Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were received from Panel members Natalie McVey and James Stanley, and from Cllr Marcus Hart, the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Communities.

During the meeting the Chairman agreed to a change in the running order of the Agenda, and Item 9 (Customer Contact Centre) was considered after Item 6 (Performance of Comments, Compliments and Complaints).

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 Thursday 28 September 2023).  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.

Previously circulated

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 25 July 2023 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

In attendance for this item:

Andrew Spice, Strategic Director of Commercial and Change

Mark Fitton, Strategic Director of People

Steph Simcox, Deputy Chief Finance Officer

Richard Taylor, Assistant Director for Human Resources (HR), Organisational Development (OD) and Engagement

Sandra Taylor, Assistant Director for IT and Digital

Dave Corbett, Lead Analyst

Adam Kent, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Corporate Services and Communication

It was noted that the report concerned in-year 2023/24 monitoring (the report heading incorrectly stated 2022/23

Performance Information for Quarter 1 (April to June 2023)

The Lead Analyst explained that the performance indicators (PIs) were the same as previously, although this was always open to review should the Panel feel other information would be useful. The report also included a link to the Power BI version, which was now on the ‘Our performance’ page of the Council’s public website.

The Panel Chairman commented that it was incredibly useful to have the Power BI version available, as it was live information.

Officers were congratulated on the success of increasing staff engagement in surveys. However, when asked whether targets would therefore now be increased, the Assistant Director for HR, OD and Engagement explained that best practice indicated levels of 30-40% and since the aim had been to increase engagement across all areas, it was unlikely that this could be further improved.

There may now be a move to bi-annual staff surveys following feedback that staff did not feel the need to engage as very little had changed over a shorter period – however the Panel Chairman cautioned against this shift, as it could create complacency. The Assistant Director agreed that staff feedback was very important and one thing being considered was quarterly snap surveys on specific areas.

Regarding sickness rates (cumulative), which were deteriorating, the Assistant Director for HR, OD and Engagement clarified that there had been a negligible increase in short-term sickness however the projected year end performance was 7.63 days (average per full time equivalent), which would be down from 8.45 days at the end of the previous year. The number of staff on long-term sick was key to this PI, as this skewed the data, and Officers had engaged with the unions on a number of interventions, which had seen a 27% reduction, for example intervening when a member of staff had been off for 20 days as opposed to 28.

The Chairman commented that data presented for libraries presented a positive picture, moving forward.

Financial Information

The Deputy Chief Finance Officer (CFO) referred to the information provided for period 4. Appendix 2 set out the corporate budget perspective for the Council followed by the areas within the remit of the Panel.

Additional information was included in the report on pay and contract inflation, one of a number of areas which had been requested by the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board as part of budget scrutiny.

Pay Award

The Assistant Director for HR, OD and Engagement confirmed that the pay award for 2023/24 needed to be agreed by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 430.

In attendance for this item:

Andrew Spice, Strategic Director of Commercial and Change

Sandra Taylor, Assistant Director for IT and Digital

Geoff Hedges, Head of IT Customer Service

Paul Appleyard, Customer Services and Relations Manager

Adam Kent, Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Corporate Services and Communication

The Strategic Director introduced the report, which was in depth and included the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) Annual Review letter for 2022/23.

Regarding the four late remedies to complaints upheld by the LGSCO, the Director pointed out that this was a very small number from the thousands of interactions with the Council. Officers had since met with the LGSCO which had been very positive, and one example of actions since taken was a new system to remind staff of deadlines.

In discussing the report, the following main points were raised:

·         Panel members raised the issue of vexatious complaints, and the Officers explained there was a Policy, and the Team which dealt with complaints would liaise with the individual staff member to discuss whether a complaint should be classed as such. It was also possible to decree that a complainant may only approach a specific experienced officer in order to protect other staff.

·         The CMR agreed the importance of protecting staff since some emails were accusatory and upsetting for individual staff.

·         The CMR agreed consideration would be given to ensuring staff were aware of HR support available for dealing with vexatious complaints or phone calls and the Customer Services and Relations Manager would provide a further update outside of the meeting to Cllr Udall about support provided.

·         It was clarified that phone calls were not recorded as there were rules requiring clear permission be given.

·         Everyone agreed the value of compliments, which made a real difference to staff morale and provided insight.

·         Panel members noted that numbers of complaints recorded were higher than the previous year as each complaint point was recorded, and a complaint letter could for example include eight points. In future reports, the information would be adapted to clarify this fact, for example the number of complainants and whether individual complaints included points of different natures.

·         The Officers explained that the new representations management system had been designed in-house to replace the legacy system, which should make a dramatic difference.

The Panel Chairman was pleased to see what was in place had been reviewed to reflect the feedback received.

In attendance for this item:

Andrew Spice, Strategic Director of Commercial and Change

Sandra Taylor, Assistant Director for IT and Digital

Geoff Hedges, Head of IT Customer Service

Paul Appleyard, Customer Services and Relations Manager

Adam Kent, Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Corporate Services and Communication

The Strategic Director of Commercial and Change explained that the Agenda report included the wide range of services and technologies used within the Council’s Customer Contact Centre, as well as performance metrics, which were very positive and the Centre had recently been shortlisted for an award for the UK National Contact Centre Awards.

In the discussion which took place the following main points were made:

·         The Panel Chairman highlighted that the Contact Centre being shortlisted for the award was particularly pleasing for a public sector organisation.

·         The CMR also praised the work of this small Team and highlighted the work on the website which meant the public could reach the Council 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – a great example of technology being used to improve a service.

