Agenda item

To consider a report by the Corporate Complaints Officer (copy enclosed) presenting an analysis of the feedback received via Denbighshire’s customer feedback policy ‘Your Voice’ for Quarter 3 of 2012/13.

10.05 a.m.

The Head of Customers and Education Support (H:CES) submitted a report (previously circulated) presenting an analysis of the feedback received via Denbighshire’s customer feedback policy ‘Your Voice’ for Quarter 3 of 2012/13.  It was highlighted that –

·         the Council had responded to 89% (160/179) of complaints within timescale against a target of 95%, which was an improvement of 4% on the previous quarter 2

·         210 compliments had been received during quarter 3 and a breakdown relating to individual services had been provided over the current year, and

·         detailed performance relating to individual service areas for the current year in terms of response times to the number of complaints received were included in the report.

With a view to further improving performance the Corporate Director Customers had contacted Heads of Service requesting attention be focused on complaints handling.  The H:CES elaborated upon performance of individual services advising that the drop in performance identified for Highways & Infrastructure was being addressed by the new Head of Service and performance had improved in January.

The committee considered their future reporting requirements in order to provide more meaningful data for scrutiny and identify areas for improvement to deliver the best possible services for customers.  It was noted that current data focused on the volume of complaints and the H:CES suggested that future reporting should focus on the nature of complaints and identifying trends and patterns and whether services were addressing those issues in order to improve services.  Contrary to the objective in the Corporate Plan to reduce the number of complaints, the H:CES felt complaints should be actively encouraged and addressed to effect improvement.  She hoped to change the perception that complaints reflected badly on services and their reluctance to record complaints appropriately to ensure they were dealt with effectively.  Members agreed with that approach and referred to the difficulties in identifying the reasons behind fluctuations in the number of complaints received and how well services were performing without that analysis.

During consideration of the report members discussed the following matters –

·         the level of protection and anonymity afforded to complainants was queried and the H:CES advised that, whilst complaints against staff were dealt with separately via Personnel, it was unlikely that customer complaints would be concealed and attitudes to complaints needed to change to perceive the complaint as a positive means of effecting improvement

·         in response to concerns regarding poor performance in Social Services, members were advised that the Corporate Director Modernisation and Wellbeing was addressing the issue with a view to improving performance.  Members acknowledged the difficult and complex complaints in this service area and the H:CES confirmed that, as such, those complaints were subject to a different criteria.  She added that percentage figures sometimes distorted results when based upon a smaller number of complaints

·         the H:CES confirmed there was an ongoing debate about whether some complaints were actually service requests and acknowledged that some complaints may not be recorded properly because of the perception that they would reflect badly on the service.  It should be recognised that some services attracted more complaints because of the nature of the service provided

·         members were pleased to note the number of compliments received during the year and whilst the H:CES could not provide the detail behind the figures she advised that compliments could be generated by proactively dealing with complaints

·         the Chair expressed concern regarding the continual increase in complaints received by Environmental Services over the last three quarters and was disappointed that the reasons behind them could not be provided at this stage.  He suggested this service area be one of the first to be analysed.  The H:CES confirmed an analysis would identify any trends and steps taken to address any issues identified.  She added that the volume of complaints needed to be considered in the context of service delivery which was not considered high for the particular service area.

In considering the way forward the H:CES referred to the forthcoming Members’ Workshop on 5 March regarding the approach to providing excellent customer services.  She advised that work was ongoing with services to find mechanisms to encourage customer feedback in order to shape services to meet customer requirements.  The committee discussed the merits of establishing a Working Group to scrutinise data captured through complaints and customer feedback and it was agreed to consider the matter further following the workshop discussions.

The Chair referred to the need for a scrutiny representative to serve on both the ‘Customers’ and ‘Legal and Democratic’ Service Performance Challenge Groups and sought expressions of interest in that regard.  The Scrutiny Co-ordinator added that scrutiny representatives on Service Challenge Groups would be best placed to contact relevant Heads of Service regarding performance concerns for individual services.

RESOLVED that –

(a) subject to members’ comments above the report be received and the performance of services be noted;

(b) future reporting be focused on analysing the nature of complaints and identifying trends and patterns and whether services were addressing those issues in order to improve services for customers, and

(c)   Councillors Richard Davies and Colin Hughes be appointed the committee’s representatives on the ‘Customers’ and ‘Legal and Democratic’ Service Performance Challenge Groups respectively.