Meeting documents

In the absence of the Chairman and Vice Chairman) from the meeting both of whom had submitted their apologies, it was

RESOLVED: That Mr B Morgan-Timms be appointed as Chairman for the Meeting.

To confirm the Minutes of the Committee meeting held on Tuesday 11 January 2011 (previously circulated).

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 28 March 2011 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any declaration of personal or personal and prejudicial interest by Members relating to items on the agenda.  If any Member is uncertain as to whether an interest should be disclosed, he or she is asked if possible to contact the District Solicitor prior to the meeting.

Members are reminded that if they are declaring an interest, whether personal or personal and prejudicial, then (subject to paragraph 14 of the Code of Conduct) they should state the nature of that interest, whether or not they leave the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

RECOMMENDATION

The Committee is advised to RESOLVE:

(a) that all Members of the Standards Committee (including those appointed after this meeting to any vacancy) form a "pool" of members for meetings of (a) a Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, (b) a Complaints Review Sub-Committee, and (c) a Local Standards Hearing panel.

(b) that the Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, the Complaints Review Sub-Committee and the Local Standards Hearing Panel (to be drawn in each case and on each occasion from the "pool" and with their terms as reference as previously authorised) be appointed until the next Annual Council Meeting or, if earlier, the date upon which Standards Committees formed under existing legislation are abolished, with the same membership as at present, ie one District Council member, one independent Member and one Parish Council representative.

(c) that the Committee’s functions in respect of initial assessment be delegated to the Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, the Committee’s functions in respect of reviews be delegated to the Complaints Review Sub-Committee, and the Committee’s functions in respect of all other local determination matters (including hearings) be delegated to the Local Standards Hearing Panel.

(d) the selection of members from the "pool" be delegated to the Head of Democratic Legal and Policy Services and

(e) the date, time and venue for meetings of these Sub-Committees be fixed by the Head of Democratic Legal and Policy Services.

Corporate Implications

4.1             Authority to appoint members to Standards Committees is provided by section 53 of the Local Government Act 2000.

4.2             The appointment of Sub-Committees by the Standards Committee is authorised by section 54A of the Local Government Act 2000. The appointment of Sub-Committees to deal with initial assessment and review is a requirement imposed on Standards Committees by Regulation 6 (1) of The Standards Committee (England) Regulations 2008, which came into force on 8 May 2008.

Detailed Report

4.3             At its meeting on 6 May 2008, the Standards Committee resolved to form a pool of members comprising all members of the Committee, and appointed the Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, the Complaints Review Sub-Committee and the Local Standards Hearing Panel ("the three Sub-Committees") (with membership to be drawn from the pool in each case) until the Annual Council meeting in 2011.

4.4             As the prospective abolition of Standards Committees, the local assessment regime as currently constituted, and Standards for England as set out in the Localism Bill, has yet to be implemented, it is necessary for the three Sub-Committees to be re-appointed until the next Annual Council meeting or, if earlier, the date upon which Standards Committees formed under existing legislation are abolished and it is recommended accordingly.

4.5             As required by section 55 (5) of the Local Government Act 2000, Parish Councils for which the Committee is responsible have been consulted on the numbers of members and their terms of office in respect of the three Sub-Committees and comments requested by close of business on 30 May 2011. Any comments received will be fed back to the Committee  ...  view the full agenda text for item 4.

The Committee had before it a report outlining the requirements to appoint sub-committees to deal with Local Standards Complaints Initial Assessments, Reviews of ‘no further action’ decisions and Local Standards Hearings and other standards issues.

At its meeting on 6 May 2008 the Standards Committee had resolved to form a pool of all Members of the Committee to sit on these sub-committees. These appointments were made until the Annual Council meeting in 2011.

Despite the proposed abolition of Standards Committee, the local assessment regime and ‘Standards for England’ as  set out in the Localism Bill, it was necessary for the three sub-committees to be reappointed until the next Annual Council meeting or, if earlier, the date upon which Standards Committees formed under existing legislation are abolished.

It was noted by Members that, as required by Section 55(5) of the Local Government Act 2000, officers had consulted the Parish and Town Councils within the District for which the Committee was responsible on the number of members and their proposed terms of office in respect of the three sub-committees. No comments had been received from such authorities.

The Committee fully endorsed the recommendation before them and;

RESOLVED: That

(i) all Members of the Standards Committee (including those appointed after this meeting to any vacancy) form a "pool" of members for meetings of (a) a Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, (b) a Complaints Review Sub-Committee, and (c) a Local Standards Hearing Panel;

(ii) the Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, the Complaints Review Sub-Committee and the Local Standards Hearing Panel (to be drawn in each case and on each occasion from the "pool" and with their terms of reference as previously authorised) be appointed until the next Annual Council Meeting or, if earlier, the date upon which Standards Committees formed under existing legislation are abolished, with the same membership as at present, ie one District Council member, one independent member and one Parish Council representative;

(iii) the Committee’s functions in respect of initial assessment be delegated to the Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, the Committee’s functions in respect of reviews be delegated to the Complaints Review Sub-Committee, and the Committee’s functions in respect of all other local determination matters (including hearings) be delegated to the Local Standards Hearing Panel;

(iv) the selection of members from the "pool" be delegated to the Head of Democratic, Legal and Policy Services; and

(v) the date, time and venue for meetings of these Sub-Committees be fixed by the Head of Democratic, Legal and Policy Services.

