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Purpose: For Decision

Committee EXECUTIVE

Date TUESDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2015

Title LIBRARIES REVIEW – OUTCOME OF CONSULTATION

Report to EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR TOURISM, CULTURE AND HERITAGE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. This report details the outcome of the public consultation that has been undertaken on proposed changes to the delivery of the council’s public libraries, taking into account other information prepared for the review.

2. The report proposes changes that if implemented will see the council working in partnership with town and parish councils to deliver library services in Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor, as well as some changes to the mobile library service.

BACKGROUND

3. The council has a duty to provide a “comprehensive and efficient library service” for the Isle of Wight. It does this through the six libraries it directly manages and the mobile library service. Council officers identified further potential efficiencies in the way in which the council delivers the service overall which were accepted by Full Council when it agreed the medium term financial plan in February 2015. The additional benefit of the identified efficiencies was that they offered an opportunity for closer working with more town and parish councils in the affected areas, giving them the ability to make better use of the library buildings for the benefit of their communities.

4. Some of the efficiency savings agreed were based on the reorganisation of the management of the service and have largely been achieved. The relocation of Library HQ from Somerton and consequent reorganisation of Lord Louis Library has achieved annual savings of £114,107 in a full year. Further staff savings are being implemented to increase this to full year savings of £182,866. There still remains a balance of the £97,134 of the total expected savings of £280,000.

5. Efficiencies in some of the branch libraries will deliver the balance of the proposed savings but could not be formally considered without the completion of a public consultation exercise. This paper reports on the results of the exercise which

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considered the nature of the delivery of services in Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor. These three libraries where selected on the basis that the remaining three libraries in Newport, Ryde and Sandown were either more efficient or were an integral part of the council’s own customer contact arrangements.

6. The council has consulted on possible changes to the way it provides its library services. The three proposals consulted on were:

(1) The delivery of library services in Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor in partnership with town and parish councils

(2) Changes to the mobile library service (3) Reduction of opening hours at Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor libraries.

7. As outlined in the paper the delivery of these further savings will ideally be made in

association with local town and parish councils but it will be necessary to agree to formally review progress where this is not achievable.

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

8. One of the council’s key priorities as stated in the Corporate Plan 2015-17 is “ensuring that all the resources available to the island are used in the most effective way in achieving the island’s priorities” (Priority 4) and the options and recommendations in this paper are intended to support the delivery of this priority.

9. The library service is now focussing its work around five key areas which are being developed nationally in library services across the country. These are health, learning, reading, digital and information, which align to both national and local agendas.

CONSULTATION

10. There has been an eight week period of public consultation (6 July – 6 September 2015) including an advert in the County Press, a press release, awareness on the council website, notification direct to town and parish councils and leaflets and posters in all the island libraries, leisure centres and help centres. The consultation was available both online and in paper format.

11. There were 1,032 responses to the survey from members of the public. In addition 30 emails or letters were received including 5 from town and parish councils. A detailed summary of the responses is set out in Appendix 1, but the highlights include:

• 74.4 % of respondents said they would use a partnership run library. However, many respondents said they would use such a library only if there was no other choice. The results from the users of the three affected libraries are:

Cowes 82% yes Freshwater 87% yes Ventnor 70% yes

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• 52% of respondents said that they would support a partnership run library reducing its opening times to 21 hours a week. Again, many respondents also noted that they would do so only if there were no other alternative. The results from the users of the three affected libraries are:

Cowes 51% yes Freshwater 64% yes Ventnor 42% yes

• 87% of respondents who answered that they use the mobile library also said

that they use other libraries.

12. Data gathered by the library service for 2013 – 14 revealed that the mobile library had 631 active borrowers. Of those, 297 people also borrowed items from other libraries, meaning that almost 50% of mobile library users also borrow items from other libraries (Appendix 4).

13. A four week consultation period was held for staff so that they could contribute their

views into the process. Staff were sent all of the details about the current review and a full staff meeting was held so that staff could feedback on any issues. A list of frequently asked questions was sent out which answered some of the questions that had already been raised alongside others that were anticipated. A member of Unison staff also attended that meeting. Offers were made to have 1:1 meetings with staff if the staff requested them. Many staff have already met with members of the library management team to discuss particular issues. A meeting with the library management and Unison has also been held during this period.

14. A staff meeting was held before the public consultation began so they were fully

briefed about the proposals being considered and how these affected staff.

