Agenda item

There will be a presentation at the meeting on this item.

Tracey Long, Group Manager Strategy and Change Customer Services, gave a presentation to the Panel on ‘Customer Contact Review – 2015/16’ covering the following points:

·  Customer Contact Review – Approach

·  Overview of volumes for services within review

·  IT systems – picture

·  Opportunities – timescales (Short/Medium/Long Term)

·  Requests by Ward Report

(Slides from the presentation are attached to the agenda papers for this meeting).

Georgina Jackman demonstrated a Ward Report (not yet live).

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

In response to a query from Councillor Barrett, the officer explained that the Ward Report does not show complaints in full detail but there are sub categories. She further explained that it is not possible to show the name of the complainant due to data protection issues.

Members asked officers if the system could provide feedback to them. The officer explained that it was hoped that Members would eventually be able to log on to the system to track complaints but that this system is not yet live. Councillor Bevan explained that if you insert a sentence requiring feedback then the officers will respond, the officer agreed that Members must specifically request feedback. Councillor Barrett asked that all members be made aware of this. Councillor Barrett asked what the expected response time is for a service issue to be resolved, the officer explained that this varied depending on Service Level Agreements with different departments.

In response to questions from Councillor Furse, the officer explained that it was not yet possible to interogate the system down to specific streets or find out which are the longest issues to be resolved. The officer explained that there is work going on to get robust agreements between departments and Council Connect on timescales for resolving issues.

Councillor Barrett asked that if no response is received, is there a mechanism for checking. The officer explained that if the complaint has gone through the CRM system, it will be logged and Council Connect staff can see if work is in progress or completed.

‘My Place’ app demonstration

Angela Parratt, Head of Transformation, demonstrated the ‘My Place’ app which has been developed in house by the IT department. She explained that it is not yet live and is due to undergo beta testing with a view to going live in May or June 2016. She demonstrated how to report a pot hole (for example) on this new system. She also explained its other functions including: local information; car park information; Council newsfeed; navigation routes; waste collections; planning applications; roadworks; parks; schools and health service information.

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor Barrett asked the cost of developing and maintaining the app and what the likely uptake might be. The officer explained that the app had been developed by a member of the IT staff in house and would only take 3-4 days per month to update. She explained that more and more people now have Smart phones and that the app will be free for people to use.

Councillor Hale stated that this is a fantastic, comendable forward move and expressed an interest in being part of the testing. He stated that this should save Members time in their ward work.

Kelvin Packer, Head of Highways, stated that he thought the app would be beneficial to his service area as the app would show the coordinates of an issue which would save time for his officers finding defects in rural locations.

Councillor Goodman asked if this could be sold to other authorities. The officer explained that aspects of it could be sold as other authorities are not as far along.

Councillor Furse asked if the system could filter multiple complaints about the same issue. The officer explained that there had been no volume testing yet. Councillor Furse stated that the Twitter system works well and this could be another channel.

The officer explained that all Council staff could be reporting which may lead to less inspections.

The Chair thanked officers.