Agenda item

The briefing note provides background and an overview of the service function to provide context for scrutiny covering either the service itself or its transformation programme.

The Committee considered a report by the Corporate Director Customers, Organisational Development and Resources in which the Committee was: RECOMMENDED to consider the content of the briefing note [set out in the report] with a view to [making] suggestions for performance and development [improvements] within this function.

Mark Haynes, Director, Customer and Culture, presented the report.

In response to a question by the Chair, Mr Haynes stated that the difference between continuous improvement and transformation within the context of the Customer Service Centre was one of scale whereby continuous improvement referred to “business as usual” activities, and transformation referred to collaborative work with other services on larger programmes and projects.

In response to an invitation from the Chair to add any comments that she might wish to make, Councillor Phillips stated that she wished to thank Mr Haynes and his team for their work, noting that they were constantly seeking to improve the service.

She stated that complaints were one way of finding out what was going on within the organisation and, therefore, the Council was looking to centralise its Complaints Service to determine the nature of issues affecting residents.

In the subsequent discussion, the following points were raised by Members of the Committee.

(a)  That use private sector terminology such as customer, business, corporate etc. was to be discouraged as being inappropriate when referring to the Council’s Complaints Service, which was a public service.

(b)  In response to several questions by Members, Mr Haynes provided the following information –

(i)    Following the installation of a new telephone system in June/July of last year, it had been possible to offer web chat and social media services as part of the Contact Service Centre services and staff were becoming adept at responding to enquiries using these services as well as responding to telephone enquiries.

(ii)   Work was being carried out on the Council’s ICT Digital Presence programme to improve the Council’s website, notably the front end of the service, including searches using the Council website which could give rise to enquiries as well as complaints following service user searches of the Council’s website.

(iii) Discussions were taking place as to how AI[1] might be used to improve the Council’s services over the next year.

(iv) Regarding services for persons who did not have access to digital technology, it was the intention to offer a variety of services such that people could choose how they wished to communicate with the Council and to do so in a way that was simple.

(v)   Work on establishing good relationships with the Council’s various Directorates, including informing them of the services that the Contact Centre could offer when responding to enquiries, had meant that the major Directorates were now willing to allow the Contact Centre to respond to enquiries on their behalf. Concerning directorates more reluctant to allow the Contact Centre to field their enquiries by virtue of the professional nature of their service, it was noted that the Contact Centre comprised Council staff who were professionals in Customer Service Contact Handling.

(c)   In response to further questions from Members of the Committee, Mr Haynes provided the following information –

(i)    Regarding maintaining staff morale, he stated it was necessary with large numbers of staff to keep them informed and engaged and, to achieve that, Members of Staff were sent regular email updates about the service; were encouraged to participate in any initiatives that the service might be undertaking, for example, involving staff in undertaking User Acceptance Testing (UAT) during last year’s rollout of the new telephone system; that six Members of Staff were “Delivering the Future Together” Champions; and the creation of a staff forum run by Members of Staff which he , As Director of the Service, attended on occasion to give staff updates on the service.

These initiatives complemented existing staff training and feedback as well as fun activities that were organised throughout the year, including Christmas, all of which help to keep staff energised.

(ii)   Concerning partnership working, Mr Haynes stated that, if an enquiry was received that referred to a District Council matter, there was a move towards trying to assist the enquirer. He noted that, in terms of customer satisfaction, this approach was to be preferred, if possible, to simply deflecting the call to the relevant District Council.

(iii) In his role as Director, Mr Haynes stated that he sat on different bodies involving the County Council, the City and District Councils and outside bodies. In so doing, he carried out benchmarking exercises to encourage a uniformity of standards across the different organisations and services. In addition, he offered to assist and share information with these organisations to promote uniformity in the standards of service across the various service providers.

(iv) To ensure the retention of new and competent staff, Mr Haynes operated what he said might loosely be referred to as a “Career Progression Team”, noting that there were different grades within the Contact Centre allowing staff to progress to higher grades within the Contact Centre. In addition, there were Team Leader posts which offered an opportunity for career progression. However, vacancies for Team Leader posts did not often arise, but there were secondment opportunities for staff covering for Team Leaders who were currently on maternity leave.

In addition, the creation of the “Continuous Improvement Team” had afforded an opportunity to bring some Members of Staff through the ranks.

Furthermore, as many Contact Centre staff had a good knowledge of the structure and organisation of the Council, this afforded them opportunities to develop their careers in other posts within the Council.

(d)  Council Hannaby, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services, stated that the Contact Centre had become adept at directing people seeking Adult Social Services to other organisations or services which might be better placed to provide the service required, thereby freeing up the Council’s Adult Social Services for those persons who were most vulnerable and most in need of the Council’s services.

In drawing the discussion to a close, the Chair noted that there were no substantive recommendations for the Committee to consider and that it was not necessary for the Committee to consider key issues arising out of Mr Haynes presentation or the discussion. Also, it was not necessary for the Committee to make any recommendations to Cabinet. Therefore, he proposed that the Committee note the presentation and the points raised in the subsequent discussion.

NOTED