Agenda item

This report sets out activities and progress on work areas within the Corporate Services Portfolio, which fall within the remit of this Committee. This information is provided in relation to the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services being held to account.

Discussion:

Members received an overview of progress on the area within the terms of reference of this Committee covered by Councillor Andrew Mackness, the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services, i.e. Customer Contact, Democracy and governance, HR,  ICT, Internal Audit and Legal.

Councillor Mackness responded to Members’ questions and comments as follows:

Customer Contact

A Member asked if improvements could be made to the script based system used by customer contact to ensure that parents ringing the customer contact centre with a complex home to school transport query were passed on to the correct department for accurate advice. Councillor Mackness replied that he felt this was a good service but was happy to look at any occasions where problems had occurred and consider any suggested improvements. Following a comment that the voice recognition scheme sometimes failed to recognise some voices and transferred calls to the wrong team, Councillor Mackness undertook to discuss this with officers to see if the system needed adapting.

With regard to the ability and capacity of the staff at Kingsley House to deal with the transition to Universal Credit, officers would be looking at training needs and capacity in the team as part of the transition.

It was suggested that the new opening hours for the Rainham Community Hub could be revised to a 9am start instead of 10am as most people visited at that time and therefore the Hub could close an hour earlier without affecting the service to the public. Councillor Mackness commented that consultation on the revised hours had taken place with ward councillors but he would look into the suggestion.

Democracy and Governance

Several Members commented on the high quality support and advice provided by the Democratic Services and Electoral and Member Services Teams and asked for their appreciation to be relayed to the teams. Councillor Mackness agreed to do so, adding that the teams added considerable value to the organisation.

A Member asked if the number of Council meetings could be increased as he felt the reduced number had affected the quality of debate due to an increased length in meetings. He also queried whether there was a need to review the Overview and Scrutiny Committee structure and whether all O&S Committees needed to meet with the same frequency. Councillor Mackness noted the need to have regard to affordability when considering the frequency of member meetings. However, the comments would be considered as part of the wide ranging constitutional review underway – which would include looking at opportunities to improve overview and scrutiny.

Councillor Mackness agreed with a comment that Task Group recommendations agreed by Cabinet could be implemented more speedily and also agreed that the induction process following the 2015 council elections had been particularly robust and effective.

In terms of whether any technical improvements were needed to the election process and also the need for more polling stations in areas where significant number of new homes were projected as part of the Local Plan, Councillor Mackness felt the time to consider changes to the election process was after the feedback from election agents etc. had been considered. However, he did feel perhaps two ballot boxes could be used for combined elections. He agreed with the point about polling stations and would look into that in more detail.

Councillor Mackness replied, in response to a question about the likely recommendations from the Independent Remuneration Panel, that he was not aware of the Panel’s recommendations at the moment.

A Member asked, in respect of the 1,200 people expected to not be included on the electoral register as a result of Individual Electoral Registration (IER), if any specific trends were apparent in this group as that could help with identifying a potential solution to this issue. Councillor Mackness commented that he agreed with the policy of IER as it was an individual’s responsibility to register to vote and to vote. The Council was doing all it could to manage this transition process and engage with the public so they understood the new system and about 88% of the adult population had been registered but he was always happy to consider new ideas.

With regard to providing assistance and information to parties requiring it in respect of the Boundary Commission review, Councillor Mackness replied that the Council would provide as much support as was required.

HR

A Member asked if there was further scope to expand HR services to external customers.  Councillor Mackness replied that opportunities to expand the business would be looked at where there was a business case and capacity without compromising the Council’s business. Payroll services and disclosure and barring service checking were good examples of services the Council could provide externally.

Reference was made to the pressure to protect front line services at the expense of back office services such as HR given the financial difficulties facing the Council. As front line services could not operate effectively without good HR support a Member queried whether HR had the ability to support the organisation. Councillor Mackness replied that HR provided a good service to service managers but there was a need for an organisational and cultural shift so that service managers became more self sufficient and less reliant on HR support.

With regard to relations with the Trade Unions, some Members regretted that there was no mention of the trade unions in the report and asked how relations were between the Council and the unions. Councillor Mackness commented that he had little personal contact with the Trade Unions but understood the Council had a good relationship with them.

A Member regretted the omission of “community” from the proposed new Regeneration, Culture and Transformation Directorate. Councillor Mackness commented that the new structure had not yet been finalised and this point could still be taken into account.

ICT

Councillor Mackness gave an assurance that Medway Council’s services would be given priority over other organisations that used the data centre.

A Member asked if the regional data centre still provided a service to the Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Councillor Mackness replied that the contract for this service was still in place.

Internal Audit

Regarding the potential to expand the shared internal audit and fraud service. Councillor Mackness replied that the shared service with Gravesham Borough Council had just commenced. Once it had bedded in he was happy to look at opportunities to expand the service if there was a business case.

Legal

A Member asked if there was sufficient capacity within Legal Services to defend legal challenges given the potential for significant costs to be awarded against the Council as the result of a successful challenge. Councillor Mackness replied that he was confident the team had the skills and capacity needed. The team was facing significant pressures due to the increase in child social care cases. Whilst lead times for child care court proceedings had improved, further improvements were needed.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the report.