Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence received.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable

Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the

Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a) any business on the agenda

b) any urgent additional items to be considered

c) any matters arising out of those items and if appropriate, withdraw

from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List

of Key Decisions for any further information. NB: If Members wish to

discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to

move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with

the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local

Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the

meeting only).

The Monitoring Officer went through the items on the List of Key Decisions and Items to be Considered in Private document.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 22^nd January 2024.

Moved by Councillor Louise Fox and seconded by Councillor Vicky Wapplington

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Customer Services Scrutiny Committee held on 22^nd January 2024 be approved as a true and correct record.

The Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager presented the Q3 report to Members on performance in relation to the Council’s Customer Service Standards and the effective management of complaints.

The Committee were referred to Appendix 1 of the document, which listed the following: 80% of incoming calls for Revenues being achieved, above the target of 65%;  91% of Benefits calls being achieved, above that target of 78%; 100% of emails acknowledged in 1 working day; 99.7% of emails replied to within 8 working days, with 19 replied over that time; 78% of 15,976 incoming calls being answered within 20 seconds, above the 75% target; and 96% incoming Live Chats being answered within 20 seconds, above the 75% target.  These figures were for Q3.

Future reports would include data from the Leisure and Revenues and Benefits Departments, as these have their own directories and BDC needs to meet the Corporate Plan target.

The Committee were referred to Appendix 2 of the document which showed the performance for Q3 of unanswered calls, with 6% of incoming calls direct to service areas not being answered, though this was within the 10% target.  Departments meeting or exceeding this target included Finance and Accountancy, Audit, Revenues and Benefits, Joint ICT, Planning and Joint Environmental Health.

The Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager noted that a reminder to promote the 01246 242424 would be beneficial as the main customer contact, rather than individual officer direct dial extensions, to assist with meeting the target of 93% of calls being answered in 20 seconds; the figure for Q3 stood at 83%.

The Committee were referred to Appendix 3, which showed the number of written compliments received for the period by department: 69 compliments had been received; 9 comments had been made; and 63 complaints had been recorded during Q3.

1 Ombudsman complaint had been received for Q3, but a decision not to investigate was made as there had not been enough evidence to justify any fault in the way the Council had acted.

The Chair noted a lot of the targets were being made and surpassed, though work needed to continue to improve the Council’s services; it was important to catch the calls to direct lines, as this was where most of the complaints were being directed.  The Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager agreed, stating it was important to ensure staff had access to the softphone system to enable answering calls reliably from home.

Moved by Councillor Rita Turner and seconded by Councillor Amanda Davis

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Customer Service, Standards and Complaints Manager presented the report for the Committee to consider and provide feedback on the revised Complaints, Comments and Compliments Policy (CCC Policy).

As explained at the previous Committee meeting, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and the Housing Ombudsman (HO) had undertaken a consultation in November 2023 with a view to align both requirements for Local Authorities to respond to complaints effectively and fairly from the 1^st April 2024.  The Council had participated in the consultation and had provided information.  The purpose of this new Joint Complaint Handling Code was to enable resolution of complaints from individuals quickly, and to use the data and learning from complaints to drive improvements.

The Senior Leadership Team had been updated and the policy had been amended to incorporate both the LGSCO and HO to comply with, strengthen and clarify the requirements.  The policy submitted was for the Committee to comment on and confirm pre-approval.  The Customer Service, Standards and Complaints Manager was seeking pre-approval as the intent was for the policy to be implemented from the 1^st April 2024 to ensure a full year’s first report and a self-assessment be submitted to the Ombudsman and be made available to the public at the end of 2024/2025.  While the LGSCO does not specify the need for a submission before 1^st April 2025, the Council did not want two codes in effect so have chosen to implement the new policy from the 1^st April 2024.

The Customer Service Standards and Procedures would be updated and aligned to the policy, which may impact internal service area procedures.  The Senior Leadership Team and Service Managers had been updated and an overview would be delivered to all key Officers over the next few weeks; the removal of the informal complaints process would impact the Complaints Officer if an understanding of the policy requirements and the definitions of the service were not understood.

Service areas needed to ensure customers had the opportunity to make a complaint, and services must not look at the potential increase of complaints as a negative – it was to improve the services the Council provided.

The Customer Service, Standards and Complaints Manager referred the Committee to the amended and existing policies and the list of changes made in the provided document.  The Chair noted this was an extended report and thanked the Customer Service Team for their work.

Moved by Councillor Rita Turner and seconded by Councillor Vicky Wapplington

RESOLVED that the policy review be noted.

The Monitoring Officer explained the attached document was a note of what was coming up at the next Committee, as there was one meeting left before the end of the 2023/2024 municipal year.

Moved by Councillor Rita Turner and seconded by Councillor Vicky Wapplington

RESOLVED that the work programme be noted.

The Scrutiny Officer presented the review currently being undertaken on the Council’s waste disposal.  Ten recommendations had been drafted for approval to enable the report to be written for the Committee to put forward.  The Strategic Director of Services was also present to provide more information to the Committee.

The Committee asked and provided comments on the recommendations.  For recommendation 1, the Chair noted it was contamination of recycling material that was of greatest concern.

For recommendation 4, the Committee expressed disappointment that bin and recycling information could only be published in InTouch magazine twice a year, but this could be lobbied further in the future.  The Monitoring Officer stated there were only four editions of InTouch magazine a year, hence why recycling information was likely not being permitted in more than two issues.  The Chair offered reminders could be published, rather than all the recycling information, but expressed the importance of publishing this information regularly.  The Scrutiny Officer stated that the twice-a-year publishing was actually a minimum; there was no reason why the other two editions of InTouch magazines could not contain recycling information.

On recommendation 9, both the Scrutiny Officer and Strategic Director of Services explained the possibility of a future application for the entire Council was ambitious, but felt it was refreshing that other departments were expressing interest.  It was a long-term recommendation, as the current systems the Council operated on were not compatible, but by 2029/2030, new systems would be in place and one smart phone application covering all Council services could be achieved.

The Scrutiny Officer would take the recommendations and comments and provide an updated review in the coming weeks.