Appendix C: SCRAIP Update Report

Strategic Leadership and Corporate Services OSC

SLCS.140902.55.4

That the Head of Commercial and Economic Development be asked to consider distributing event notices for the attention of ward members, to ensure members are informed, and able to offer advice on events/festivals planned for their wards.

10-Oct-2014

Cabinet Member for Economic & Commercial Development

The council’s new Festivals and Events Policy aims to increase the number and quality of events held across the borough. The vast majority of these will be delivered by others and they will be given a toolkit and set of guidance to use where permission is required from us to put on the event – such as in one of our parks. We will be clear about the parameters for the event and will use our own experience to guide the event organiser in relation to planning the event. It would be impractical to issue individual notices to ward members, we could however issue a regular email to all members listing forthcoming events that we have given permission for and will investigate further how this can be done.

Dawn Hudd

SLCS.140902.55.5

That the presentation of the complaints report, with particular reference to the communication of numerical data and use of percentages, be reconsidered by report authors for future reports.

10-Oct-2014

Work will be carried out on changing the format and content of the complaints report for the quarter 2 report, particularly around the presentation of statistical data.

Sam Bailey

SLCS.140902.55.6

That the Shared Head of Environment and Public Realm be asked to ensure Medway Council's out of hours Contact Centre are aware of events/festivals taking place across Maidstone borough to ensure if complaints are received out of hours, these are passed on to the appropriate MBC staff to deal with in a timely fashion.

10-Oct-2014

The Environmental Enforcement Team will notify the Medway Contact Centre of any events that they are monitoring to enable any calls to be routed to them.

Gary Stevenson

SLCS.140902.55.7

That the communication process between Medway Contact Centre and Maidstone BC be clarified and reported back to the Committee via a SCRAIP update.

10-Oct-2014

The Out of Hours process is as follows:

Callers ringing 01622 602000 out of hours hear a long message giving details of what to do. If it is a matter of public safety, callers are asked to press 2 and the call is automatically diverted to Medway. We try to direct callers to the website for other nonurgent matters.

If a caller goes through to Medway then the Contact Centre staff will follow our A-Z of Actions to be taken out of hours. There is an entry for Event Safety for what to do if there is a health and safety issue at an event other than that it would be treated as a noise issue and in most cases the caller asked to report it on-line or call back the following day. If it is an event or case that Environmental enforcement is aware of and monitoring the Environmental Enforcement team is contacted.  

Gary Stevenson

SLCS.140902.55.8

That clarification be provided by the report author on sections 1.11.1 and 1.11.5 of the report with regard to the levels of complaints and compliments received per service.

10-Oct-2014

The figures for this quarter for complaints and compliments were correct, however what was stated in paragraph 1.11.5 was incorrect for this quarter. What was stated in this paragraph is generally true, however it was not the case this quarter due to the higher than usual number of complaints against Parks and Leisure and the high number of compliments received by various teams this quarter.

Sam Bailey

SLCS.140915.64.2

That a cross-party workshop, open to all Members, be set up to help with the planned review of the Council’s Equality Objectives to ensure Objectives for 2015-18 meet the needs of the local community and complement the new Strategic Plan.

15-Oct-2014

Leader of the Council

Agreed this will take place in January so that the results of the peer review of the Equality Duty for Local Government can feed into the objective review.

Clare Wood

SLCS.140915.64.3

That findings from the cross-party (Equalities Objectives) workshop be reported back to the Strategic Leadership and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee to ensure formal recommendations can be made.

15-Oct-2014

Workshop is due to take place in January with finding reporting back to Committee in February/March.

Clare Wood

SLCS.141007.75.4

That a detailed briefing note on performance indicators HSG 005 and HSG 009 (homelessness) be prepared by the Financial Inclusion and Maidstone Families Matter Programme Manager for inclusion in the Mid Year Performance Report, for consideration by Committee on 2 December 2014.

10-Nov-2014

Cabinet Member for Corporate Services; Cabinet Member for Environment and Housing

Agreed

Ellie Kershaw; Clare Wood

SLCS.141007.75.5

That the figures with regard to the four year decline in reported instances of fly tipping be provided to the Committee.

10-Nov-2014

Cabinet Member for Environment and Housing

Data provided to the committee clerk to circulate.

Clare Wood