The Committee considered the report of the Head of Change and Scrutiny reviewing the Council’s performance in dealing with complaints during the period January to March 2011.  The Officers undertook to investigate and correct a number of numerical discrepancies in the Appendix to the report.

In response to questions by Members and Co-opted Members, the Officers explained that:-

·  Complaints arising from Council decisions were classified as policy complaints.  It was important to differentiate between a request for a service and a complaint which could, for example, result from the Council’s failure to respond to such a request.  Also, complaints about the conduct of Members were dealt with separately by the Monitoring Officer.  It was proposed that staff be reminded about what constituted a complaint.

·  The complaints procedure permitted a period of ten days in which to investigate and respond to complaints.  Failure to close a complaint in the prescribed timescale could be due to the complexity of the subject matter, but a holding response would be sent.

RESOLVED:

1.  That the Council’s performance in responding to complaints during the period January to March 2011 be noted and that the recommendations made in the report to bring about improvements in complaints handling be endorsed.

2.  That the broad categories of complaint be noted as well as the service area to enable easier trend analysis.

3.   That staff be reminded of what constitutes a complaint.