Venue: By Zoom. View directions
Contact: Wyn Richards Scrutiny Manager and Head of Democratic Services
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors C Kenyon-Wade, J Ewing, J Wilkinson and G Preston. Apologies for absence were also received from Lynette Lovell (Director of Education and Children’s Services) and Nina Davies (Director of Social Services and Housing). |
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Election of Vice-Chair To elect a Vice-Chair for the ensuing year. Minutes: RESOLVED that County Councillor Gareth E Jones be elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive declarations of interest from Members. Minutes: There were no Declarations of Interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.
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Disclosure of Party Whips To receive disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.
(NB: Members are reminded that, under Section 78, Members having been given a prohibited party whip cannot vote on a matter before the Committee.) Minutes: The Committee did not receive any disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member had been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.
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Complaints, Compliments and Representations Annual Report 2021-22 PDF 301 KB To receive and consider the Complaints, Compliments and Representations Annual Report 2021-22. Minutes: Documents Considered: · Complaints, Compliments and Representations Annual Report 2021-22.
Issues Discussed: · The emphasis is on the early intervention / resolution and informal resolution so that complaints do not need to progress to become Stage 1 and 2 investigations. · The number of complaints has reduced between 2017 and 2022 with Adults Services complaints having reduced by a third. · Table 4 in the report sets out complaints by themes. · The time taken to acknowledge and complete reports is due to pressures on the service but is being actively progressed to address this issue. It is now a key performance indicator that acknowledgements are made in two working days. · There are currently no active Ombudsman investigations during the period although there was an outstanding Ombudsman complaint from 2016 concluded in the period. · Compliments are generally increasing during the period. · Services are in a process of continual learning and the team works with quality assessment officers in services, meeting on a monthly basis to identify themes and inform corrective actions and improvements. · There is also an improvement plan following previous comments by the Ombudsman about the complaints system. This includes the development of a Customer Care Charter which has been published. A review of the procedure has also been undertaken. Alternative formats for documents are being considered e.g. for younger people or people with learning disabilities. · The Council is attempting to increase the pool of independent investigators who undertake Stage 2 complaints investigations as well as reviewing an alternative complaints system following issues with the current system. · The Head of Adult Services commented that the feedback loop between the complaints team and operational teams has improved. The way that Services respond to feedback is crucial which is shown by way many complaints are resolved informally due to the mediatory approach by the complaints team. However, although Services are better at responding there is still room for improvement. The Interim Head of Children’s Services added that Children’s Services are trying to create and adopt a culture of learning seeing complaints as a positive and providing an opportunity to improve the service and practices. · The Interim Head of Commissioning emphasised the development of the Customer Care Charter, as a direct result of reflecting on themes and the expectations around customer communication. The Charter embodies the expectation from a professional perspective in terms of the required response and also sets out the expectations from a public perspective. The Charter was co-produced with public involvement.
· Questions:
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Work Programme To note that the schedule of meetings is as follows:
Minutes: The Committee noted the schedule of meetings as set out on the agenda.
The Committee was advised that consideration of the Quarter 2 Performance report was being delayed to the meeting in December. It was suggested that the Draft Safeguarding Policy was provisionally scheduled for the next meeting. The Chair indicated that she wanted further discussions with Senior Officers regarding at which committees this document was considered. The Chair also questioned the position regarding the Direct Payments report and the Scrutiny Manager advised that this was with the Service for further consideration. The Chair further suggested that discharges from hospital could be an issue for consideration at the next meetings.
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