Agenda item

Naveed Mohammed - Head of Business Performance, Ian Anderson – Business Manager, Complaints and Enquiries and Dan Kennedy – Corporate Director of Central Services were in attendance to present the report and respond to Members’ queries.

The Committee was provided with an update on the new Members’ Enquiries Process which had been in place for some 3.5 months. The update focussed on learning to date and ongoing work to build on progress.

The Business Manager – Complaints and Enquiries informed the Committee that the previous Members’ Enquiries system had been in place for approximately ten years. The new system was similar in that an enquiry would be received, responded to, then closed. In response to feedback from Members, a new element of the process was being tested whereby, once responded to, the enquiry would be kept open for 5 working days to allow Members to ask follow-up questions and/or raise additional points, should they wish to do so.

Members heard that the biggest change in the new system related to the ‘definition’ of what a Members’ Enquiry was and the introduction of “Service Requests”. The new system enabled service requests and Members’ enquiries to be dealt with differently and appropriately. Between 17 November 2022 and 3 April 2023, 1,349 Members Enquiries and 1,023 Service Requests had been received. Of the 1,349 Members’ Enquiries, 1,127 had been raised by Councillors and 222 by MPs. 1,214 Members’ Enquiries had been responded to and closed – 1,032 within 10 working days (85%) and 182 had breached (15%). It was confirmed that, during the same period in 2021-2022, 3,169 Members’ Enquiries had been raised.

In response to questions from the Committee, it was confirmed that there had been a drop of 797 (approximately 25%) in the number of Members’ Enquiries received in the current year when compared with the previous year. It was not possible to provide a breakdown for 2021-22 as Service Requests had not been recorded separately at that time; however, a breakdown by service area could be provided. It was noted that the figures tended to fluctuate year on year.

Members sought further clarification regarding the 10 working days target and the 15% breach noting that some complex enquiries could not be cleared in 10 days. A tiered system in relation to Members’ Enquiries was proposed. Officers acknowledged that 10 working days was insufficient in some types of enquiries to investigate and respond, particularly those relating to ASB matters. It would be difficult to introduce a tiered system due to the variety of enquiries received.

Councillors welcomed the definition in the new system and the split between Service Requests and Members’ Enquiries. It was reported that Service Requests were generally being dealt with very efficiently. However, in terms of Members’ Enquiries, Members commented that the new GOSS system was time consuming and very frustrating at times. There was no option for dialogue and enquiries were sometimes closed without a resolution. It was very difficult to manage complicated case work within the new system and a solution was needed to address these issues.

The Corporate Director of Central Services noted that the new Members’ Enquiries system had only been launched very recently. This was an opportunity for Councillors to provide feedback. It was anticipated that the introduction of a 5-day period for Members to ask follow-up questions post-resolution of an enquiry would assist in addressing some of the issues raised. This feature would be launched shortly and further feedback would be sought thereafter. Officers were keen to develop the system further in the future with a view to drilling down into the nature of the enquiries being raised and prevent the need for them.

Members enquired whether Artificial Intelligence and Chatbot were being explored. With regards to a Chatbot function, it was confirmed that it would be very difficult for one officer to deal with all the enquiries received given their diverse nature.

Councillors raised concerns regarding the closure of cases which had not been fully resolved. The Business Manager for Complaints and Enquiries confirmed that this should not be happening –the enquiry should not be closed until it had been resolved in its entirety. Staff had been reminded of this. He also advised that the system was able to deal with several issues raised under one Members’ Enquiry. It was confirmed that any difficulties with map functionality should be raised with the Business Manager for Complaints and Enquiries directly.

Members supported the idea of a document showing answers to Frequently Asked Questions. It was confirmed that a communication in relation to this would be circulated to Councillors shortly. Training manuals were also available.

Members proposed the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) such as Tawk To. The Corporate Director for Central Services confirmed that all options were being explored to improve the experience including robotics and AI. Trend analysis was already achievable.

It was agreed that officers would be requested to come back to provide a further update to the Committee in October 2023 once the new system had bedded in.

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