·         In response to a query, the Assistant Director (AD) for IT and Digital reassured the Panel of the Team’s focus on digital inclusion, since there would always be some individuals who needed different ways or more help with their enquiries.

·         The CMR referred to the difference in costs for transaction, for example £4.44 by telephone compared to £0.09 by chatbot, which provided a clear indicator of the future direction.

·         The Chairman asked about learning from using chatbot and the Officers explained it was constantly being reviewed by checking its current use or errors with human input.

·         Regarding quality targets such as average handling time, reassurance was given that calls requiring more time, for example for a complex enquiry, the system was not intended to pressurise staff, although any staff whose calls were habitually longer would be worked with. Phone calls tended to be more complex since simpler enquiries were generally sent via chatbot or online communication.

·         When asked about distinguishing between the responsibility of services for the County Council and District Councils, it was the Officers’ experience that this did not matter to the public, although the website was designed to be clear.

In attendance for this item:

Andrew Spice, Strategic Director of Commercial and Change

Sandra Taylor, Assistant Director for IT and Digital

Paul Smith Assistant Director for Highways and Transport Operations

Ben Keep, Principal Highways Liaison Officer

Adam Kent, Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Corporate Services and Communication

The Chairman referred to the Agenda report and emphasized that the aim of the discussion was to discuss the update provided, rather than individual cases.

The Assistant Director for IT and Digital introduced the report, explaining that since the launch of the Member Portal in 2021, it had been reviewed in the Autumn, and a number of improvements had been made which had improved response times, so that all service level agreements were being met.

The Assistant Director for Highways and Transport Operations commented that his Directorate (Economy and Infrastructure) was the biggest user of the Portal, and that a benefit of this was the discipline it injected in order to provide a response to cases. The system was a very powerful reporting tool.

The CMR and the Officers were keen for regular review of the Portal as part of finessing the system, and as part of this feedback from the Panel was welcomed.

The following main points were made:

·         The improvement to response times, as evidenced by the graph was welcomed, although the point was made that this measured speed of response rather than time taken to complete action required.

·         It was explained that cases remained live until completed, with acknowledgement that some issues took a long time, due to their nature, such as traffic regulation orders (TROs).

·         The Officers wanted to get to a point where the system was consistently updated.

·         The Panel Chairman found the Portal useful in particular as an evidence base and reference tool to respond to constituent queries.

·         It was suggested that feedback on the Portal would vary depending on whether it was from councillors, managers, staff or the public.

·         The Panel Chairman pointed out that she found it necessary to print out cases and add written notes, and another Panel member reported problems with the map feature not opening.

·         A Panel member queried who authorised cases to be closed and pointed out that it was unclear to councillors whether the issue had been closed to a member of the public’s satisfaction or because nothing further could be done.

·         The Assistant Directors confirmed the Portal had been a step change in informing staff about areas requiring attention, and had also helped directorates respond to the financial challenges. The Portal had been a culture change for staff and was welcomed as a tool for efficiency, transparency and management.

·         The AD for IT and Digital acknowledged a request to indicate hotspots in numbers of enquiries per subject area on the map.

·         The CMR highlighted the benefits of the Portal at a number of levels, for example he used his councillor Facebook page to signpost members of the public to report highways issues – and Panel members were advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 433.

In attendance for this item:

Andrew Spice, Strategic Director of Commercial and Change

Sandra Taylor, Assistant Director for IT and Digital

Adam Kent, Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Corporate Services and Communication

The CMR welcomed the discussion about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Council’s future Strategy, which was very comprehensively set out in the Agenda report.

The Assistant Director for IT and Digital (AD) summarised the report which included the Council’s current position for use of AI and the massive potential to bring benefits and efficiencies. However, potential risks were also massive, therefore governance would be very important and human guidance. The AI Policy was being considered by the Corporate Governance Team, which would establish best practices and ethical usage, both of which were crucial for the Council.

AI had been used to generate part of the report, therefore a disclosure was included in the report. Managing the introduction of AI was challenging and would require investment, resources, skills, staff and training.

The Panel discussed the report and the following main points were made:

·         The CMR highlighted that the Council was trying to get ahead in exploring potential use as well as risks from AI.

·         Acknowledging the huge amount of work involved, the Panel Chairman welcomed the aim to get ahead since use of AI was inevitable, and good decisions would be important.

·         There was a need for care in ensuring use of AI did not ‘lose’ people, for example those who could not use a chatbot, and the AD explained that in terms of data, AI could help the Council identify any such individuals.

·         A Panel member also highlighted the potential for AI to help identify sectors of the population more vulnerable to discrimination.

·         The point was made that tools available nationally could be used, and it was explained that the Council’s Policy had been drafted making use of the Socitm (Society for Innovation, Technology and Modernisation) Policy.

·         The AD would be speaking at a national conference about the Council’s approach with AI.

·         Panel members and the CMR acknowledged the wide range of potential benefits from AI, such as identifying health conditions, trends and analysis of health data (for example in a pandemic scenario), detecting unusual access of IT systems, detecting language associated with suicide on social media, and support for businesses – these were not seen to replace human input but to enhance outcomes.

·         The CMR pointed out the importance of the Council deciding its priorities for use of AI.

·         The Panel agreed the importance of the Council’s Policy.

The Chairman highlighted AI as the way forward, therefore it was important to be aware of the opportunities as well as the risks.

The Chairman would contact Panel members to invite suggestions for scrutiny task groups, as requested by the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board.