Response from town and parish councils with libraries affected by the proposals

15. Each of the three town and parish councils which may be affected by the proposals were met by officers of IWC so that they could be informed about the consultation and how the proposals may affect the library in their area. The suggestion of how a partnership run library could work including staffing, costings and responsibility for the building were outlined and discussed.

16. The council was asked to get an up to date condition survey on each of the three

library buildings concerned. This is currently underway and should be ready for negotiations with town and parish councils should they be required. It is expected that significant levels of repairs will be needed on some of the buildings.

17. It is possible that different scenarios may need to be put in place following

discussions with the town and parish councils, depending on the outcome of the consultation and their appetite for working alongside IWC to keep a library in their community.

Freshwater Parish Council

18. The parish council has been working hard in preparation for the proposed changes with the Friends Group of Freshwater Library. They have set up a working group with

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members of both organisations and they have already shared their ambitions with the council. The response from the parish council concludes, “I therefore trust that the consultation process will conclude the need for the library service to continue, at least in the form of a Community Supported Library and that IWC will fully support Freshwater Parish Council in its ambition to maintain and develop the facility beyond the IWC’s remit.”

19. Freshwater Parish Council have demonstrated that they wish to work with the council

in the near future to enable a partnership run Library to come into being.

Ventnor Town Council

20. Ventnor Town Council has submitted a paper in response to the consultation process where they have clearly identified that they believe the library should remain staffed by two members of staff. They have provided a statistical breakdown of their community using the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) statistics which they commissioned for Ventnor, and have compared some usage figures to those of Sandown Library. It is recognised by IWC that Ventnor contains two deprived wards in its area. However, the cost of loaning an item to a customer and the cost per visit to Ventnor library (and Cowes and Freshwater libraries) are significantly higher than that of Sandown library which is proposed to remain as a full council-provided library. The following figures were provided to Ventnor Town Council and updated figures for 2014-15 are in appendix 4 of this committee report:-

Net cost

2013 - 14

Visits

2013 - 14

Items loaned 2013 - 14

Cost/visit Cost/Item loaned

Cowes £41,834 53,204 36,352 £0.79 £1.15

Freshwater £39,468 44,940 39,119 £0.88 £1.00

Ventnor £45,223 43,092 30,736 £1.05 £1.47

Sandown £47,331 75,190 52,530 £0.63 £0.90

21. Ventnor town council has already identified a half year figure for the building running costs of Ventnor library in their 15/16 budget. They budgeted for this as they expected that the changes in the Medium Term Budget Strategy paper agreed by Full Council in February 2015 might take place from October. They are willing to commit to the full year running costs of the building from 1 April 2016. However this does not include the works necessary to make the building fit for purpose.

22. The town council would still like to see the library move from its current location

(Ventnor High Street) to Ventnor Central (East Street) as this move would see a positive impact for both the town and the library service and was supported in the results of their “Our Place” survey.

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Cowes Town Council

23. The council received an email from the Clerk of Cowes Town Council on the 11th September saying, “I have been asked to write to you to ask for a decision about the future of the library to be made, asap, and Cowes Town Council request that the provision of a library service in Cowes remains unchanged”

Mobile Library Service Changes

24. Since the review of library services in 2011, a number of changes have taken place to the mobile library schedule. Eight mobile library stops which attracted no customers were removed from the schedule following consultation with the relevant parish councils. The library service has also started working in partnership with AgeUK to deliver the home library service in the Newport area through their Good Neighbour scheme.

25. It is proposed to continue the rationalisation of underused mobile library stops and to

extend the existing partnership work with AgeUK to deliver the home library service across the island. This would result in better use of vehicles, lower staff costs, longer visits by the mobile library to stops with high usage and improved services to home library service customers.

OPTIONS

26. The options available to the council are:

Option 1 To make no further changes to the library service beyond what was already planned with the move of Library Headquarters to Lord Louis Library, reduction in size of Lord Louis Library and deletion of one librarian and one back office post

Option 2 To authorise officers to begin negotiations with the town and parish councils to deliver partnership library services in Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor keeping their current opening hours

Option 3 To authorise officers to begin negotiations with the town and parish councils to deliver partnership library services in Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor and reduce the opening hours to 21 hours per week in Cowes (currently 24.5), Freshwater (currently 24.5) and Ventnor (currently 24)

Option 4 To authorise officers to complete the negotiations with the town and parish councils using the template lease based on that used with the community libraries previously (Appendix 3)

Option 5 To reduce the mobile library provision by making some changes to routes and stops which will be identified through further investigation of the customer base and extend the partnership with AgeUK to improve the way the Home Library Service is delivered and reduce costs. Consultation with mobile library users and town and parishes affected will be undertaken to enable the library service to get best value from the vehicles and staff by August 2016.