            Contact Officer:                     Jean Roberts                                                             Ext: 3202

RECOMMENDATION

The Standards Committee is asked to:

Note the attached data and charts for the periods 1 October – 31 December 2010 (Quarter 3), and 1 January – 31 March 2011 (Quarter 4).

Corporate Implications

5.1             The establishment and maintenance of complaints procedures is conducive to the discharge of the Council’s various functions and as such are authorised by Section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972.

5.2             There are no financial implications.

5.3             A robust complaints procedure assists in minimising the risks to the Council arising from complaints.

Policy/Community Plan Implications

5.4             This report is relevant to the Council’s priority of excellent customer service.

Background

5.5             Quarterly information is supplied to all business units which record complaints, comments or compliments on ServiceMail, and after consultation with managers, composite information for each Management Team and the Strategic Management Board. Further complaints statistics are also incorporated as Local Performance Indicators by the Policy and Research Unit.

            Report

5.6             The information and charts for the quarters are attached herewith and additional information has been added to the graphs to show the targets in place for the relevant time periods, as well as a spreadsheet showing a comparison with the quarters in the previous year for key indicators. 

5.7             The information and charts for the quarter are attached herewith and additional information has been added to the graphs to show the targets in place for the relevant time periods.  In addition a summarised report on LG Ombudsman complaints is also attached.  The target in place for complaints responded to in target is 90% for this year, and feedback on customer satisfaction with response, customer satisfaction with outcome, and satisfaction with complaint handling are also now all 90%.  The following are the priority areas for improvement and the results for this quarter for all business units within the Council:

1.                  Answering complaints within our corporate timescale of 10 working days

      Quarter 3:  This quarter there was a total percentage of complaints within target of 88.5%, slightly below target.  This is another drop from the previous quarter.  There have been some problems arising from staff changes in two sections which hopefully will improve in the near future.

      Quarter 4:  This quarter there was a total percentage of complaints within target of 93.5%, above target and a significant improvement from the last two quarters.

2.         Review of Complaints by business units to "Learn Lessons" and Improvements Made

      Quarter 3: For this quarter 69 complaints were received with only 15 complaints/comments reviewed by business units, and 5 improvements logged (all improvements logged were by on-street and off-street parking teams).

      Quarter 4:  For this quarter 64 complaints were received with only 13 complaints/comments reviewed by business units, and 3 improvements logged. It is disappointing not to have more improvements as a result of complaints.

            3.         Customer Feedback Cards - Complaints

            The numbers of customer feedback responses will always be lower than the number of complaints received as these are sent out  ...  view the full agenda text for item 5.

The meeting noted the extensive report and appendices in respect of Complaints, Comments and Compliments received during the last two quarters of the previous financial year.

The 88.5% of complaints dealt with within the corporate timescales of 10 working days (below the 90% target) for the third quarter was noted along with the figure of 93.5% for the final quarter.

The improvement in feedback logged in respect of complaints was noted along with the impressive number of compliments received over the two quarters, particularly in respect of the Customer Service Centre and Environmental Services section.

The District Solicitor responded to a Member’s enquiry as to the presence of any specific issues amongst the data which should be brought to the Committee’s attention, by saying that there were no exceptions that gave any particular cause for concern.

RESOLVED: That the monitoring of Complaints, Comments and Compliments Report for the Third and Fourth Quarters 2010-11 and the data and charts contained therein be noted.

RECOMMENDATION

The Committee is advised to RESOLVE that the training arrangements for the municipal year 2011/12 be as set out in paragraph 6.6 of the report.

Corporate Implications

6.1             One of the Committee’s terms of reference is to deal with the arrangement of training on certain standards of conduct issues. Such training arrangements are authorised by Part III of the Local Government Act 2000 and section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972.

6.2             There are no financial implications to this report.

Council Priorities/Sustainable Community Strategy Implications

6.3             Standards issues are relevant to the Council priority of Excellent Customer Service.

Report

6.4             As the Standards Board regime, including the Code of Conduct and Standards Committees as currently constituted, together with the local assessment regime are prospectively abolished in the Localism Bill, there would seem to be little merit in organising large scale training, with associated costs, given that the Bill is expected to become law by the end of the current calendar year.

6.5             However, the Committee does have two new Members, who will need to be familiar with the current system until it is abolished, especially for the purpose of sitting on the Initial Assessment, Review and Hearing Sub-Committees.

6.6             Accordingly, it is proposed that in addition to two Member induction sessions on the Code of Conduct and the current standards regime, the Monitoring Officer goes through the Code of Conduct and the local assessment regime with the new Members. They will then be able (with the leave of the Chairman) to sit in as observers during at least one Initial Assessment Sub-Committee meeting before taking a full part in that respect.

The Committee noted the report and the pertinent factor therein that given the prospective abolition of the Standards Board regime including the Code of Conduct and Standards Committees as currently constituted, there would appear to be little merit in organising large scale training with associated costs.

However given the presence of two new Members on the Committee as from the new Council year it was proposed in the report that two member induction sessions be organised on the Code of Conduct and the current local assessment regime for these Members. Additionally it was suggested, that with the leave of the Chairman, these new Members sit in as observers during at least one Initial Assessment Sub-Committee meeting before taking a full part in that respect.

RESOLVED: That the training arrangements for the municipal year 2011/12 as outlined in the report be implemented.