Agenda item

(i)    Report of the Assistant Chief Executive.

(ii)   Presentation by Su Jordan, CCU Programme Office Manager, Assistant Chief Executive’s.

The committee considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive to present to members the revised corporate complaints policy following the Corporate Complaints Review agreed by Cabinet on 10 June 2015 (for a copy of the report and slides of presentation see file of minutes).

Su Jordan, Civil Contingencies Unit and Programme Office Manager, Assistant Chief Executive’s was in attendance to give members a presentation outlining the key revision to the corporate complaints policy.

The presentation looked at the Corporate Complaints Review, Baseline Process, Baseline Volume, Timescales, Customer Feedback, Officer Feedback, Themes from Feedback, Ideas for Improvement, Testing the Ideas, Direct Contact, Service Ownership, Learning Cycle, Lessons Learned, Policy, The Revised Process and Implementation.

The Chairman thanked Su Jordan for her very informative presentation and that he was pleased that there was a process for dealing with vexatious complaints.

Councillor Wilkes indicated that he was pleased with the way it was moving forward but he was concerned with the difference in targets and who would be monitoring.

The Civil Contingencies Unit and Programme Office Manager responded that they had a lot of historical data so they knew what the target should be.

Councillor Wilkes then went on to ask about what was classed as a complaint. Officers responded that there would be an assessment by the team and they would talk to the customer.

Councillor J Armstrong welcomed the positive report in particular the vexatious policy. He asked that it be monitored in 6 or 7 months’ time. The Civil Contingencies Unit and Programme Office Manager responded that evidence should be available after December and would form part of the Customer Relations, Policy and Performance Manager’s report.

Councillor L Armstrong commented that the report made sense and if a complaint could be resolved in 10 minutes this would be better. He also referred to Facebook and Twitter and asked if this could be monitored and some of the comments removed. The Customer Relations, Policy and Performance Manager responded that it was monitored and comments were removed but they received complaints regarding the removal of comments.

Councillor Henig thanked the Civil Contingencies Unit and Programme Office Manager for her report.

In response to questions from Councillor Henig the Civil Contingencies Unit and Programme Office Manager and the Customer Relations, Policy and Performance Manager indicated that they had a guidance pack for staff and training had been provided. The Local Government Ombudsman had produced a booklet on how to handle complaints and they had used some of this for the training and guidance.

The pilot scheme had showed that some people just wanted an apology and the incident resolved. The form on the website asked for the outcomes and they were looking to have more realistic service standards. They were learning but the pilot had not been running long enough to get information but this would eventually be fed through.

Resolved:

That the revised Corporate Complaints Policy that included a new approach for dealing with abusive, unreasonably persistent or vexatious complaints be noted.