Report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications

The report shows the results for the key performance indicators at the end of Quarter 1 2018/19 for those services directly provided by the council.

The scrutiny committee received a report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications which provided the results of the key performance indicators at the end of Quarter 1 2018/19. 

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications advised that based on the figures officers would be able to see where any issues may be beginning to arise.  There had been slight dip in the planning indicators.  This had been due to a vacancy within the team, which had now been filled.  She then referred to the response times for the Customer Service Centre and the Head of Service Transformation had attended the meeting to provide an explanation.

The Head of Service Transformation informed the scrutiny committee that he had provided a detailed commentary within the report.  He said that the first quarter of the year was usually difficult.  This was due to the elections and Council Tax billing taking place in that quarter.  Both generated additional calls to the council.  He referred councillors to the result for the final quarter of 2017/18 which was 9% of calls had a waiting time of over two minutes.  Through the Watford 2020 programme officers would be able to obtain better data about the peak times during the year.  He added that 98% of calls were answered and the customer satisfaction rate remained high. 

In response to a question about support from other services, the Head of Service Transformation confirmed that other departments did co-operate with the Customer Service Centre (CSC).  The biggest challenges were at election time and Council Tax billing.  The staff employed in the CSC were multi-skilled.  The service had just taken on two temporary members of staff who specialised in revenues. 

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications added that the Voter ID pilot had generated additional calls with people checking the types of ID they could use, in addition to the usual type of questions received at election time.

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications informed the scrutiny committee that Freedom of Information (FOI) responses had been included for the first time.  The management and coordination of FOIs was an area within the responsibilities of the Head of Service Transformation.  There were quite a few late responses in the first quarter.  The requests included people asking for information hoping to do business with the council in the future, from journalists and repeat questions that were sent in on a regular basis.

In response to a question about the number of requests, the Committee and Scrutiny Officer advised that Audit Committee reviewed the requests on a half yearly basis.  For the period from 1 October 2017 to 31 March 2018 there had been 346 Freedom of Information requests.

Following a question about charging for providing replies, the Head of Service Transformation explained that officers could assess how much work was required to find the information and collate the response.  If the required work would cost more than the cost limit referred to in legislation the council was able to offer to supply the information to the person and recover any costs.  If it was below the set figure the council was able to require payment only for copying and posting.  Through the Watford 2020 programme officers would be looking to find a more efficient process.

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications referred the scrutiny committee to the Housing indicators.  The top reason for homelessness remained as the loss of private sector tenancy. 

Councillor Martins asked that in future reports more context was given to some of the data.  For example there were no details of how many complaints had been resolved in 10 days; the number of complaints received would help councillors better understand the information.  It was agreed this information would be added to future reports.

RESOLVED –

1.      that the key performance indicator results for the end of Quarter 1 2018/19 be noted.

2.      that the additional information requested be included in future reports.