RECOMMENDATIONS from a council-commissioned strategic review of Leisure and Culture and Dundee (LACD), sets out options for significant changes and operational improvements.
If councillors back the move at a meeting next week, the first step would the creation of a joint council and LACD action plan focussing on areas including financial sustainability and meeting Council Plan objectives.
Mark Flynn convener of Dundee City Council’s city governance committee said: “With growing financial pressure on all public services, we commissioned this report as part of a process to ensure that LACD meets the current and future needs of our communities, aligns with best practice, is financially sustainable and provides value for money.
“It is also critical that when council money is being spent that it contributes to achieving one or more of our aims of reducing child poverty and inequalities in incomes, education and health; tackling climate change and building resilient and empowered communities.”
The six-month long review, by EKOS an independent consultancy specialising in economic and social research, considered the full cost of delivering leisure and cultural services, including those borne by Dundee City Council over and above its core management fee.
According to the review the cost of delivering leisure and culture services in the city has increased 9.7% in five years to £24.87 million in 2023/24, while income has gone down 4.1% over the same period.
That financial performance is reflected in LACD’s usage, which in 2023/24 showed a mixed recovery from the challenges posed by COVID-19, with visitor numbers in sport and leisure growing while libraries and culture have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
The city governance committee meets to consider the report on Monday (September 22).
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