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Option 6 - To report back to Executive in January on the outcome of the negotiations with the town and parish councils and any issues which may have arisen

FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

27. As part of its budget strategy Full Council committed to a budget saving target of £140,000 for 2015/16 and a full yearly saving of £280,000 from 2016/17 ongoing, to be delivered from changes to the library service. To achieve this, the service delivery needs to change.

28. Changes already made to the library service include reductions in the bookfund, the relocation of Library Headquarters at Somerton to Lord Louis Library and the subsequent reorganisation of the public space at Lord Louis Library. This has already produced in year savings of £90,561 with full year effect of £114,107 from April 2016.

29. The relocation of Library HQ has also made possible other significant savings for the council, including the relocation of the ICT team from Bugle House to the vacated offices at Somerton. The library service continues to be a resource for the council in a number of ways; in supporting some help centre functions including space and support for the provision of self-service terminals, by receiving and checking concessionary bus pass applications, the sale of some 40,000 garden sacks annually, the supply of recycling bags, sale of visitor parking permits, assisting with residents in their use of online council services and providing information about other council and government services.

30. To complete the changes already made as outlined in option 1 and achieve full year savings of £182,866, there will be a reduction of 44 hours of library assistant posts at Lord Louis Library at grade 4A saving a further £24,358. The post of one of the three professionally qualified Development Librarians on grade 11A, would also be deleted saving a further £44,401 from 2016/17 although there may be potential capitalised pension costs in the region of £44,000 which will impact on these savings. This saving will be ongoing but the capitalised cost may be spread over 3 years.

31. Options 2, 3 and 4 could see the reduction of the cost to the council of utility and running costs at the partnership-run libraries as these will be paid for potentially by town and parish councils.

32. Utility and maintenance costs 2015 – 16, consisting of gas, electricity, water, rates, cleaning and premises insurance amounted to a total of £34,491 for the three libraries reviewed in this paper.

33. In options 2 and 3, there is a planned reduction of 2 Senior Assistant posts at Scale 6A, 22 hours per week equating to £28,249. However, these posts could be included in the negotiations with town and parish councils as it is possible that one or more of the town and parish councils may wish to fund these posts. (This is two senior assistant posts rather than three as a voluntary redundancy has already taken place at Freshwater library.)

34. Option 5 would see a part year reduction in costs for one mobile library driver assistant, with full year costs from 2017-18 ongoing of £23,847 and some savings from the operating costs of the mobile library fleet.

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LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

35. The council has a duty to provide a “comprehensive and efficient” library service under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act which it currently operates through its six public libraries and the mobile library service. The council’s statutory provision, which is the requirement of the Act, was confirmed in a letter to the council from the Secretary of State in May 2013. The five community libraries fall outside of the council’s statutory provision, and these libraries would have closed if community groups had not come forward to run them.

36. Option 1 would have no impact on the legal requirements as the service would broadly remain the same.

37. Options 2 and 3 are likely to meet the council’s statutory provision as reduction in budget can be taken into account as part of the needs assessment.

38. Option 4. Any agreement with town and parish councils would ensure that the council as The Library Authority would be able to meet its duties under the 1964 Act.

39. Option 5 is likely to meet the council’s statutory provision as reduction in budget can be taken into account as part of the needs assessment, but there will be a need to consult with town and parish councils and affected customers once potential changes to routes and stops have been identified. It is anticipated that the impact of these changes will be minimal and affect a very small number of people. It is possible that a library service could be delivered to these people in different ways. Mitigations for this are included in the Equality Impact Assessment for mobile libraries.

40. Any necessary redundancies must be carried out in accordance with council policies and in compliance with employment law legislation to avoid any claims for unfair dismissal. Any TUPE implications must be carefully considered before any library services change. The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) must be complied with in order to avoid the cost of unfair dismissal claims and Employment Tribunals.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

41. The council as a public body is required to meet its statutory obligations under the Equality Act 2010 to have due regard to eliminate unlawful discrimination, promote equal opportunities between people from different groups and to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

42. The options considered in this paper will provide continuation of the service in its current format. Any option will present issues that will impact on some of those groups with protected characteristics. Appendix 2 includes a stage 1 and stage 2 Equality Impact Assessment. It is possible that there may be some negative impact on two of the characteristics and the EIAs set out how this can be mitigated.

