No declarations of interest were received.

No apologies for absence were received.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Community, Customer and Organisational Scrutiny Committee held on 17 July, 2018 attached.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Community, Customer and Organisational Scrutiny Committee held on 17 July, 2018 were presented.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

5.05 pm – Presentation to be given at meeting.

The Assistant Director – Customers, Commissioning and Change gave a presentation to the Committee on customer services across the Council.

The presentation provided an overview of the Customer Services Strategy and referred to the development of the Customer Services Centre, provision of a range of access channels for customers and implementation of payment kiosks. Steady progress had been achieved in delivering the strategy, which was currently being refreshed in line with the Council’s digital innovation roadmap.

The presentation identified customer service functions being delivered through numerous Council services, including the Customer Services Centre, the Visitor Information Centre and Theatres, the Leisure Centres, On the Move, the Operational Services department and the Policy and Communications service.

Of a total of 833,000 customer transactions in 2017, 19% had been face to face, 39% via telephone and 42% by self-service. The number of customer service visits had declined by 27% over four years at the Customer Services Centre and by 8% over three years at the Visitor Information Centre.

There was an increasing trend of payments being made by direct debit, with 68% of payments made by automated means. The majority of face to face payments were made through post offices or paypoint machines in local businesses.

The presentation gave details of the volume of telephone contacts in various services, noting variations in response times and proportion of abandoned calls. It identified the increasing use of the Council’s website.

The presentation outlined the staffing resource available in the various customer service functions and the current approaches to training staff. It was anticipated that training methods would be simplified and standardised.

Measures of customer satisfaction were high (99.5% in 2017) and the Customer Services Centre had achieved customer service excellence accreditation.  

It was planned that implementation of the ICT Improvement programme would enable integration of all service areas into a digital platform, provision of a customer account, improved customer self service, an improved staff knowledge base and greater flexibility of resources.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Homes and Customers, the Assistant Director - Customers, Commissioning and Change and officers for their contribution to the meeting.

RESOLVED -

That the presentation be noted.

For Minute Nos. 21 - 23 the Committee sat as the Council’s designated Crime and Disorder Committee, in accordance with Section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006.

5.45 pm – Minutes of the Meeting of the Derbyshire Police and Crime Panel held on 5 July, 2018 attached

The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, as Chesterfield Scrutiny Member of the Derbyshire Police and Crime Panel (PCP), had submitted the minutes of the meeting of the PCP held on 5 July, 2018 for the information of the Committee.

RESOLVED –

That the minutes of the Derbyshire Police and Crime Panel meeting held on 5 July, 2018 be noted.

To move “That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act".

RESOLVED

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

5.55 pm - Chesterfield Community Safety Partnership Plan 2018-19 Update (September, 2018) and Performance Report (July, 2018) attached.

The Assistant Director - Health and Wellbeing and the Community Safety Officer presented the progress report on the Chesterfield Community Safety Partnership’s (CSP) action plan for 2018-19 and the performance report as recorded by the Safer Derbyshire Research and Information Unit in respect of crime and disorder data as at July, 2018.

Attention was drawn to the following aspects within the CSP action plan:

·        Initiatives to support those rough sleeping, through the winter night shelter provision at local churches;

·        Actions to address anti-social behaviour through civil injunctions where necessary;

·        Additional funding provided to support the work of Street Pastors;

·        The development of a mobile phone app which could alert nominated contacts if an individual was in danger;

·        The work of the Derby and Derbyshire Modern Slavery Partnership in tackling modern day slavery.

The crime data showed that reported crime in Chesterfield had increased by 1.8% in the 12 months to July, 2018, compared to an increase of 5.1% across Derbyshire. Inspector Nicholls explained that following recent changes in how data was recorded, it was expected that there would be an increase in the recorded statistics, as crimes were now being recorded at the first point of contact.

Arising from Members’ questions and discussion the following issues were raised:

·        There had been positive feedback following the physical changes to the design of the bus shelters on New Beetwell Street which had resulted in a reduction of anti-social behaviour and street begging in that area. Coordinated work with partners provided support to individuals and enforcement action under the Town Centre Public Space Protection Order where necessary;

·        Plans for a night shelter run by local churches which would be open from December to March were progressing and open meetings to seek volunteers had been arranged for later in October;

·        Domestic violence protection notices were one of the methods used to deal with cases of domestic violence.

The Chair thanked Inspector Nicholls, the Assistant Director - Health and Wellbeing and the Community Safety Officer for their contribution to the meeting.

RESOLVED –

(1)     That the Community Safety Partnership progress report be noted.

(2)     That a further progress report on the Community Safety Partnership’s Action Plan and Performance be provided to the Crime and Disorder Committee in March, 2019.

For the remaining items the Committee sat as the Community, Customer and Organisational Scrutiny Committee.

Readmission of the public following consideration of an item containing exempt information.

RESOLVED

That the public be readmitted to the meeting following consideration of an item containing exempt information.

6.45 pm – Review of Council owned Community Rooms - Project Start Report attached.

Councillor Caulfield, lead member of the Scrutiny Project Group on Council owned community rooms, presented the group’s project start report.

The project aimed to identify any changes required to enhance the offer and accessibility of the six community rooms maintained by the Housing service. It was planned to complete the review and present the report to the Scrutiny Committee in November, 2018.

RESOLVED -

That the project start report of the Scrutiny Project Group on Council owned community rooms be approved.

6.50 pm - Scrutiny Committee Recommendations - Implementation Monitoring Schedule attached.

The Committee considered the Scrutiny recommendations monitoring schedule.

RESOLVED -

That the Scrutiny monitoring schedule be noted.

6.55 pm – Forward Plan of Key Decisions – 1 October, 2018 – 31 January, 2019 (available via link below:) http://chesterfield.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=134&RD=0&bcr=1

The Committee considered the Forward Plan for the period 1 October, 2018 – 31 January, 2019.

RESOLVED –

That the Forward Plan be noted.

7.00 pm – Work Programme attached.

The Committee considered the list of items included on its work programme for 2018/19.

RESOLVED -

That the work programme be approved.