Issue - meetings

That the Committee welcomes the Customer Service Strategy and that the Cabinet be informed accordingly.

The Service Manager (Customer Support) presented the Customer Service Strategy for 2017-22 and sought views prior to consideration by Cabinet.  The strategy focussed on transforming customer transactions through the delivery of services in the most modern and efficient way, and was split into three workstreams reflecting the main customer access channels.

Councillor Billy Mullin thanked the officer team for their work in refreshing the strategy which would be monitored and reviewed by a working group.

The Chief Executive said that the strategy was underpinned by the core Customer Service standards and would help to reinforce consistency on those commitments.

The Chairman pointed out that the Customer Service Policy had not been appended to the strategy, as had been indicated, and that two versions of the policy were available on the website.  He said that the Council’s standard to respond to digital correspondence within 10 working days differed from his own experience and that a log was kept by Member Services to record Members’ written enquiries sent to officers.

The Customer Service & Registration Manager advised that enquiries submitted through the website, rather than individual officer email addresses, was the preferred method as these were subject to performance monitoring.  She would ensure that the updated policy was shown on the website and liaise with Member Services on their method of recording enquiries.  It was also explained that the new strategy complemented the Customer Service Policy which remained unchanged.

Councillor Richard Jones said that customers choosing telephone contact via Customer Services should be given the full name of the officer to enable any follow-up.  He was given assurance that this was not required as information on each call was logged.

In supporting the strategy, Councillor Nigel Steele-Mortimer agreed that more work was needed, particularly on response times.  The Chief Executive acknowledged that further improvements were required to achieve more consistency on standards.  He went on to refer to work which was ongoing and spoke about the expectation on individuals to provide full explanations on the process involved in responding to more complex enquiries.  He welcomed Members’ feedback on any areas of concern and suggested that the Committee receive a progress report on the strategy, including reporting frequency of data, six months into the new municipal year.

Councillor Paul Shotton said that Members making enquiries on behalf of residents should be provided with a copy of the response by email.  He went on to thank the Flintshire Connects team in Connah’s Quay.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee welcomes the Customer Service Strategy and that the Cabinet be informed accordingly.