Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Amanda Davis, Lisa Powell and Mary Dooley (Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing).

There were no urgent items of business.

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 made.

To consider the minutes of the last two meetings held on Tuesday the 5th of May 2026 and Monday 23^rd of March 2026.

Moved by Councillor Emma Stevenson and seconded by Councillor Rita Turner

RESOLVED that the minutes of meetings of the Customer Services Scrutiny Committee held on 23^rd March 2026 and 5^th May 2026 be approved as true and correct records.

The Committee considered the List of Key Decisions and Items to be Considered in Private.

RESOLVED that the List of Key Decisions and Items to be Considered in Private be noted.

The Customer Service, Standards and Complaints Manager presented the report to the Committee to provide information on the Council’s performance in relation to its customer service standards and the number of Compliments, Comments and Complaints received for Quarter 4 2025/26 (1^st January 2026 to 30^th March 2026) and an Annual Summary on the above for 2025/26.

Revenues had achieved 81% of incoming calls answered within 20 seconds for Quarter 4 2025/26 (target 70%), with cumulative performance for 2025/26 being 84%.  Benefits had achieved 89% of incoming calls answered within 20 seconds for Quarter 4 2025/26 (target 80%), with cumulative performance for 2025/26 being 90%.

In Quarter 4 2025/26, Revenues had received 5,476 emails and Benefits had received 1,667 emails – all had been acknowledged within 1 working day.

For Quarter 4 2025/26, Contact Centres had achieved 77% of incoming calls answered within 20 seconds (target 75%) with cumulative performance for 2025/26 being 78% with 70,359 calls answered (the target for 2026/27 would increase to 80%).

For 2025/26, the overall average incoming call wait time was 31 seconds, and the average call handling time was 4 minutes and 47 seconds – a slight decrease from previous years.

In the same period, Contact Centres had acknowledged all 8,328 email enquiries received within 1 working day (meeting the target of 100%), with 99.7% of emails replied to within 8 working days (target was 100%).

For 2025/26, a total of 31,628 emails were handled and 100% were answered within 8 working days.

Contact Centres had answered 82% of incoming Live Chats within 20 seconds for Quarter 4 2025/26 (target 90%), with 765 chats answered out of 791 in total.

For 2025/26, 86% of live chats were answered (target was 90%) with 2,435 chats answered out of 2,490.

63 Compliments had been received during Quarter 4 2025/26, with Go! Active receiving 12 Customer Feedback Form Compliments within this time.

27 Comments had been received with all acknowledged and passed to the respective department within the target time of 5 working days during Quarter 2 2025/26.  Go! Active had received 9 Customer Feedback Forms within this time.

70 Stage 1 Complaints had been recorded in Quarter 4 2025/26, with 12 M.P. Enquiries received during the same period.  98% of Stage 1 Complaints and 100% M.P. Enquiries had been responded to within the Council’s Customer Service Standard of 10 working days.

10 Stage 2 Complaints had been recorded in Quarter 4 2025/25 with 100% responded to within the Council’s Customer Service Standard of 20 working days.

2 Local Government Ombudsman Complaints had been received for investigation during Quarter 4 2025/26 – the Council was awaiting determination regarding these cases.

The report further detailed the service improvements made (“the Leisure department will make arrangements to ensure a deeper clean of the changing rooms happens more frequently” was 1 of the examples provided to the Committee) following receipt of applicable Comments and Complaints.

The report additionally provided 2025/26’s performance in comparison with previous years, and when compared  ...  view the full minutes text for item CS6-26/27

The Tenant Engagement Officer presented the report to the Committee.

The current Tenant Engagement Strategy 2023-2026 (the ‘Strategy’) was due for review, and the report outlined the proposed refreshed strategy, summarised the consultation (to the writing of the report) and enabled formal consultation with the Committee before submission to Executive.

The Strategy set out 4 objectives:

·       Objective 1: Ensure two-way information and communication;

·       Objective 2: Provide accessible and varied ways to achieve meaningful engagement which added value;

·       Objective 3: Empower tenants to influence and scrutinise landlord services, strategies and policies; and,

·       Objective 4: Ensure tenants views were welcomed, respected and acted upon to drive continuous improvement.

The proposed outline of the updated Strategy for 2026-2029 had been presented to and approved by the Housing Liaison Board January 2026 (for further development / consultation).

