Agenda item

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER

To update members of the Committee on the half year position in regards to the Comments, Compliments and Complaints (3Cs) for the Council and the Contractors that provide services on the Council’s behalf.

RESOLVED: That the Information Note entitled Half Year Update on Comments, Compliments and Complaints (3Cs) and appendices be noted.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To update the Committee on the first six months performance of 2020/21 regarding the Comments, Compliments and Complaints (3Cs) received for the Council and the contractors that provide services on the Council’s behalf.

Audio recording - 37 minutes 38 seconds

The Leader of the Council presented the Information Note entitled Half Year Update on Comments, Compliments and Complaints (3Cs) together with the following appendices:

·                Appendix A – Dashboard;

·                Appendix B – Breakdown by Service Area.

He drew attention to the following:

·                The number of comments, compliments and complaints during the first six months of the 2020/2021 period which included the pandemic were down on the same period last year;

·                The number of complaints had decreased significantly from 446 in the previous period to 233, almost a 50% reduction;

·                58% of complaints related to services delivered by key contractors, while 53% of compliments received related to the same contractors: waste and the leisure centres;

·                The percentage of 3Cs resolved within 10 days had improved again (79%) compared to the same period last year, which reflected an increase in monitoring and chasing to accompany the automatic escalations;

·                There had been 13 stage 2 complaints and 5 complaints escalated to the Local Government Ombudsman, one of which was upheld relating to Planning and Development as noted in the main report.

The Leader of the Council gave the Committee a verbal report on social media including:

·                From April to September 2020, Facebook fans had increased by 1,800 bringing the total number of fans to 4,600. Twitter followers had increased by 701 bringing total followers to 11,000; 

·                In total, Facebook posts had reached 1.6 million people from April to September;

·                Engagement on Twitter had increased. The most popular tweet which gained the most likes and retweets was in May 2020 about food and garden waste collections resuming. The post had over 50 likes and 27 retweets;

·                On both Twitter and Facebook the most popular inbound message topics (all Facebook comments, Twitter mentions and direct messages) were coronavirus and waste;

·                Less posts had been shared on Twitter and Facebook compared to April – September 2019 but engagement was higher suggesting the quality of posts was better;

·                Instagram was becoming more popular – by the end of September 2020 NHDC had 1,499 followers, up from 788 at the start of April 2019. The most popular post on Instagram had been an image of the Broadway Gardens fountain with blue water to show support for NHS, care workers and key support workers with 110 likes.

The following Members took part in discussion:

·                Councillor David Levett;

·                Councillor Martin Stears-Handscomb;

·                Councillor Sam Collins;

·                Councillor Claire Strong.

Member discussion included:

·                There had been an increase in the number of people watching the Council’s YouTube videos;

·                The number of views on the YouTube Channel was higher than the number of members of the public who had attended meetings in person;

·                The possibility of continuing to live-stream meetings from the Council Chamber after the pandemic was being actively explored;

·                The lockdown had meant that more people were looking for information on social media;

·                The Council needed to remain mindful of reaching those who did not have access to social media;

·                A Task and Finish Group for Community Engagement was due to be initiated as part of the Committee’s forward work programme;

·                The Waste Task and Finish Group was scheduled for February 2021, however it was noted that the waste team was currently under a lot of pressure which may cause some delay.

RESOLVED: That the Information Note entitled Half Year Update on Comments, Compliments and Complaints (3Cs) and appendices be noted.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To update the Committee on the first six months performance of 2020/21 regarding the Comments, Compliments and Complaints (3Cs) received for the Council and the contractors that provide services on the Council’s behalf.