Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. No apologies had been received.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Wednesday 16 March).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

None.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 14 February 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Performance Monitoring

The Assistant Directors for Transformation and Commercial and for Communities provided a summary of the performance information for Quarter 3 (October to December 2021) which was included in Appendix 1 of the Agenda report.

During the discussion which took place, the following main points were raised:

·      Referring to previous concerns about the poor performance of registration of deaths within 5 days, which had prompted a letter from the Panel (to Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group), the Assistant Director for Communities was very pleased to report that performance was now back on track; December’s percentage of deaths registered was 80.1%, which also compared well nationally.

·      The balanced scorecard was in the process of being reviewed to ensure it remained relevant.

·      Sickness rates were shown to be deteriorating, however the Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Corporate Services and Communication reassured the Panel that having raised this with the Assistant Director for Organisational Development, Human Resources and Engagement, he could report that performance was in fact improving and that the data, which related to 2020 would be updated to show the correct position.

·      The CMR also advised that staff turnover was considerably healthy compared to similar public sector organisations and was an area of focus corporately.

·      Responding to Panel members’ questions, the Assistant Director for Transformation and Commercial confirmed that as part of the Council’s sickness policy, staff were not paid for the first three days of sickness, although they could take up to two days annual leave; this was not typical of local authorities although there were a number which took the same approach.

·      A Panel member stated that she felt this was a bad policy, however another Panel member who was also an employer, felt that the approach mirrored statutory sick pay and was a satisfactory approach.

·      The CMR advised that long term sickness rate was currently an area of key concern which had been impacted by Long Covid-19; the performance data may need to be presented differently to clarify this, which the Panel Chairman agreed would be helpful.

·      In terms of any impact on sickness figures from staff returning to working in office on some days, as opposed to home working, trends had remained relatively static over the past three months although during Covid lockdowns there had been a reduction in sickness from people mixing less.

·      The Assistant Director for Communities acknowledged Panel members’ concerns about the fact that visits to libraries were half that of pre-pandemic levels. Regarding what was being done to encourage footfall to libraries and museums, she referred to press coverage and promotion of facilities. Social connection groups, which had paused during the pandemic, were being re-introduced in person. Anecdotal evidence suggested that the older population were using libraries less since Covid, however work was needed to explore patterns of usage, as well as looking at how to promote the various hubs and services available.  Footfall at museums was often low in January, however general figures were pretty good and there was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 358.

The Assistant Director for IT and Digital provided a summary of customer experience, including what it concerned, the range of customers, the Council’s customer touch points, headlines from the Viewpoint Survey, corporate complaints, and the Customer Experience Programme.

The Council’s website which enabled the public to access information and services and report issues, was being redeveloped, with feedback being sought to inform the new site. Engagement with customers was the ultimate route to judging the effectiveness of services, and the Viewpoint Citizens Panel was one route, with members asked to access services and track their journey.

Engagement and co-design of facilities was so important and took place with resident focus groups as well as a range of organisations and service user groups. Residents were also invited to submit compliments or complaints, which resulted in an Action Plan. Looking ahead, the Customer Experience Programme, which evolved from the 2019 Re-imagined Front Doors project, aimed to bring about improvements, the first phase of which would be focussed on adult social care.

The Chairman invited discussion and the following main points were made:

·       The Cabinet member with Responsibility (CMR) for Corporate Services and Communication highlighted the opportunities of using customer experiences to gain insight through getting closer to the customer and considering all aspects of their feedback. The data was there and the website presented a major opportunity to use IT in a more effective way.

·       Panel members were pleased to gain more insight into customer interaction and capturing feedback.

·       The CMR suggested that the latest Viewpoint survey would be useful to the Panel in identifying trends, although greater representation from young people was needed.

·       Panel members asked what customers preferred from the communication channels available and the CMR acknowledged the importance of understanding people’s needs and reflecting feedback from those who use them, not just officers and councillors; the transfer of the Consumer Relations Team to the IT and Digital Department would help to provide more feedback.

·       As a follow up question, a Panel member enquired which communication methods worked best to be advised by the CMR that simple and efficient online reporting was key. The Assistant Director for IT and Digital explained how feedback was captured, including inviting customers to rate interactions. The Officers also advised that a new survey would be presented at the end of a call or chatbox – and the Panel Chairman also added that a ‘was this page useful’ webpage question worked well.

·       The Vice-Chairman welcomed work to capture data on quality of experience and asked when this would be available to scrutinise. The CMR explained that increasingly, performance reporting would be real time information, and consideration could be given to a dashboard on the website, although in progressing the Directorate’s work there was a need to prioritise use of resources. The Officers advised that once the aforementioned feedback capture had been implemented, this data could be shared with the Panel. The Panel was also informed that corporately, a data observatory was being looked into.

·       The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 359.

The Panel added the following topics:

-           The Council’s Refugee Policy - 23 May meeting

-           Gypsy / Traveller Services - September

The following changes were made to the work programme, subject to checking officers’ diaries:

-           Update on Libraries Strategy/transformation (post Covid) to include the E-Library – moved from May to July

-           Liquidlogic – moved from May to July

-           Community Engagement (Here2help) Update – September

-           Monitoring of comments, compliments and complaints –September

-           Update on the Council’s Strategy, Museums Arts and Culture

-           Update on the Procurement Strategy - November

The Scrutiny Officers would check when the West Mercia Energy Joint Committee Business Plan would be available.

A copy of revised work programme to be circulated to the Panel.