Issue - meetings

To note the complaints performance during 2019/20 and quarter one of 2020/21 and consider how the committee can use complaint data to assist in its scrutiny role.

The committee received a report from the Service Manager for Assurance, which noted the complaints performance during 2019/20 and quarter one of 2020/21 and invited councillors to consider how the committee could use complaint data to assist in its scrutiny role.  The appendices to the report included the current complaints key performance indicators for the Place Directorate.  It was noted that complaint numbers in respect of Corporate Services were low and not currently reported separately, however this would be addressed moving forward.  Other key points to note included work done to manage complaints before they escalated in the process where possible, fostering a culture of learning from complaints and a recent rise in the number of compliments being received by the council.

Councillors considered the points arising from the report and the following points were made:

·                Reference was made to page 33 of the agenda which set out that 6 learning points and actions had been identified from complaints.  Details of these had not been included in the report on this occasion but could be included in future reports

·                In response to a question, the Service Manager for Assurance confirmed that the complaints team would get involved if there was an issue with how a child had been classified under SEND provision

·                It was noted that further work could be undertaken to see how the council compared with other councils in this area

·                Reference was made to page 33 of the agenda and the number of complaints associated with neighbour disagreements and whether this data could be broken down into geographical regions?  It was agreed that this would be investigated

·                The number of compliments received by the council during quarter 1 2020/21 was noted.  Work on capturing compliments had only recently started and more work was required in order to capture this information.

The Chairman thanked officers for the report and their work in this area.

Decision

That the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee note the complaints performance during 2019/20 and quarter one of 2020/21 and how the committee can use complaint data to assist in its scrutiny role.