Issue - meetings

(a)       That the Action Plan be supported; and

(b)       That the Committee supports the proposal for a Member workshop to review how Members can work with the reporting systems that the Council operates to receive the best service and support.

The Chief Executive presented a report which summarised the work undertaken in response to a Notice of Motion endorsed by County Council in September on managing communications with elected Members.

A detailed action plan was circulated which provided information on the review undertaken of reporting and response systems.  Amongst the findings, it was noted that response times across most services were positive with most complaints generated from those with greater public engagement.  The report recognised the varying nature of enquiries and services, along with the different experiences of customers and Members.

The Chief Executive repeated the request made at County Council that Members report any cases and Trade Union colleagues had requested that these be accompanied by evidence to enable focus on those specific areas.  No referrals had been received since September.  Officers and Trade Union Officials shared concern that Members were at risk of being over-critical of officer performance here.

The Chief Officer (Governance) spoke about the challenge in tracking communications with elected Members given the volume of correspondence with officers.  The suggestion of a Member workshop would help in discussing how best to use the reporting systems.

The Chairman spoke about his own experience in seeking responses from officers which varied.  Explanation was given on the facility to divert work numbers to another device and the sharing of work-issued mobile numbers.

The Chief Executive spoke about the detailed work which had been undertaken across all service areas, and the action plan which went beyond the Standards which had been issued.  Members were encouraged to contact the Customer Services & Registration Manager (Rebecca Jones) with any one-off non-urgent examples so that these could be logged whilst regular reports of non-compliance by teams should be referred to the Chief Executive or Chief Officer (Governance).

During discussion, Members acknowledged that the Standards applied to all and recognised that there were areas of good practice where officers consistently responded well, as demonstrated by the statistics.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Action Plan be supported; and

(b)       That the Committee supports the proposal for a Member workshop to review how Members can work with the reporting systems that the Council operates to receive the best service and support.