Locality Group sessions had been held to enable tenant review.  These sessions had been face-to-face and held at community venues with discussions on:

·       Tenant perceptions of good tenant engagement;

·       The importance and value of tenant involvement;

·       A brief overview of the history of tenant engagement; and,

·       The proposed Strategy.

Tenants were asked to identify which existing engagement activities should continue and suggest any new approaches – feedback and suggestions had been used to refine the Strategy and develop the Tenant Engagement Action Plan 2026–2029.

Further tenant consultation continued and all responses would be considered before the Strategy was submitted to Executive.

Once approved, monitoring would take place every 6 months by the Housing Liaison Board.

Moved by Councillor Emma Stevenson and seconded by Councillor David Bennett

RESOLVED that Scrutiny Members review the proposed objectives, priorities and milestones outlined within the Strategy and provide feedback, as necessary, as part of the consultation process

The Tenant Engagement Officer and Mr. Andrew Washbourne, of the Council’s tenant led Challenge and Change Group, presented the report to the Committee.

Tenants could engage with the Council via the Challenge and Change Group (the ‘Group’) – this Group delivered the tenant scrutiny function of the tenant engagement and governance structure.

A review of the Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Service had been chosen by the Group, which had taken place August 2025 to April 2026.

During the review, tenants had been supported by the Tenant Engagement Officer, Housing Services Manager and the Community Safety and Enforcement Manager.

Tenants had agreed recommendations across 4 areas:

·       Clarification of information provided to tenants on ASB;

·       Clarification of procedure and processes for dealing with ASB;

·       Clarification if the Council used its full range of powers / tools available to handle ASB; and,

·       Develop an ASB service standard for Housing tenants as part of the wider agreement of service standards.

The Group’s review was attached at Appendix 2.

It was noted a small number of review recommendations had been changed or confirmed as not required / possible by service areas, including 1.5, 2.4 (in the new report it would be listed as 2.7) and 5.1 (the Community Rangers’ uniforms could not be changed due to ASB being but one of their responsibilities).

Moved by Councillor Emma Stevenson and seconded by Councillor David Bennett

RESOLVED that the Customer Services Scrutiny Committee note the recommendations of the Bolsover Tenants Challenge and Change Group in relation to the Anti-Social Behaviour service.

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report to the Committee.

The Committee and Local Growth Scrutiny Committee had undertaken a joint review of security arrangements at The Arc, Clowne focussing on the policies, protocols and procedures in place and to examine how security for staff, public and Members could be improved as part of their respective 2024/25 Work Programmes.

The Joint Committee had put together 11 recommendations to assist the Council in improving security and safety arrangements at The Arc, Clowne.

6 out of the 11 recommendations had been achieved: CSSC23-24 2.1; CSSC/LGSC 24-25 2.3; CSSC/LGSC 24-25 2.6; CSSC/LGSC 24-25 2.7; CSSC/LGSC 24-25 2.8; and CSSC/LGSC 24-25 2.10.

The remaining 5 were on track with 0 extended.

The Strategic Director of Services informed of some of the wider security arrangements being made following the review and in consideration of new duties under Martyn’s Law and Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.

Whilst most work identified following the review had been internally managed / developed, the Derbyshire Constabulary had attended The Arc, Clowne to inspect / advise any other security measures required / to be developed.

Moved by Councillor Lousie Fox and seconded by Councillor Emma Stevenson

RESOLVED that: 1) Scrutiny Members note the progress against the review recommendations;

2)    Scrutiny Members acknowledge any exceptions to delivery and clarify the additional action required by the service;

3)    Scrutiny Members make its report and findings public, in accordance with Part 4.5.17(4) of the Council’s Constitution; and

4)    Officers continue to implement the recommendations and submit a further report in six months’ time highlighting progress and any exceptions to delivery.

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report to the Committee.

The proposed Work Programme 2026/27 was attached at Appendix 1 and was subject to change should additional reports / presentations be required, or if items required re-arranging.

Moved by Councillor Emma Stevenson and seconded by Councillor Rita Turner

RESOLVED that Members review this report and the Programme attached at Appendix 1 for approval and amendment as required.  All Members are advised to contact the Scrutiny Officer should they have any queries regarding future meetings.

The Chair thanked all those in attendance.