Agenda item

To update Members on the annual statistics in relation to the Local Government and Health and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) and the Council's corporate '3Cs' procedure. This explains how we deal with the comments, compliments, correspondence and complaints we receive.

Member considered the draft Overview & Scrutiny Annual Report for 2020-21. Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Hay noted that the statistics provided in the Threes C’s report around stage one, stage two and stage three complaints did not match the overall number of complaints. Peter Catchpole confirmed that the overall number of complaints were correct however the statistics regarding the different stages were incorrect.

·         Councillor Booth stated that he would like to see a trend analysis of the complaints to identify whether there is a reoccurring pattern. Councillor Tierney confirmed that this was being undertaken with the statistics for the current year and that the trend analysis would be made available when the report is next taken to Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

·         Councillor Boden expressed his pleasure that no complaints had be found against the Council by the Ombudsman in the previous two years and credited officers and the 3C’s process for this. He noted that in the event of a complaint being filed he would expect to see in-depth detail of why it happened, what went wrong, what measures had been taken to correct it and how the Council planned on preventing it from happening again. He noted that of the eleven complaints submitted, four were against planning and four involved benefits. He argued that due to the small sample size of complaints made it was difficult to find trends in the data. He noted that the figures can be heavily skewed by issues that generate a high volume of complaints.

·         Councillor Miscandlon asked whether any analysis had been undertaken on the complaints received and the reasons behind their submission. Councillor Boden confirmed that root cause analysis was undertaken and that there was a robust feedback system to prevent issues reoccurring where possible. Councillor Miscandlon suggested that it may be useful to share what went wrong with other Councillors to prevent issues reoccurring across different wards. Councillor Boden replied that resolving issues with officers was sufficient in preventing the same issues happening in other wards.

·         Councillor Tierney noted that complaints do not always escalate to stage one as some are dealt with by Councillors on the resident’s behalf and that trends can also be seen through these dealings.

·         Peter Catchpole noted that the 3C’s reports are not only produced periodically and that the Council’s management team receive a report monthly. He also noted that not all complaints are due to process failings. Councillor Boden furthered this stating that receiving complaints was not necessarily a negative as this shows the Council has sufficient processes in place to deal with complaints and that the Council clearly take the issues of Fenland residents seriously.

·         Councillor Booth expressed that he was pleased to hear that the Council were already undertaking trend analysis despite this not being shared more widely with Councillors at the current time. He noted that mistakes are inevitable and that it is important to uphold these complaints where appropriate.

·         Councillor Mason noted that complaints have fallen by twenty-one percent from the previous year and thanked Ward Councillors for their perseverance in helping deal with issues before they could be raised as complaints.

·         Councillor Conner commented that planning can be very emotive which may be a cause behind the level of complaints from both applicants and objectors.

The Overview and Scrutiny Panel AGREED to note the draft Overview & Scrutiny Annual Report for 2020-21.