Agenda item

This item was heard after item 7.

Ian Anderson, Business Manager - Complaints and Enquiries, introduced the report highlighting that the previous Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees had requested further detail in the annual complaints reports which explained the high level of detail within the report’s appendices. Overall, there had been an increase in the number of informal complaints than in previous years, with 30% of those progressing to stage one complaints; less than 2% of complaints went on to stage two. Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigations had gone down from 59 for 2019/20 to 34 for 2020/21, this was primarily attributed to the Ombudsman deciding not to investigate complaints for roughly four months during 2020 to allow local authorities to focus on and carry out their core duties during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compliments had also increased significantly year on year from 301 to 502, with 12% of those compliments relating to the planting of wildflowers in the Borough.

The Committee were informed that the volume of Members Enquiries had gone down from 11,423 in 2019/20 to 9,960 in 2020/21. A discrepancy was highlighted in the ‘Members Enquiries by Ward’ data whereby Uxbridge South Ward had a significantly higher number of Members Enquiries than any other. It was explained that the system used to process Members Enquiries relied upon an address being entered, if no address was entered then the system would default to the Civic Centre which was within Uxbridge South Ward.

The Committee were informed that going forward, the annual complaints report would differ in that the Council’s Corporate Directorates had changed for 2021/22. As a result of this Members would see a fuller picture of where complaints and compliments were spread between Council services.

The Committee thanked officers for the level of detail within the report noting that it helped to give a clear indication of the context around the complaints, compliments and Members Enquiries received by the Council. It was noted that as the May 2022 local government elections drew closer, there may be an increased number of Members Enquiries received.

Members attention was drawn to Appendix H which outlined the Ombudsman investigations which had concluded during 2020/21 and were within the remit of the Public Safety and Transport Select Committee. It was highlighted that many of the cases were closed by the Ombudsman without a formal investigation due to insufficient evidence. Members highlighted that residents may not always know what is meant by insufficient evidence and suggested that having the information available online as to what may constitute sufficient evidence would be useful, particularly where residents are disappointed with the Ombudsman’s choice not to investigate and believe that they had supplied sufficient evidence. Officers noted that work was being done with the Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Team with regard to publicly available information around what can be provided as viable evidence for investigation. The Committee were informed that there was information available on the Ombudsman’s website for cases that had not formally been investigated but a detailed explanation was given as to why no investigation took place, Members requested the information for four of the complaints listed in Appendix H.

With regard to the anonymity of officers where compliments had been received, the Committee were informed that the stance taken was not to release information about officers into the public domain; however, it was noted that there had been instances of corporate directors congratulating and thanking staff internally where compliments had been received.

The Committee queried whether the Council had received compliments with regard to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic; officers informed Members that no compliments had formally been received however it was highlighted that throughout such unusual circumstances residents may not have known what to expect from local authorities. A Member highlighted that, as the Mayor for 2020/21, she had received numerous compliments whilst engaging with residents around the Council’s services during the pandemic.

RESOLVED That the Committee noted the contents of the report and provided comments to officers as appropriate.