Agenda item

To consider a report on Contact Management Call Handling performance as requested by the Panel.

The PCC informed the Panel that there had been challenges in the last 12 months in relation to Contact Management call handling performance.

The report provided context to the performance of Contact Management. The Panel was informed that there had been a big shift in on-line reporting with a 99% increase. However, this increase had also posed a challenge for the call handling staff, as it was the same staff who answered 999 calls and dealt with on-line reporting. Investigations were taking place into using automatic / robotic responders to ease the pressure on the call handling staff.

Reference was made to the highlight information on the data results. Currently the 999 calls answered within 10 seconds was at 87% and average speed to answer for 101 calls at 03.02 minutes. There have been significant increases in demand for emergency calls in 2022 (February seeing an increase of 42% compared to last year) which had impacted on TVP’s ability to meet service levels

The complexity of calls had increased, together with the additional responsibilities of staff for Crime Data Integrity, understanding prioritising etc.

In relation to recruitment, the PCC continued to scrutinise the Chief Constable and to continue the positive action to increase the diversity of the department to replicate the communities TVP served.

Members’ Questions

1.             Could the PCC provide some details on the recruitment and retention plans to minimise the turnover in Contact Management staff and to improve the response times to 101 calls, and could there be regular information provided to the Panel?

[The PCC replied that regular updates could be provided on progress made in recruitment to improve the performance of call handling. The average speed to answer non-emergency calls was under 3 minutes, which the PCC hoped could be lower. Reference was made to local authority emergency calls which were answered on average within 7 seconds.

There was a challenge around handling residents’ expectations and of course, residents did not comment when something went well. On-line reporting had seen a 99% increase in usage and work was taking place on using Facebook and WhatsApp as a form of communication for residents.]

2.             Reference has been made to the huge increase in the volume of on-line reporting to TVP, the PCC was asked if there was any performance data on response times to this form of reporting crime?  

[The PCC replied that there were some cases where there was a non urgent response given to an enquiry so it would be difficult to give an accurate picture. However, time critical issue data which was reported on-line could be provided.]

3.             The PCC has previously mentioned the use of Social Media, WhatsApp etc. as an alternative means of contacting TVP. What progress has been made in implementing these initiatives?

[The Panel was informed that discussions were taking place with suppliers regarding what was on offer. It was hoped that some progress would be made on this by the end of the year.]

4.              Reference was made to a case where a victim of a non-violent crime had called 101 to report a crime but the call had been abandoned on two occasions. This risked reputational damage as the 101 service was the “front desk” of TVP.

[The PCC reported that it was important to know of bad experiences of using the service. He noted comments made about resilience issues and referred to there being three call centres with discussions taking place to reduce to two. Resilience was key and that calls could be switched to other call centres if capacity was stretched at one.]  

5.             Reference was made to calls to 101, whereby callers had CCTV evidence of crimes committed. There were occasions where the Police did not turn up, but merely gave victims crime reference numbers.

[The PCC reported that unfortunately there was an element of triaging reported crimes and crime reference numbers were sometimes given out. There were issues around intelligence gathering. TVP were looking at the Crime and Assessment Team in Berkshire who were taking lower priority reported crime and referring them to the Hubs Team. The intention was to take the pressure off the uniformed officers and to improve the speed of response.]

6.             The effectiveness and efficiencies of call handling should be tracked and staff should be measured on competencies. The PCC was asked for his view on this and what could be learnt from the private sector.

[The PCC reported that there needed to be a more holistic approach to contact management. Reference was made to the new Assistant Chief Constable and the new governance arrangements which would help in this area.]

RESOLVED – That the report of the PCC, together with the issues raised during discussion be noted.