Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Linda Smith and David Thompson.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2024, copy attached.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meetings of 10 September 2024 be agreed as a correct record.

Members to declare any interests.

Cllr D Goss declared an interest as an employee of the Conservative Party which also included voluntary offices in the Buckinghamshire area. He also mentioned that he was a Winslow Town Councillor.

The Annual Report for Buckinghamshire Council provided a summary of the Council’s complaints and compliments, including details from the annual review letter issued by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman on 17 July. The report covered the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

The report highlighted improvements in services and effective issue resolution. Notably, last year had fewer stage 1 complaints and faster response times, showing a more efficient complaint handling process. The Council also had fewer upheld complaints, indicating better service quality and issue resolution outside the complaints process. Complaints about the Southern Waste service dropped significantly, reflecting successful resolution of old issues and improved service delivery.

Moreover, there have been enhancements in managing Adults Social Care statutory complaints and better handling of Children’s Social Care complaints, reflecting the council’s commitment to addressing concerns efficiently. Altogether, these accomplishments contribute to a positive perspective for the year and demonstrate the council's dedication to ongoing improvement.

The Senior Complaints and Improvements Officer reported that communication was one of the main issues of concern and they were working with services on this area. There had been a drop in compliments which could be a lack of awareness by both the public and services not being aware of the reporting system. 79% of investigations were upheld by the Local Government Ombudsman which equated to 31 decisions. It was difficult to put this into context with other Councils as it related to the size of their Council and local issues but Cornwall, a similar unitary, had 33 upheld complaints. The overall number of complaints had stagnated, and it was the number expected without the issues experienced by waste last year.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman had introduced a new Code which would go live in April 2026. Buckinghamshire was part of their pilot and work processes already aligned with the LGSCO. Further work would be required on response times in Stage 1 and there was a big focus on learning which was being recorded on internal systems.

During discussion the following points were made:-

·         A point was made regarding officers talking to councillors about complaints in order to resolve the issue at an early stage. He commented that residents could talk to their local councillors first before going through the complaints system.

·         Reference was made to the last three years of data and whether there was any further historical information comparing the number of complaints to legacy councils and whether there was evidence that a unitary council was more efficient and effective. The Senior Complaints and Improvements Officer reported that it would be difficult to do a comparison as data was on different legacy systems and recorded in a different way. However, she would look into this to see if it was possible.

·         A Member referred to paragraph 3.6 which referred to Children’s services receiving a total of 262 complaints during 2023/24, marking a 22% rise. The SEND service remained under strain, as demonstrated by the 49 additional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The report gave an overview of the Member Code of Conduct complaints that were opened and closed during Quarter 2 (July to September) this year.   Six complaints had been dealt with all of which relate to parish and town councils.  None have led to a finding of breach.  At the time of writing, three of the complaints remained open but were likely to be closed at Stage 1 (Informal Resolution). In each case, the complaint had come from within the parish council itself – either from an employee or fellow councillor.  The report also included a comparison with the same Quarter in 2023/24. 

Four of the six complaints had arisen within the same council indicating a wider sense of distrust and discontent within that council of which the complaints were symptom.  The Monitoring Officer had offered advice and assistance to that particular council in addition to the resolution of the complaints;  some of the advice was already being followed within the council.  The Parish Council itself had not sought advice from the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Association of Local Councils. One of the complaints had been paused while they decided if they wished to pursue their concern and whether it was proportionate in the public interest to take the complaint to the next stage.

The Principal Governance Officer had attended a BMKALC meeting the previous night to explain the role of the Monitoring Officer. He had emphasised the civility and respect pledge (from the Local Government Association) which within it had a suite of policies and model protocols which Councils could potentially use.  Nationally there had been issues with town and parish councils where there had been reported incidences of bullying or harassment. Often the Monitoring Officer would decide that this threshold had not been reached even if there was a perception locally that it had. It did help for Parish Councils to have strong, confident clerks. Where there were a number of complaints from one council it was useful to explore the issue to find an informal resolution.

During discussion the following points were noted:-

·       A question was asked that once the complaint had been resolved whether the name of the Council went into the public domain as it was important for residents to know that there were issues within their Parish. Members noted that parish council names would be included in the Annual Report. The Member commented that if complaints were escalated to Buckinghamshire Council that this would be at the taxpayers expense. If Parish Councils were charged for the complaints work themselves then they would be motivated to sort out their governance issues before they were referred to the Monitoring Officer. The Principal Governance Officer reported that the Localism Act put the responsibility on the principal authority to adopt the complaints arrangement and to be the investigating authority. The Local Government Association and Government could be lobbied for changes. It was important to have a robust system to deal with genuine complaints particularly as some Parish Councils  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Verbal update from Glenn Watson

The Principal Governance Officer gave an update on the 2025 Constitutional Task and Finish Group which met several times. The Constitution was being reviewed due to the reduction in Members next year to 97. Members were looking at the structure of the Constitution and at procedural rules relating to meetings. The Group had reviewed Select, Licensing and Planning Committees. The Group had not made any recommendations yet to the parent committees and would take an overall approach as to whether any proposed structure was sustainable. The next meeting would look at Licensing Committees and at procedure rules. A Members Allowance Review was also being commissioned.

A Member asked what would happen if a Licensing Sub-Committee could not meet in the timeline because it was not quorate. In response Members noted a rule could be applied to hold a hearing at a later date if there were special circumstances. The Task and Finish Group were looking at quoracy and making sure workloads were sustainable. The Monitoring Officer would need to ensure that lawful meetings were taking place in the right timescale. Delegated matters could be undertaken in exceptional circumstances.

The report was noted.

The Work Programme was noted.

14 November 2024 at 2.30pm

14 November 2024 at 2.30pm