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PROPERTY IMPLICATIONS

43. A condition survey has been commissioned on each of the three libraries Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor as requested. These will be used to inform further decisions following discussions with town and parish councils. If the town and parish councils wish to take control of the library buildings in these areas then this will be by way of a twenty five year lease of the form shown in Appendix 3.

RISK MANAGEMENT

44. If no further changes are made to the library service the council will not achieve the full £280,000 savings identified for the library service and these savings will have to be identified from other council services. Full year savings achieved so far are £114,107. This sum would be increased once the final reduction of 44 hours of library assistants at Lord Louis Library and the reduction of one of the three librarians have been completed. An additional £97,134 would need to be identified from other council services.

45. The feedback from the town and parish councils in Cowes Freshwater and Ventnor have shown that “a one size fits all approach” will not be achievable and there is significant concern in two locations that an insufficient number of volunteers would be available. It is possible that different scenarios in terms of staffing may be required in the different locations. This may affect the level of savings set against this budget line then the council would need to find alternative ways of achieving these savings.

46. It is possible as was the case previously that some library partnerships with town and

parish councils may take a little longer to achieve fruition than others. If this is the case then this would have a negative impact on the savings target.

47. If negotiations with one or more of the town and parish councils fail to result in

delivering a partnership-based library service by April 2016 this could result in a considerable reduction of library service in the town or village affected as the council needs to consider alternative forms of delivery and adjust opening hours.

48. There may be some objections to the removal of individual mobile library stops by

town and parish councils or by individual service users. The impact could be mitigated by transferring individuals who cannot access library services elsewhere to the Home Library service.

49. It may be that AgeUK are unable to recruit sufficient volunteers to their Good

Neighbour scheme to extend the partnership working to deliver the Home Library Service across the whole island. If this is the case, library volunteers and Friends and Supporters groups could be invited to participate in the delivery this service, while revised mobile library schedules will allow for the continuation of some Home Library service deliveries.

EVALUATION

50. Option 1 will not allow the savings identified in the agreed Medium Term Financial plan to be realised in full. However the changes made to date will deliver £114,401 in a full year. This option alongside the savings already planned as in paras 23 and 24 (£68,759) would leave the council with a shortfall of £96k to be found elsewhere.

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51. Option 2 and 3 will authorise officers to work with town and parish councils and has

the potential to meet the savings criteria in full and to continue to offer a similar service to the public. Option 4 would further allow officers to base such a partnership on a similar lease to those in existence elsewhere. This would facilitate sensible discussions to be had with Town and Parishes in a timely manner

52. Option 5 by itself will contribute £23,847 to the service’s savings target from 2017-18

and allow the council to meet its statutory requirements.

RECOMMENDATION

53. Option 2. To authorise Commercial Services to begin negotiations with the town and parish councils to deliver partnership library services in Cowes, Freshwater and Ventnor keeping their current opening hours.

54. Option 4. To authorise Commercial Services to complete the negotiations with the

town and parish councils using the template lease based on that used with the community libraries previously (Appendix 3)

55. Option 5. To reduce the mobile library provision by making some changes to routes and stops which will be identified through further investigation of the customer base and extend the partnership with Age UK to improve the way the Home Library Service is delivered and reduce costs. Consultation with mobile library users and town and parishes affected will be undertaken to enable the library service to get best value from the vehicles and staff by August 2016.

56. Option 6. To report back to Executive in January on the outcome of the negotiations

with the town and parish councils and any issues which may have arisen.

APPENDICES ATTACHED

57. Appendix 1 A summary and analysis of the survey results of the Libraries Public Consultation

58. Appendix 2 Library Service Equality Impact Assessment 59. Appendix 3 Template lease 60. Appendix 4 Library Report 2015 61. Appendix 5 Equality Impact Assessments – Mobile Library Option

Contact Point: John Metcalfe, Deputy Managing Director 01983 821000 Email john.metcalfe@iow.gov.uk

JOHN METCALFE Deputy Managing Director

COUNCILLOR IAN STEPHENS Executive Member for Tourism,

Culture and Heritage