Agenda and minutes

Councillor Woolf  was elected Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest to the meeting and leave the room without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.

There were no declarations of interest.

To give consideration to a new strategy which aims to improve residents’ experience of contacting South Holland District Council while also increasing the efficiency of our overall operating arrangements (report of the Shared Executive Manager, Information is enclosed).

The Panel agreed to take the two reports on the agenda together as one item.

Consideration was given to a report by the Portfolio Holder for Strategy, Governance and Transformation and Executive Director – Strategy and Governance which set out details of a new strategy which aimed to improve residents’ experience of contacting South Holland District Council while also increasing the efficiency of its overall operating arrangements.

Members also considered a report by the Portfolio Holder for Governance and Customer and the Executive Director for Strategy and Governance which set out details of a new strategy which aimed to improve residents’ experience of contacting South Holland District Council while also increasing the efficiency of our overall operating arrangements.

Members recalled that at the meeting of the Joint Performance Monitoring Panel (PMP) and Policy Development Panel (PDP) held on 1^st November 2019, the Panel raised a number of questions and/or concerns relating to the strategies and work programme:

With specific regard to the Customer Access Strategy, further information and reassurance was sought on:

• How/if the strategy has been tailored to the specific needs of SHDC
• The involvement of CPBS, as the Council’s service delivery partner, in the strategy’s development
• Consultation with East Lindsey District Council, as a shared client of CPBS, on the strategy’s content – with particular regard to the proposed Customer Charter service standards The level of support that would be available to those who cannot access digital services and concern that telephone and face-to-face may not be available to those that need it

With specific regard to the ICT and Digital Strategy further information and reassurance was sought on:

·         The involvement of CPBS, as the Council’s service delivery partner, in the strategy’s development

·         Consultation with East Lindsey District Council, as a shared client of CPBS, on the strategy’s content

·         The business case for the Digital Work Programme, including:

o   Costs and budget

o   Benefits

o   Return on Investment

o   Risk analysis

• The relevance of the Council’s customer personas/insight – and how these help us to design more relevant services that people want as well as need

In response to this feedback, a series of Member engagement sessions were held from 14-16 January 2019, which aimed to provide further detail and reassurance.  The above points were also addressed in the two reports under consideration which were introduced by the Portfolio Holder for Governance and Customer and Portfolio Holder for Strategy, Governance and Transformation.

The Panel received a presentation by the Digital and Customer Services Manager which covered the following key areas:

·         Initial Digital Priorities

·         An illustration of how reporting a fly tip could work

·         Information about how the proposals would be funded

·         The governance arrangements for the proposals

·         Examples of the benefits involved in the proposals in terms of cost avoidance

·         An illustration of a tenant portal which would allow the automation of many manual housing processes

·         A comparison of a current process and new process in relation to housing rent account management

·         A PEST (Political, Economic, Social  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

There were no urgent items.