Issue - meetings

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Annual Letter 2022-23 and complaints made against Flintshire County Council during the first half of 2023-24

Meeting: 19/12/2023 - Cabinet (Item 96)

96 Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Annual Letter 2022-23 and complaints made against Flintshire County Council during the first half of 2023-24 pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

As detailed in the recommendations.

Minutes:

The Chief Officer (Governance) introduced the report, the purpose of which was to share the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Annual Letter 2022-23 for Flintshire County Council.

 

The Ombudsman’s Annual Letter provided an overview of the annual performance of the Council in relation to complaints received between 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023.  The report also provided an overview of complaints received by each portfolio of the Council between 1 April 2023 – 30 September 2023.

 

The Customer Contact Manager explained that the number of complaints against local authorities across Wales reduced by 11% in 2022-23 compared to the previous year and the Ombudsman intervened with 13% of complaints, a reduction from 18% the year before.

 

Appended to the report was a link to the Annual Letter detailing Flintshire’s performance and comparative data.  The paragraphs in the report provided a summary of performance and additional context in response to the findings.

 

Matthew Harris, Head of the Complaints Standards Authority at the Ombudsman’s office had no particular comments to make and referred to the Council being selected to be part of the Ombudsman’s second wider Own Initiative Investigation looking into the administration of carer needs assessments.  Details of what the investigation would consider were outlined in the report.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Bithell, the Customer Contact Manager said she would provide clarity on the details in the appendix outside of the meeting.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(a)       That the annual performance of the Council in respect of complaints made to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales during 2022-23 be noted;

 

(b)       That the half year performance of the Council (2023-24) in respect of complaints made against services in line with the concerns and complaints procedure; and

 

(c)        That the priorities outlined in paragraph 1.24 be supported.