Venue: Committee Room 1 / Microsoft Teams
Contact: Neil Barnett
Scrutiny Adviser
Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
Apologies
Minutes:
Councillors Reeks and Cleverly and Meirion
Rushworth (Head of Finance).
|
2. |
Declaration of Interest
Minutes:
|
3. |
Customer Contact Improvement Project PDF 111 KB
a) Officer presentation
b) Committee questioning
and discussion
c) Formation of
comments and recommendations
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Attendees:
-
Rhys Cornwall - Strategic Director - Transformation and
Corporate.
-
Bridie Edwards - Project Manager
-
Ceri Foot - Service Manager for Customer Services
The Strategic Director - Transformation and
Corporate (SDTC) introduced the report and the Project Manager and
Service Manager - Customer Services (SMCS) presented the
report.
Questions:
- The Committee enquired why an
investigation was considered and whether Officers had experienced
the services themselves. The SDTC informed the Committee that the
project arose from increasing awareness of challenges in the
service following Covid-19. They took the decision for pace and
clarity to engage with Basis for the review. The SMCM noted that
Basis were provided data who provided workshops, show and tells,
and met regularly with the core team. The SDTC noted that they had
experienced services themselves.
- The Committee asked whether the
service was working to industry standards. They also asked how well
My Council Services (MSC) app was utilised by residents and how
could it be more widely advertised. The SDTC highlighted the
benefits of MCS and noted that deficiencies were with it not being
compatible with other software used by NCC. They assured the
Committee that they are focused on ensuring that the software works
well to ensure the ease of access for residents to council
services. The SMCS informed the Committee that there was an
Operations Manager for MCS and that work with Customer Focus Wales
was ongoing to discuss strategies, new technology and artificial
intelligence etc. They noted that standards were different across
each authority.
- The Committee asked whether the
budget cited for the project was the total and what did it include.
The SDTC confirmed that this is the total budget over a two-year
period, and that they were expecting to stay within it.
- The Committee enquired whether staff
morale had been considered and how were staff coping with changes
and the project. They also enquired where staff were based, and
whether staff numbers were in an adequate position to cope with the
increase in demand. The SMCS informed the Committee that staff were
coping well and had support available. They noted that staff were
positive about the project as it may help assuage regular issues
arising. They informed Committee that staff are based at the Civic
Centre, the Central Library and also from home. The SMCS noted that
most staff turnover was due to staff moving to jobs elsewhere in
the authority. The SDTC noted that solutions to these issues were
not as simple as employing more staff but ensuring that there were
effective systems and responses from service areas and training
available.
- The Committee asked if contact with
Councillors is monitored and whether Councillors could be trained
in contacting service areas. The SMCS confirmed that correspondence
with elected members is monitored by customer services and city
services when forwarded and put into MCS. The Project Manager
confirmed that those not sent in wouldn’t be counted so the
true figure could be higher than anticipated. The SDTC also stated
...
view the full minutes text for item 3.
|
4. |
Scrutiny Adviser Reports PDF 142 KB
a) Actions Arising (Appendix 1)
b) Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 2)
c) Outcomes Monitoring (Appendix 3)
Additional documents:
Minutes:
a)
Actions Arising
The Scrutiny Advisor noted outstanding items
but these had been chased
b)
Forward Work Programme
The Scrutiny Advisor informed the committee
that dates will be confirmed for the committee to receive the
Highways Asset Management Plan, Local Development Plan Deposit Plan
and the Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan.
They noted the committee that the next meeting
is on the 14th of October 2024 at 2pm.
The Committee felt that the Placemaking Plan
should be postponed and reviewed once the working group had
concluded. The Chair agreed to write to the Head of Service and the
Scrutiny Advisor agreed to pass this on.
c)
Outcomes Monitoring
The Scrutiny Advisor noted some outstanding
but assured Committee that these were being followed up.
|
5. |
Minutes of the previous meetings held on 22nd July 2024 and 29th July 2024 PDF 139 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The minutes of the previous meetings held
22nd July 2024 and 29th July 2024 were
approved as a true and accurate record.
|