PAPER G
For Decision
Committee : EXECUTIVE
Date : 2 JULY 2002
Title : THE FUTURE OF TOURISM SERVICES
PORTFOLIO HOLDER – TOURISM AND LEISURE
BACKGROUND
1. At its meeting on 13
June 2002, the Economic Development, Planning, Tourism and Leisure Services
Select Committee discussed the attached
paper. In addition to the members
of the Select Committee, the Chairman invited the six commercial directors of
Isle of Wight Tourism and representatives of Southern Vectis and Hovertravel to
join the meeting and to participate fully in the discussion.
2. A full discussion took
place of the three options for the future organisational arrangements for
Tourism Services which flowed from the recent Best Value Review of Tourism,
namely:
Option 1: Leave within IW Council – IW Tourism stays
as part of Finance and Information Directorate and partnership arrangements
remain as they are. (This has now been
temporarily superseded by the arrangements put in place at the 21 May Executive
meeting).
Option 2: Integrate IW Tourism within the IW Council –
Create a separate and additional directorate which has in it Tourism and other
associated services e.g. Leisure, Parks & Gardens, Beaches, Culture.
Option 3: Externalise
the function to a trust or limited company – IW Tourism moved outside the
authority to become a trust or private company. Link this organisation via a service level agreement with IW
Council. The client function would
remain within the Council but the new Tourism Body would have operational and
marketing responsibility.
OUTCOMES
3. It was decided to
recommend to the Executive that Option 3 should be pursued and that the
Executive is recommended to recommend this to the Council at the next available
meeting. This was supported by the
commercial Tourism partners.
4. Although the Select
Committee recommend that this decision is taken by the Council as soon as
practicable, they also recognise that a significant amount of detailed work and
investigation will be required to make this a reality, not least the important
decision whether it is more appropriate to form a Trust or a Limited
Company. The Select Committee recommend
that they be asked to carry out this detailed work once the decision in
principle is made. They would report to
the Executive as work progresses and particularly when decisions have to be
made by the Executive.
5. If the Council agree to
the externalisation, it is recommended that a “Head of Tourism” be appointed as
soon as possible who will be charged with the task of externalising Tourism
Services in accordance with the Council’s wishes.
6. The commercial Tourism
Partners were very keen to be involved in the process of externalisation and
the Chairman of the Select Committee expressed his willingness to keep them
involved and informed.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The
Executive is recommended to:
1. recommend to the Council the
externalisation of Tourism Services to a trust or limited company;
2. ask the Select Committee to work out an
implementation plan showing tasks, timescales and reviewing arrangements if the
Council agree to externalise Tourism Services;
3. proceed with the appointment of a “Head
of Tourism” once the Council decision with regard to externalisation is known.
BACKGROUND
PAPERS
Report
to Economic Development, Planning, Tourism and Leisure Services Select
Committee 13 June 2002-06-24
Contact
Point: ALAN KAYE, HEAD OF PAID SERVICE
Tel: 823400 (Ref: A1008)
|
A KAYE Head of Paid Service |
M A JARMAN Portfolio Holder for
Tourism and Leisure |