Interviews with:

Angela Woodhouse, Head of Change and Scrutiny; and

Ellie Kershaw, Policy and Performance Officer

The Chairman welcomed Angela Woodhouse, Head of Change and Scrutiny and Ellie Kershaw, Policy and Performance Officer to the meeting.  Ms Kershaw outlined the Annual Review of Complaints for 2010-2011 and the more robust approach taken with complaints monitoring over the past 12 months. The Officer explained that the over all purpose was improve overall customer satisfaction as well as using it as a tool for improvement with a focus on outcomes. The Committee was informed of training being delivered in conjunction with the Hazlitt Theatre, offering a chance to role play customer service scenarios as well as training in letter writing to eliminate the use of jargon and promote plain English. Members were informed that the next step would be to look at the Complaints Policy and that customers would be involved in the review. Ms Kershaw explained that complaints were now being categorised and that a new IT system was in development which would allow for reports to be run which would provide the finite detail needed to see where problems were occurring and for what reasons.

Members queried level 1 complaints; how they were established at the first point of contact and how they were dealt with.  The Officer explained that all online complaint forms were sent to the Contact Centre who decided whether or not they were complaints. If they were enquiries they would be forwarded via email to the relevant department.  Members were assured that reports run on a quarterly basis looked again at the details of the complaint and an adjustment could be made if it was actually an enquiry.  The Committee queried when an enquiry or complaint became an official complaint. It was explained that a request for service only became a complaint when the service was not carried out within the agreed timescales for service delivery.

The Committee made the suggestion that all complaints should be handled by the Contact Centre. The Officers advised that at present the Contact Centre did not have the resources to do this which could cause a problem with waiting times but this was something the Committee could evaluate in the performance statistics.  Members asked if there was a timeline for the review of the Complaints Policy.  Officers explained that the review had begun with a workshop with Officers; there would then be a  customer focus group and an online consultation with residents and a staff survey was already underway. Scrutiny would be welcome to review it prior to going to Cabinet in August

It was resolved that:

a)  Future reports should include how many enquiries or requests for service become complaints because they were not handled correctly at the first point of contact;

b)  Officers should investigate how issues passed on to Officers via Councillors from residents are recorded and a mechanism devised to record this in a cohesive manner;

c)  The Communications Strategy should address issues customers may have with communication skills, written or verbal, and any other factors which could hinder the customer including  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32