Venue: Mead Room (Rose) - Endeavour House. View directions
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APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTES Minutes: There were no apologies received. |
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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS Minutes: There were no declerations of interests. |
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TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF PETITIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCIL'S PETITION SCHEME Minutes: None received. |
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JOS/17/14 CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 15 FEBRUARY 2018 PDF 250 KB Minutes: The minutes of the meeting was confirmed as a true record with the following amendment:
Bullet point 20.1: The repeated sentence “That the Suffolk Waster Partnership report on food Waste be added to the Work Plan for after April” was removed. |
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JOS/17/15 PROPOSED UPDATES TO THE JOINT COMPLIMENTS, COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS POLICY PDF 84 KB Review of the proposed changes to the Joint Compliments, Comments and Complaints Policy
Ben Staines – Project and Research Officer Additional documents: Minutes: 25.1 The Project and Research Officer introduced the report and explained how the current complaints procedure consisted of a two-stage system. The complainant had an option to progress to stage two if the response from the council was not satisfactory. With the updated procedure the complainant would have to provide new information to progress to a stage two complaint or go to the Ombudsman with the complaint. In the last six months there had been 39 investigations but only two had been upheld by the Ombudsman. This was therefore the best way to achieve satisfactory results for both the complainant and the Council. The Officers also informed Members that if the complainant was behaving abusive to a member of staff then the complaint would not be taken any further.
25.2 Members questioned the Officer regarding the process for the new complaints procedure and it was established that under the present complaints procedure the it was up to the complainant to decide if the complaint should be progressed to the Stage Two complaint process. However, under the suggested new complaints procedure new information was required for the complaint to be progressed to Stage Two. The only other option for the complaint was to take the complaint to the local ombudsman. The intention was to resolve the majority of complaints at the beginning of the compliant procedure. The officers also responded that the ombudsman would consider complaints cases even if they had progressed completely through the complains process.
25.3 Some Members were concerned about abusive customers and if staff had been trained in how to deal with this kind of behaviour. They also wanted to know if phone calls were recorded when complainants contacted the Councils. The Lead Member for Customer Service responded that calls to the 0300 telephone number were always recorded, but not calls to individual officers. She continued and explained how many complaints were resolved satisfactory at an early stage of the complaints process.
25.4 Members referred to page 17, bullet point 9.3 d. and ask how the Councils evaluated how standards were met in relation to complaints. The Officer said that the public should direct any complaints regarding standards to their Councillor. The Strategic Director reminded Members to inform the management team of any complaints from the public regarding standards.
25.5 Members agreed that complaints should always be considered to be a warning that the service the Council provided were not up to standard expected, but also recognised that some members of the public submitted persistent and vexation complaints and that staff had no obligation to respond to these. The Strategic Director advised Members that the Strategic Directors decided when a member of the public was persistent and vexatious to ensure this was indeed the case. Members attention was drawn appendix 4 page 26, paragraph 33.
25.6 Members continued the questioning regarding anonymity of complainant and if it was possible to maintain this throughout the complaints process. They also wanted to who know who investigated complains within the ... view the full minutes text for item 25. |
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JOS/17/16 INFORMATION BULLETIN PDF 216 KB The Information Bulletin is a document that is made available to the public with the published agenda papers. It can include update information requested by the Committee as well as information that a service considers should be made known to the Committee.
1. Void Times in Council Properties
2. All Together Programme (BDC only)
A Breakdown of the Capital Expenditure Cost referred to in table 2.1 in report BOS/17/37
Additional documents: Minutes: Information Bulletin 1
Voids Times in Council Properties
26.1 Members found it disappointing that no officers were available from the Voids team to discuss the item.
26.2 Members then agreed to defer this item as it was intended for the Babergh Committee.
Information Bulletin 2
Capital Costs for Hadleigh and Needham Market Headquarters
26.3 The Chief Executive began by advising Members that the figures in the Information Bulletin remained the same as they had two years ago when both Councils voted on the decision to move to Endeavour House. The breakdown of the figures could therefore not be recalculated.
26.4 Members asked question relating to the Information Bulletin including the breakdown of the figures between the two headquarters, the fitout costs and the itemised costs for individual fittings. It was felt that some costs had been included twice.
26.5 Members were concerned that the savings predicted in the original business case was being met and thought it was important to know what the savings was now.
26.6 Some Members asked if the cost of remaining in the two old headquarters was more then the cost of residing at Endeavour House.
26.7 The Chief Executive responded that it would be a futile exercise to ask officers conduct this exercise as the Councils were now established in Endeavour House.
26.8 Members generally agreed that it would be more productive to learn the lesson from the move to Endeavour House for the future and ensure that the savings predicted in the Business Plan were monitored.
The Information Bulletin 2 was noted. |
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JOS/17/17 FORTHCOMING DECISIONS LIST PDF 349 KB To review the Councils’ forthcoming Decisions List and identify any items to be brought before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Minutes: It was RESOLVED
That the Forthcoming Decisions List be noted. |
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JOS/17/18 BABERGH WORK PLAN PDF 173 KB Minutes: 28.1 Members were informed that the June agenda was longer than normal due to the postponed meeting in April.
It was RESOLVED
That the Babergh Work Plan be noted. |
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JOS/17/19 MID SUFFOLK WORK PLAN PDF 153 KB Minutes: 29.1 Members discussed Mid Suffolk Work Plan and agreed that the Disabled Facilities Grant was a possible item for the Work Plan and should be considered at the next Committee meeting in June.
It was RESOLVED
That the Mid Suffolk Work Plan be noted. |
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JOS/17/20 CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND COMPANY ('CIFCO CAPITAL LTD') BUSINESS PLAN 2018/19 - ITEM DEFERRED Minutes: 30.1 Item JOS/17/20 had been deferred prior to the meeting. |