Agenda item

To update Members on the annual statistics in relation to the Local Government and Health and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) and the Council's corporate '3Cs' procedure. This explains how we deal with the comments, compliments, correspondence and complaints we receive

Members considered the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) and the Council Corporate 3Cs Annual Review Complaints, presented by Councillor Tierney.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·       Councillor Woollard stated that, with refuse and recycling, whilst there is a very comprehensive breakdown, 12 of the complaints come under the category of other, what is this? Councillor Tierney responded that these complaints do not fall within existing categories and some of these relate to staff complaints so to protect the names of the staff it is logged under other.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis statedthat there were 27 complaints in planning development, and asked what specific improvement process is being considered to reduce dissatisfaction around decisions? She made the point off those complaints, 5 related to a single application, asking what, if any, procedural lessons have been identified from that case Councillor Mrs Davis referred to staffing with there being 17 related complaints, but it is not clear if this is a cluster of staff related complaints in particular teams, and if there is a need for targeted management intervention?  Councillor Tierney responded that with the nature of planning one party is going to be happy with the decision made and the other side is not going to be happy, and one of the most common complaints, is that people are not happy with the planning decisions, but this does not fall within the Council’s remit, the Planning Committee make their decisions and occasionally people get upset with the choices made. He continued any complaint is looked at and if procedurally it was wrong then it is dealt with, but he did not feel there needs to be a plan to improve the procedure in place as this is the nature of planning decisions. Councillor Tierney stated, in regard to staffing complaints he did not feel there was any pattern developing in the complaints, over the years, it is investigated and if there is a pattern developing then it means that it is not just usual business and there may be something going wrong but there has not been a pattern like this emerging.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis commented that in the report it states a 3.11% increase in complaints with a reduction in compliments but further down it points out that this is not down to any particular trend and she would like to understand whether there has been more complaints in certain categories such as refuse and recycling were up and, was this to do with the increase in charges? Councillor Tierney responded that the 3% might sound a lot but over the year that equates to 6 complaints across every department which means there is one complaint every other month which shows that it was much the same as last year with no trends having been identified over that time, he did not feel it was something to be worried about as the Council has a good record at responding to complaints. Councillor Mrs Davis asked if the public felt inclined to make complaints because they are paying a bit more money? Councillor Tierney did not feel that the numbers stack up because there has been a reduction in complaints within that department and stressed that the bin collections that the Council charge for are the lowest in the region and there has been a lot of work put in place to keep those prices down and deliver an excellent service.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis stated as far as the complaints process goes, the complaint process will move to a 2-stage system next year, and asked how will this relate to efficiency and improving customer experience? Councillor Tierney replied that the staff are embracing the changes that the Ombudsman recommends and is the system many other Councils use, FDC have gone from a three step process to a two-step process, the first step of this change will be looking at the complaints in much more detail before deciding how to deal with it and who to send it too. He continued this process has proved to be much quicker and more efficient and has shaved the response time down by 10 days which people seem to be happy with. Councillor Booth added that in a previous job role that firm operated a two-stage complaint process and he feels that a three-stage process puts up too many barriers and frustrates the customers and agreed the two-step process should be welcomed as this will offer a better streamlined process and deal with complaints in a more reactive way.

·       Councillor Booth made the point in regard to the planning complaints that there have been a number of appeals that have gone against the Planning Committee, are those considered because he can recall two which have gone against the fact that Planning Committee have not come up with full reasons why and that is why the Inspector has granted the appeal, asking how does this factor into the root cause analysis? Councillor Tierney stated that this was outside of his portfolio and falls into the planning portfolio, but it was his understanding that it is the job of the Planning Committee to do their best to look at the situation and listen to all the advice given, and then to come up with what they think is the right solution, but sometimes it will not be supported by an Inspector when it gets to an appeal but he felt that it is still a valid democratic process and members should not be afraid to make decisions that might go against the Council and cost the Council some money, it is more important for the committee to come to the right decision in their minds based on the evidence as they see it. Councillor Booth suggested that if the decisions made does go to an appeal this needs to be factored into the Council’s higher-level analysis and that is where he feels the changes need to be made and additional training required to help councillors put forward a stronger case if they are going to refuse an application and improving the situation over a wider picture. Councillor Mrs Davis suggested in Councillor Law’s absence that the question be put to her for her to respond.

·       Councillor Barber stated that she thought Overview and Scrutiny was to actually scrutinise what is happening and sometimes all that is discussed are the bad things and the good things get overlooked and she commended the 219 compliments received in a time when people find it easier to complain, which shefeels this is a very good result and congratulated the team.

Members noted the information provided.