Agenda item

The Leader advised Cabinet that this report was an update on the Council’s performance on Compliments, Comments and Complaints during 2020/2021. 

The Leader invited the Cabinet Member for Assets and Resources to present the report.

The Cabinet Member outlined the purpose of this report, which was to provide Cabinet with an overview of all Corporate and Social Services Compliments, Comments & Complaints received during 2020/2021.  It provided a summary of complaints received and recommendations for improvement and an update of the statutory duties conducted in line with Public Services Ombudsman Act 2019, that received Royal Assent in July 2019.  The report also shared the Ombudsman’s 2020/2021 Annual Letter to Newport City Council.

Since the last annual report, Cabinet approved the amended Compliments, Comments and Complaints Policy which was aligned to guidance issued by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.  The Ombudsman now had new powers under the Act which included accepting complaints verbally, not just in writing, the ability to undertake ‘own initiative investigations’ when the Ombudsman considered them to be in the public interest and gathering complaints data from public services in Wales on a quarterly basis for complaints only

During 2020/2021, a total of 162 compliments were recorded for Corporate complaints and 12 for Social Services.  A total of 3104 Comments were received for Corporate services and 7 for Social Services.  Comments were where an expression of dissatisfaction with a policy or decision made by the Council had been implemented or applied correctly.  This was the highest number of comments recorded as a significant amount of quick decision making needed to happen during the pandemic to keep both the public and staff safe, such as introducing a booking system for waste and recycling.  The Council received a total of 202 complaints, 14 of which went to the Ombudsman.  The Ombudsman intervened with five cases.  The Complaints team analysed all Comments and Complaints to identify trends and opportunities for further improvement and liaised with the relevant service areas.  The Complaints Team continued to develop the service provided, to meet legislation and expectations of residents.  The objectives of the team over the following 12 months would focus on continuing to raise the profile and understanding of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales throughout Newport Council and their partners and continue to work with service areas in their continuous improvement plans.

Comments from Cabinet Members:

Councillor Cockeram was a disappointed that children services did not have compliments and hoped that the three strategic directors would reiterate to senior managers the importance of recording compliments.  The Cabinet Member considered that it was a very good report and thanked City Services for their hard work.  The five complaints to the ombudsman was also broken down by the Cabinet Member who explained that two of which were duplicate.

Councillor Hughes mentioned that the report highlighted that some staff were under pressure.  The Cabinet Member thanked and acknowledged staff for their hard work.

Councillor Jeavons mentioned the importance of acknowledging the compliments as staff put themselves at risk working during to the pandemic, particularly the front line staff in City Services.

Councillor Harvey echoed the comments of colleagues adding that no one was infallible and staff acknowledged and rectified their mistakes.  Staff worked hard during the pandemic and refuse collection had not been delayed.  Staff had stepped up to the mark.

Councillor Truman also agreed with the previous comments and stressed that it was important to report the positive actions of staff.  The Cabinet Member also mentioned that it was good to see what was being done well within the Council and it was right that the Council was being scrutinised .

Leader also thanked the public for their comments.

Decision:

Cabinet considered the contents of the report regarding the process and performance of the Council’s corporate compliments, comments and complaints annual report 2020/21.