Agenda item

Councillor Chris Burke, Portfolio Holder for Customer Experience and Review:

 

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee covering the following main points:

 

-       High Performing Services – the Council had been doing all it could to minimise the effects of the financial and Covid-19 pandemic related challenges that it faced for residents. Services were prioritised to ensure that effective and efficient services were delivered to all.

 

During 2019/21 the Council had been working on plans for the ‘One Council’ approach, which would replace the current ‘High Performing Services’ theme in the next phase of Vision 2025

 

-       General Performance – this was to ensure that there was a process for producing good quality key operational data that was available to those who needed it on a regular basis

 

-       Local Performance Management Framework – this was to ensure that appropriate measures were in place to monitor performance. The framework was due to be reviewed in 2021/22 and would incorporate a move towards a more performance driven culture

 

-       The Performance and Information Management System – this system was successfully launched at the end of 2018/19. Performance targets were reviewed annually to reflect changes in the marketplace as well as current outturn achievements.

 

-       Quarterly Performance Monitoring – the Council reported through a quarterly performance report which covered around 70 strategic measures, some quarterly and some annual. During the early stages of the pandemic in 2020 it was difficult for some services to provide numerical performance information as they were initially invoking emergency plans and then gradually completing recovery plans.

 

-       Lincoln City Profile – the profile painted a unique picture of what it was like to live and work in Lincoln. It contained eight chapters containing statistical data on the following subjects:

 

o   Population

o   Education

o   Economy

o   Housing

o   Welfare

o   Crime

o   Health

o   Environment (including climate change)

 

-       Audit Arrangements – the latest annual Internal Audit Report (2020/21) established that overall, the Council was performing well across areas of governance, risk and internal financial control and performing adequately on internal control.

 

-       Democratic and Electoral Services – the Electoral Services Team successfully delivered a complex set of elections on 6 May 2021 whilst adhering to Covid-19 restrictions.

 

The temporary legislation which allowed formal meetings of the Council to be held virtually came to an end in early May 2021. The Democratic Services Team had made arrangements for a number of in-person committee meetings since the lifting of the temporary legislation.

 

-       Business Development and IT – throughout the pandemic the focus of the Business Development and IT Team had been in sustaining business as usual, but with extra support provided to the Authority’s by the Covid-19 pandemic response. Within days of the first lockdown being announced, nearly all staff were able to work remotely and continue to deliver services.

 

-       Customer Services -  the team had maintained an accessible service for customers throughout the restrictions that had been in place and had ensured that residents had been able to access vital services such as tenancy repairs, benefit payments and advice and guidance on a range of council and external services. Many vulnerable people over the last 12 months had been supported with referrals for welfare or money advice, foodbank support and applications for grants and discounts.

 

b)    invited members’ questions and comments.

 

Question: Members asked when staff would return to the office.

 

Response: Staff would return to work in line with the new workstyles which were communicated to staff via Assistant Directors.

 

Question: Members asked what staff were currently working from home full time.

 

Response: This information was to be forwarded to the Committee.

 

Question: Members asked what staff were working part-time in City Hall and part-time at home.

 

Response: There were about 100 staff members that were signing into City Hall to work. The ‘hybrid’ way of work was to continue until at least the 16^th August. Managers continue to co-ordinate who was in the office and who worked from home.

 

Question: Members asked how many staff were still on furlough.

 

Response: All staff had returned to work.

 

Question: Members asked how much money was saved when staff were furloughed.

 

Response: Income through furlough was around £493k. This money was used to support the authority through the financial impacts of the pandemic.

 

Question: Members asked how many staff had self-isolated.

 

Response: There had been 200+.

 

Question: Members asked if it was possible for some staff to work permanently from home.

 

Response: Yes. Businesses were looking at this as a new way of working. There were some staff that could not work from home due to mental health requirements and these staff were being supported. There were 10 principles that had been sent to staff that the Council were following.

 

Question: Members asked if there were reasons as to why customers preferred to call instead of use digital communications.

 

Response: Some of the reasoning was generational. The use of digital communication avenues was wanting to be maximised, but we were also conscious that the older generation want to talk to us on the phone.

 

Question: Members asked if the average length of calls increasing going up was owing to the pandemic.

 

Response: Some of this was owing to staffing issues, as some members of staff had left the authority. This was being looked at so the Council could understand the staffing implications.

 

Comment: Members commented that if a customer telephoned the Council, it was dealt with quicker.  It was therefore suggested that if emails could be responded to in a timely manner then this could change the way customers communicated.

 

Question: Members asked what the cost was to hold meetings externally and when meetings would be returning to City Hall.

 

Response: Costings would be forwarded onto the Committee. External venues would continue be hired out until at least the 16^th August when self-isolation rules were being reviewed.

 

Question: Members asked what was included in the improvements to the website.

 

Response: Some of this was around disabilities, such as, allowing customers to increase text size and activate voice for customers who were hard of seeing.

 

Question: Members asked why there was a drop in the amount of calls received and emails answered.

 

Response: This may be due to customers using more electronic forms of communication.

 

Question: Members asked what was included when letters were being simplified for customers.

 

Response: This project was to make sure that letters had simplified information so they were easier to understand. The new letters were going live for Housing Rents and Housing Repairs and were currently being reviewed by Revenues and Benefits.

 

Question: Members asked whether email correspondence was being currently being explored rather than post.

 

Response: Yes, this was being explored. There was some correspondence which had to be posted, owing to its statutory nature.

 

Question: Members asked if the Lincoln City Profile was to be updated as the version that was online was dated 2020.

 

Response: Yes, the update had been delayed due to staffing issues within the Policy Team.

 

Question: Members asked whether Creating Value Processes was part of BDIT.

 

Response: This was one of four themes running under the ‘One Council’ banner and it looked at supporting processes that we followed internally and externally. The push at the minute was to get customers to interact with ourselves in a digital way. Online forms were being made easier. Response times for digital correspondence needed to be increased in order for customers to have faith in using digital communication.

 

Question: Members asked whether the extra services that were put in place for BDIT were already in the Business Continuity Plan.

 

Response: There was some that was in the Business Continuity Plan and some had to be done quickly such as getting all staff access to work from home remotely. The Disaster Recovery Plan that was in place moved staff to a different building, but the pandemic did not allow for this to happen.

 

Question: Members asked what checks were carried out to ensure that staff who were working from home were doing so in the right environment and how was it being monitored.

 

Response: Home workers did need a home assessment and these were carried out by managers. Monitoring performance was easy in some areas due to the output of work. Some officers were working more hours than they should and this needed to be managed.

 

Question: Members asked what steps were being taken to ensure that audit requirements were adequate.

 

Response: Portfolio Holder meetings took place on a monthly basis where issues of concern were raised. Any Issues also got reported to Senior Managers.

 

Question: Members asked what the costs were to print and post agendas to Councillors as the current IT infrastructure was inadequate.

 

Response: Costs would be forwarded onto the Committee. It was important that members were able to work digitally. Any reported issues with IT equipment had been given to IT for investigation.

 

Question: Members asked for an update on the role out of new devices for staff and whether staff were happy with these devices.

 

Response: There was around 100 staff that were waiting to be moved over to Office 365. The equipment was on order but there had been a delay. There were different pieces of equipment that were being handed out to staff that were tailored to their work needs.