required staff to young people.

ii) Equipment costs - equipment often wears quickly, and can be expensive to maintain and replace

iii) Residential costs - running a 24 hour centre offering full accommodation is more expensive than a non-residential operation.

iv) Plant, maintenance and other capital costs.

4.1.2 As a consequence Calshot is the most expensive centre to run. Offering a very broad range of residential hazardous activities at ratios as low as 6:1, it employs over 60 F/T equivalent staff. It's buildings are necessarily large and exposed to weather. Strategically, it offers high quality, `top of market' opportunities. Tile Barn is the cheapest, overall. As a camp site centre it currently employs just one full time permanent member of staff, with a part time permanent technician, and up to two seasonal staff wardens/instructors during the summer. Although the camping equipment provided is initially expensive, a carefully managed maintenance system ensures a slow rotation of replacement equipment. Strategically, the centre delivers a very low cost introduction to the outdoors.

4.1.3 The total running cost (gross cost) of each centre is thus:

Centre	Gross Cost (£) (2002-3)
Calshot Activities Centre	1,586,700
Mountain Centre , Wales	125,100
Beaulieu Development Centre	115,000
Tile Barn Outdoor Centre	78,200

4.2 Criteria 2 - The need to maintain and improve the quality of service provision

4.2.1 The expectations of schools, staff, young people and parents are increasing all the time. This relates to issues such as:

i) Accommodation and food.

ii) Equipment quality.

iii) Staff experience, knowledge and skills

iv) The environment of the centre

4.2.2 All of the Recreation and Heritage centres strive to improve their quality year on year. In Wales we have a structured programme to introduce ICT systems for students. A computer suite was installed last year. This year that will be completed, digital cameras made available for groups and a weather station installed. At Calshot, a high ropes course is planned for the Schneider Hangar, and a new slipway to be built. At Beaulieu two new initiative walls have been constructed. These small scale improvements have largely been funded from within the centre and service budgets, with additional help from partners such as the RNLI and the Calshot Association.

4.2.3 Staffing quality is a critical area for quality improvement in an outdoor centre. At both Wales and Beaulieu, a long standing (but frustrating) seasonal staff structure has been replaced by a new structure of permanent contracts allowing the centres to attract well trained teachers with high levels of knowledge and experience. This has led to less staff turnover and a more settled and consistent staff presence, thus bringing great benefits in terms of the quality of teaching experienced by groups. However, it is without doubt more expensive to do this than to employ younger and/or more temporary staff.

4.3 Criteria 3 - The need to work within set revenue support budgets

4.3.1 In common with all County Council services there is a clear requirement to ensure that the authority receives best value for the direct costs incurred in providing a service to the public. The Outdoor Service has therefore ensured that other funding opportunities are identified and accessed wherever possible.

4.3.2 It has been the case for many years that the majority of the funding for schools lies primarily with the schools themselves. In Hampshire this includes a major element that once helped to directly fund the outdoor centres. In order to access this, the service works hard at convincing schools of the value of outdoor education, and at advertising the Hampshire centres directly to schools. In consequence, some 50% of all Hampshire schools currently buy into the service, representing about 20,000 individual visits by young people.

4.3.3 The government has unlocked a number of additional funding opportunities aimed at providing greater access and inclusion to `out of school' activities. Hampshire has recently achieved a total of £1.2 million for a three year Summer Activities Programme for young people, in which all the centres have participated and benefited. In addition the department has lodged New Opportunity Fund applications with the DCMS for centre capital developments, with some revenue support

4.3.4 As a consequence, the centres currently require the following levels of revenue support (cash limited) from Recreation and Heritage.

Centre	Revenue Deficit (£)	% of turnover
Calshot	190,600	12
Wales	44,100	35
Tile Barn	39,900	51
Beaulieu Dev. Centre	21,900	19

4.3.5 These figures are used to support directly the instructional cost of working with the young people attending the centre. In addition, Calshot and Beaulieu also generate significant amounts of commercial income which underpins both the staff and plant/maintenance revenue costs of those centres. This helps to explain the relatively higher revenue subsidies provided to Wales and Tile Barn where such commercial income is less regular and less dramatic.

4.4 Criteria 4 - The need to address issues of access and inclusion

4.4.1 Unlike equivalent competitors in the private sector, a principle focus for all four centres is to assist the County Council in meeting it's corporate objectives with regard, particularly, to young people and stewardship of the environment.

4.4.2 The service has strong links with the County Youth Service and outdoor education features prominently in their Strategic Development Plan for 2003-6 as a means of meeting the targets set by the Youth Service for inclusion and youth development.

