Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

(1)  That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee commented on and note the key findings and observations from the District Wide Survey.

(2)  That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted that the results will be considered by the Leadership Team in conjunction with Executive Members and an action plan produced.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To ensure that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is aware of the results and any trends from previous surveys and how the results will be used to inform future service delivery.

Audio recording – 95 minutes 35 seconds

The Communications Manager presented the report entitled ‘2022 District Wide Survey’ and provided Members with the following updates:

·         800 residents had been surveyed by phone earlier this year and results are largely in line with national trends and similar to previous survey results.

·         In terms of areas of strength, satisfaction with North Herts as a place to live is very high and contrary to national trends, satisfaction with the Council is above national trends and has stabilised from the downward trend between 2013-2019, agreement that the Council offers value for money is above national levels and satisfaction with Waste and Recycling has seen a significant increase on the last survey results.

·         Areas of focus include monitoring resident views of the running of the council, as the percentage that think it is getting worse is larger than the percentage who think it is getting better. The top three themes from residents feedback were: a) improving the look of a local area, b) improving street cleaning and c) improvement in communications that are clear and transparent.

·         Satisfaction with street cleaning, benefits and housing services have all  recorded their lowest levels in this survey.

·         For those residents who have recently made contact with the Council, satisfaction with the service received was at its lowest on record and dissatisfaction to the highest.

·         In terms of areas to explore further, satisfaction scores on whether the Council ‘consults and engages the community’ are to be addressed through the Community Consultation Strategy 2022-27.

·         Royston residents provided the lowest score with regard to the Council offering value for money and similarly scored lower than the rest of the district when it came to the Council involving, consulting and engaging residents, so worth monitoring this.

·         Potential new forms of customer contact, including a ‘live chat’ option on the Council website’, are another area for the Council’s Customer Service team to explore.

In response to a question from Councillor Claire Strong, the Communications Manager advised that the latest District Wide Survey results would be displayed for residents on a dedicated page on the Council’s website, which would aim to bring together all consultation responses ongoing in one place. There would also be an article in the next Outlook publication regarding the outcomes of the District Wide Survey.

Councillor Claire Strong proposed and Councillor Val Bryant seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:

(1)  That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee commented on and note the key findings and observations from the District Wide Survey.

(2)  That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted that the results will be considered by the Leadership Team in conjunction with Executive Members and an action plan produced.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To ensure that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is aware of the results and any trends from previous surveys and how the results will be used to inform future service delivery.