Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to the Chief Executive)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

The Panel noted that there were no substitute members.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider and agree the notes of the meeting of the Panel held on 1 July 2008.

The minutes of 1^st July 2008 were noted and agreed as a correct record.

(Chairman/Lead Officer) To note the attached updated Terms of Reference. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review this documents.

The Terms of Reference were noted and agreed.

NI 14 is one of the 198 indicators against which local government will be assessed within the new performance management framework agreed between the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association. 

Local authorities are required to report on these indicators at different frequencies.  In the case of NI 14, the reporting interval will be annual.  Local authorities will first report NI 14 data in April 2009, with council’s expected to have the mechanisms in place in time for data collection to begin in October 2008.

Where the partners in a Local Area Agreement choose NI 14 to be one of their key indicators, a formal target for reducing avoidable contact will be agreed (as per the LAA frameworks).  The Epping Forest Local Strategic Partnership has elected not to nominate NI 14 as a Key Indicator within the Essex Local Area Agreement 2.

However, the District Council will be expected to report annually on performance against NI 14 to the Department of Communities and Local Government via the Data Interchange Hub.  The Audit Commission will use the national indicator set to inform its assessment of performance and improvement for Comprehensive Area Agreement. 

Although NI 14 is an important measure in its own right, many authorities are already seeing the reduction of avoidable contact as a key part of their wider programmes to improve services to customers and reduce costs.

Attached at to this agenda is the full definition, calculation and reporting requirements for NI 14.

In response to the introduction of NI 14, the Department of Communities and Local Government, in conjunction with the Cabinet Office and the Improvement and Developing Agency, have published the attached joint guide to NI 14, based on work undertaken in a number of pilot authorities.

Officers will make a presentation to Members of the Task and Finish Panel on the implications of NI 14 to the authority and outline options as to how the Council may approach the collection of the Data.

The Performance Improvement Manager, Steve Tautz, introduced National Indicator 14 – ‘Avoidable Contact’, one of the 198 new indicators which local government will be assessed within the new performance management framework. This indicator will come into force from 1^st October 2008, but there would be no need to report until 31^st March next year. The District Council will be expected to report annually on performance against NI14 to the Department of Communities and Local Government. The Council would be trying to avoid ‘valueless or avoidable’ contact with its customers. This would cover a range of channels such as email, information desks, phone calls, letters and the website. Avoidable contact would also depend on the type of contact made in the first place. Avoidable contact is unnecessary repeat contact and would involve progress chasing and about getting it right first time. Having a one-stop-shop would be a valuable start and collecting data would be quite straightforward with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

This is not an indicator that requires an initial set of targets. The Audit Commission would not be comparing authorities for at least two or three years, thereafter a baseline would be set.

A Councillor asked how expensive CRM software was. He was told that it varied greatly, depending on how much you wanted the system to do. A few years ago the working group had it priced at £100,000 but it was not certain if this was for a top of the range system or a standard, entry level one. In any case, to meet the 31 March 09 deadline the Council could only have a manual paper system in place.

The Panel would be able to see a CRM system in operation at the one stop shop in Harlow.

Asked if this was all about data collection or did it encompass improved services, the Deputy Chief Executive replied that the real purpose of the collected data would be to provide better services and customer satisfaction.

The Panel noted that a few years ago some research had been undertaken on telephone enquiry responses and at the time the council was not performing particularly well. Therefore the starting point for measuring our performance would likely to be low.

Data collected for NI 14 would have to be laboriously collected by using manual lists, and we could only do this on a sample basis. It had been suggested that a sample size of 1,067 would give a 95% confidence in the results. It would have to be only basic monitoring with nothing too complex. That can only be achieved with a CRM system.

However, collecting the data manually until March 2009 will give officers a feel for what they need to look for and the type of information they would need to collect before a full CRM system is bought.  A Councillor noted that some of the Council directorates had already got some computer systems, would they be able to tie it into a future CRM  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The Panel will receive an update on the results of investigations with other authorities regarding a visit to view a “One-Stop Shop”.  It is hoped that venues / dates can be confirmed.

The Deputy Chief Executive said he would like the Panel to view a ‘One-Stop-Shop’ in action. He had been in contact with Harlow Council who has one set up in their Civic Centre. It is called ‘Contact Harlow’ and is contactable via the phone, email and in person. It can deal with a whole range of activities backed up by their computer system that can help resolve most issues.

The Panel decided that they would like to visit the centre on a weekday morning and decided that Tuesday would be a suitable day.

ACTION:

Arrangements to be made to facilitate this visit and members to be notified separately about the date and time.

As detailed within the scoping report considered at the Panel’s initial meeting, the Council’s then Customer Services Consultants, undertook a performance review from a customer’s perspective and reached a number of conclusions around areas for improvement.

One of their key findings was in relation to visitors’ experience at the Civic Offices, where there are five reception desks, at diverse locations throughout the complex.  It was concluded that this is confusing for customers and that the Council should look to simplify the arrangements, with an aspiration of achieving a single point of service / information.

In order to assist Members’ consideration of the issue, it is proposed that the Panel tour the reception areas, where officers from the relevant Service Areas will explain the type of services provided and highlight some of the current practical difficulties for customers.

A few years ago the Council’s Customer Services Consultants undertook a performance review from a customer’s perspective. One of their key findings was in relation to visitor’s experience at the Civic Officers, where there were five reception desks at diverse locations throughout the building. It concluded that it was confusing for customers and the Council should look at simplifying the arrangements, with a view to providing a single point of contact.

The Panel then undertook a tour of the five reception areas in the Council offices, where officers from the relevant Directorate explained the type of services provided and highlighted some of the current practical difficulties for customers and staff.

They started their tour in the main reception desk on the ground floor where the Public Relations and Marketing Officer, Tom Carne, took the Panel through the layout and problems associated with the area.

Main Reception:

The Panel noted that:

• The reception area had two entry points;
• One of the doors was without an automatic opening mechanism.
• This arrangement also meant that the information assistants are caught in the middle of a draft coming from the two doorways;
• Customers tended to enter from behind the information assistants;
• Last year they had 75,000 enquiries, a large proportion was for the waste sacks;
• They have to point a lot of people to the other service helpdesks;
• They have to direct, sometime large numbers, of the public to public meetings being held in the building (e.g. Coroners Court, Planning Inquiries etc.)
• The reception area also tends to receive large deliveries, which have to be stacked in the corner of the public area awaiting collection, which causes a health and safety hazard;
• Some of the main environmental issues were: there was no out of the way storage area, not very good lighting and it could get very cold;
• There are two information assistants for each information desk around the district. One works in the morning and the other in the afternoon. They have a 15 minute handover;
• They start at 8:45, doors open at 9am and work until the offices close;
• As only one receptionist is on duty at a time, they frequently have to deal with more than one customer and may also have to answer the phone at the same time. They will need to make a judgement on who to deal with first, the phone or the person(s);
• The curved desk has no natural point of focus;
• There is no queuing system in place;
• Some people do not express themselves clearly and the information staff have to work quite hard to find out what they want;
• There are also security problems with the area and when problems arise the information assistants have no where to retreat to;
• There is no control to the access of the building;
• There was no provision to share information electronically with the customers and there was limited display space;
• A few ‘quick fixes’ could be put in place such as large information screens, but what  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Councillor Stallan asked that the details of the visit to the ‘one-stop-shop’ be put in the Members Bulletin. He would also like some statistics about telephone enquires to the Council, prior to the next meeting.

To agree a date for the next meeting of this Panel.

The next meeting was agreed for Tuesday 14 October 2008 at 7.30pm.