4.4.3 Consequently, in setting charges, the Outdoor Service is mindful of the need to ensure access within the context of that plan.

4.4.4 Additionally, a developing partnership is emerging with Social Services, with access to the Outdoor Centres being enabled as a part of the County Councils' `corporate parent' responsibilities.

4.4.5 In line with its 3 year Strategic Plan, the Outdoor Service has undertaken to support such groups and those children who may have difficulty in accessing the centres by ensuring that a level of financial or `in kind' support is available to schools and youth groups. Headteachers and other managers may apply directly to the Outdoor Activities Officer, who will enable access via a centrally held budget and through direct discussion with centre managers

4.5 Criteria 5 - A comparison with our competitors

4.5.1 It is recognised that schools and youth groups within Hampshire have full freedom of choice in their selection of an outdoor education provider. This means that the Outdoor Centres are in direct competition with other local authority centres in the region, and with private providers. Although there are many issue affecting a school's choice, price is often very relevant.

4.5.2 A comparison of prices is carried out annually with other providers offering similar courses to those at the Hampshire Centres, as part of the business planning process. In reality there are no direct `like for like' centres elsewhere in the UK, especially in the case of Calshot. For example, staff at the two centres compared below with Calshot are primarily very young and inexperienced, and ratios of students to staff are bigger with consequent reductions in the level of `activity quality' experienced by young people on courses.

4.5.3 Fees for 2002-3 at some of these comparison centres were as follows (comparative fees at the Hampshire Outdoor Centres are on page 9, para. 5.2)

nb: No clear comparison is available for Tile Barn

4.5.4 Charges at the Hampshire Outdoor Centres are therefore set in consideration of the fees charged by other providers.

4.6 Criteria 6 - The requirement to promote and maintain the highest possible levels of risk management.

4.6.1 In any outdoor education centre, safety and risk management should be the key principle underpinning the way the centre is run and all centre operational and staffing decisions.

4.6.2 In this context, high levels of risk management are achieved through a combination of good equipment and resources, and high calibre staff with low turnover rates.

4.6.3 On the basis that the County Council would wish to be clearly associated with `best practice' in the outdoors, it is the policy of the Outdoor Service to employ highly experienced and qualified staff at both instructional and management levels within the centres. In particular, to ensure the greatest levels of safety awareness amongst junior and younger staff, it is imperative that the service employs it's own group of coaches and trainers within the centres to ensure that both initial training and on-going risk management are as thorough and comprehensive as possible. It is also the case that the service is increasingly trying to phase out short term and temporary instructor posts in order to create a longer term stability amongst staff teams, thus ensuring both greater flexibility of staff deployment and a deeper pool of expertise and experience amongst instructors.

4.6.4 Such a policy is a more expensive option than employing young staff who are trained elsewhere, and who then leave after a few months to be replaced with more young staff who require training. However, it has the benefit of enabling the service to be very confident in the levels of training and supervision delivered to staff instructing a very broad range of hazardous activities

5. Charges in the Hampshire Centres.

5.1 As a consequence of the principles identified above, and through the business planning process, the following fee structures are in place for 2002-03

5.2 For the residential centres, the following fees are examples applicable to Hampshire young people for a five day residential stay.

Centre	Fee (£) Low Season	Fee (£) High Season
Calshot (Instruction and residential - 5 days)	155.00	200.00
Mountain Centre (Residential fee - 5 days)	27.50	27.50
Mountain Centre (Instructional fee per day)	7.80	7.80
Tile Barn (Residential only, 5 days)	9.60	9.60

nb. Both Tile Barn and Wales require groups to take their own food and transport. with subsequent additional cost attached.

5.3 For the Beaulieu Development Centre, day use charges per person are as follows.

Rate	Fee (£)
In County Primary Group	3.80
In County Secondary Group	6.90

5.4 These charges are reviewed annually and re-set by service managers each year in line with the principles identified above. As a consequence, all four centres have operated for many years within clearly defined budget targets whilst at the same time expanding the user base amongst schools and youth groups in Hampshire.

Recommendations

1) That, as an adjunct to the Outdoor Service Strategy, the principles underlying the charging structures for fees within the Hampshire Outdoor Centres, be supported and be submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration.

2) That the costs and background to the funding of the Unitary Authority centres be noted, and the current position be supported and be submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE LOCATION

Outdoor Centres Service - Strategic Plan 2002 - 2005, Outdoor Service Office, Strategic File