To provides Members with information on complaints referred to the Local Government Ombudsman and those received by the Council during April 2017 – March 2018.
Contact:L Sboui 388032 A Dobbyne 388100
Minutes:
The Committee received and noted a report by the Corporate Team Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) of complaints submitted to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) and data relating to Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints received by the Council in 2017/18.
At 7.03pm Cllr J P Morris entered the meeting.
The Committee was informed that the LGO had been advised of 20 complaints of which there had been three detailed investigations, two of which were upheld.
Of the two complaints upheld by the LGO, one referred to a planning enforcement matter and although the LGO had not found fault with the Council’s decision on the matter, it had stated that there was fault in the Council’s communications with the complainant.
The other complaint upheld by the LGO referred to a planning decision where there was some fault by the Council in the way in which it responded to the initial complaint.
With regard to internal complaints, the Committee was advised that the Council had experienced a significant increase in the volume of Stage 1 complaints, largely as a result of the refuse/recycling round reconfiguration which was introduced in early 2017. The majority of complaints related to missed bin collections in Quarter 1 (April – June 2017). From a total of 280 complaints, 270 of these related to Operations. However, Operations had still achieved a 99.7% collection rate.
At 7.07pm Cllr D J Mead entered the meeting.
The Council had a two stage complaints process and in 2017/18 three cases were deemed to be ‘Unreasonable Complainants’ which had resulted in the Council withdrawing some of its services to the three complainants, with the exception of statutory obligations.
In response to a question regarding Appendix 1 and the number of planning and development complaints referred to the LGO, it was explained that some processes had altered within the department but overall the number of complaints to the LGO remained consistent over the years.
Regarding Appendix 2 it was confirmed that no Stage 2 complaints had been received for Leisure and Health in 2017/18.
The value of including the details within the report as to the reasons for the Stage 1 Operations complaints was considered and it was concluded that the detail within the report was sufficient as Members could contact the Corporate Team Manager directly for further information. The important aspect to focus upon was the key messages for service improvements.
It was noted that the Integrated Performance Report presented quarterly to both the Overview and Scrutiny Panel and the Cabinet included the number of Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints received by the Council.
One comment which the Committee concurred was that given the transformation over the last 18 months throughout the Council the increased number of complaints was not a surprise.
It was requested that future reports include any key lessons learnt from complaint resolutions as well as a summary of complaint themes.
The Corporate Governance Committee requested that the respective Executive Councillors attend meetings when there was a relevant item within their remit on the agenda. Whereupon, it was
RESOLVED
that the Corporate Governance Committee, having offered comment on the LGO local authority report for Huntingdonshire District Council and the data relating to formal Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints, the contents of the report be noted.
Supporting documents: