The report of the Assistant Chief Executive and the City Solicitor is attached.

The Committee received a report of the Assistant Chief Executive and the City Solicitor which presented the complaints, enquiries and information request dashboard. The dashboard set out the Council’s annual performance for 2021/22 in the management of corporate and social care complaints, Councillor and MP enquiries, as well as information requests.

Key themes of the report were:

• An overview of the complaints and enquiries dashboard
• Corporate Complaints: 77% of Stage one complaints. responded to within ten working days, 16% of complaints escalated to Stage two., 60%of stage two complaints responded to within ten working days, 28% of Stage one and two complaints upheld.
• Councillor and MP enquiries: 76% of enquiries responded to within ten working days
• Social Care Complaints: 59% of social care complaints handled within timescale, 27% of social care decisions upheld
• Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) Enquiries: There had been an increase in the number of Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman enquiries, and performance had improved in that the average number of days taken to respond had fallen to 16 in comparison with the previous year’s 2, 24% of Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman decisions were upheld
• Praise: there had been an increase in the number of instances of praise (409) in comparison with the previous year (383)
• Learning from complaints: including Critical Learning and Learning Action Plans
• Freedom of Information and GDPR requests: 84% of GDPR requests responded to within relevant statutory timescale, 79% of Freedom of Information Act requests responded to within relevant statutory timescale

The Committee welcomed the comprehensive report and noted the increase in instances of praises for Council Services. A discussion followed on the comparative increase in complaints with regard to the previous year’s data. The impact of changed expectations about service delivery in the post-pandemic environment, including a greater reliance on remote-working and an associated trend towards uptake of digital channels for residents, businesses and service users were cited amongst possible influencing factors.

A member commented on the significant increase in complaints to Children’s Services and Education which had arisen following the implementation of a new system being used for school place admissions. The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer spoke about the value in learning from complaints and emphasised the significance of the tone of engagement taken with the city’s residents and the shift to a listening culture.

Following a question about the number of logged Councillor enquiries referenced in the report and how that compared with the number of councillor-led requests for service / information, the Assistant Chief Executive agreed to undertake a piece of work with services to improve how Councillor enquiries are recorded and monitored, including the development of refreshed guidance.

The Deputy Executive Member for Finance and Resources spoke about plans to broaden digital access to Council services to ensure inclusivity of all of the city’s residents, businesses and other users of Council services and the impact of an increased awareness about legislative rights under for example, the General Data Protection Regulation and Freedom of Information Acts.

In terms of closing comments, the Executive Member for Finance and Resources acknowledged the importance of a robust, positive and responsive complaints system which supports the organisation in identifying weaknesses in its systems or policies in seeking to address them. He indicated that the overall increase was attributable to a shift towards increased remote-working practices which, in the context of a natural tendency to notice when things go wrong as opposed to when they work well and an ongoing commitment to widen digital access, should be encouraged and embraced as opportunities for continuous and ongoing improvement.

Decision

1.    To note the update.

2.    To note that the Assistant Chief Executive will undertake a piece of work with services to improve how Councillor enquiries are recorded and monitored, including the development of refreshed guidance.