Issue - meetings

That the report be noted

The Senior Officer Integrated Services, Lead Adults, introduced a report on the compliments, representations and complaints received by Adult and Children’s Social Services for the year 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016, and invited the Complaints Officer to give an overview of the report.

The Complaints Officer reported on the number of complaints received by Adult and Children’s Social Services, the services complained about, and the outcomes and lessons learned, as detailed in the report.  The Chair requested that information be provided to the Committee on the number of service users within Adult and Children’s Social Services to determine the ratio of complaints received to service users.  The Complaints Officer agreed to provide this information. 

            The Chair referred to the information provided concerning the services complained about and said that the total number of complaints received in  2014/15 should read 51 not 48.

Councillor Dave Mackie welcomed the report and suggested that compliments should be given a higher profile.  The Complaints Officer agreed to provide an additional  appendix to future reports to give more information about the compliments received.   Councillor Mackie also referred to Stage 2 complaints and suggested it would be helpful if a Member of the Committee was invited to attend a meeting as an observer.    The Senior Officer Integrated Services, Lead Adults,  agreed to explore the possibility of this.

            Councillor  Andy  Dunbobbin asked if the complainants in paragraph 1.12 of the report had been satisfied with the outcome of their complaints.  The Complaints Officer advised that whilst the complaints did not meet the threshold for safeguarding they were all shared with the Contact Monitoring Team.  He explained that the Team Manager of the Contact Team was the Chair of the Multi Agency Group.  The Complaints Officer confirmed he would provide further information on the six cases to Councillor Dunbobbin following the meeting.

Councillor Hilary McGuill expressed a concern relating to an issue which had been highlighted during a recent Climbie visit regarding a Looked After Child.  The Senior Officer Integrated Services, Lead Adults, agreed to raise the matter with the Senior Manager Children’s and Workforce Services and the Head of Inclusion Services and request that they provide a response to Councillor McGuill.

            Councillor David Healey welcomed the opportunity to be part of the Climbie visits and wished to thank Children’s Services for the hard work and commitment to safeguarding children.  He asked that as the visits had been curtailed would there be an opportunity to complete the visits.  The Senior Officer Integrated Services, Lead Adults, agreed to make enquiries and respond to the Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted