Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director, Neighbourhood Services, the purpose of which was to present performance in relation to complaints, compliments and suggestions for quarter 1, 2012/13 and to highlight any learning outcomes resulting from them. In addition the report provided an update in relation to developments in the collection, monitoring and management of complaints (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Service Development Manager was in attendance to deliver the report and an overview presentation of the statutory, non statutory and Local Government Ombudsman complaints received throughout the period (for copy of slides see file of Minutes).

Members raised concerns regarding complaints relating to the efficiency of the Council’s telephone service and the length of time it appeared to take for telephone calls to be handled. In response, the Service Development Manager advised that steps were being taken to increase resources at peak times when a higher volume of calls could be expected.

The Committee was advised that there was a queue system in place on the Councils main telephone lines, which indicated the position a caller was in a queue and also had a restriction on the queue size. Attempts had been made previously to implement an answerphone service, however that had been unsuccessful due to complaints being received if messages weren’t responded to the same day.

Members suggested that there should be an expectation that complaints against the Council could increase in areas where services were being reduced, for example, the changes which had recently been made to the provision of free school bus passes. The Service Development Manager agreed that an increase in complaints would be inevitable where service delivery was changing, and advised that all comments from Members would be fed back accordingly.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.