Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2010

The Assistant Chief Executive indicated an error in Minute No. 29 (4) which had stated that the Assistant Chief Executive be requested to submit a report on the expected timescales for producing a fully operational, co-ordinated system for the recording, monitoring and reporting of the Council’s Contacts, Complaints and Compliments. The Minute should have stated that the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and Information Services be requested to submit the report.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

Further to Minute No. 31 of 3 November 2010, the Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive on the publication of the Single Data List which gave early indications of the level of reporting that Councils would have to make to Central Government from April 2011.

The report indicated that the Government had published departmental business plans (containing input and impact indicators), the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had published a first draft of the single data list (local authority data returns) and that both of these had been out for consultation with closing dates of 21 January 2011 and 4 February 2011 respectively. Following analysis of the consultation results the final list would be published late February / early March and was expected to go live in April 2011. The proposed single data list was attached at Annex 1 to the report and comprised 158 indicators.

The report concluded that whilst central government had proposed there would be a reduction in the burden placed on authorities, from early analysis it was evident that the list of returns that the Council currently made would remain.  Also, whilst the national indicator set had been removed, it was too early yet to give a definitive view as to the level and extent of reporting requirements that would replace the national indicator set and indeed whether this would actually reduce the burden on authorities, particularly coupled with local authority transparency requirements in relation to procurement and the implications of the Localism Bill.

The Assistant Chief Executive presented the report and answered questions thereon.  Arising from discussion the following points were made:

• whilst the data list contained 158 data sets, some of the returns masked more detailed information requirements, for example, the returns for Referrals, Assessments and Packages of Care (RAP) contained thousands of lines for return;
• the introduction of the Single Data List reinforced the need for a new corporate data policy for ensuring compliance and accuracy in respect of data return;
• plans were proposed to ensure continued responsibility for the returns of data sets under the budget, departmental and staffing changes, as a result of the Council’s Transformation Programme.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Director of Corporate Services

Further to Minute No. 32 of 3 November 2010, the Cabinet Member considered the report of the Director of Corporate Services on the implementation of the Coalition Government’s Transparency Arrangements.

The report indicated that on 28 January 2011 information had been published to the Council’s website in relation to:

• payments made to suppliers whose payments exceeded £500; and
• senior officers’ salary data

and that in order to ensure the accessibility of this information on the Council’s website a link had been created on the website homepage under the heading ‘Quick Links’ and entitled ‘Transparency’.

The Interim Head of Corporate Finance and Information Services presented the report and indicated that it was anticipated that there might be a considerable interest in the information provided which could result in a number of enquiries which could take the form of Freedom of Information requests; that the transparency page on the website facilitated queries in relation to the information provided via the use of the contact Us On-line Form; and that the impact of the enquiries in relation to published information would be closely monitored in order to asses resource implications.

Arising from discussion about the report the following matters were raised:

• there had surprisingly been no enquiries from the public about the published information;
• there had been one media enquiry on the apparent inappropriate spending by the Council; however, upon investigation this spending was found to have been carried out by two local companies which had been awarded business support grants by the Council, and related to genuine purchases that they had made in the operation of their businesses;
• regular reports on enquiries and responses arising from the publication of financial information should be submitted either to the Cabinet Member – Performance and Governance and/or to the Cabinet Member – Corporate Services, as deemed most appropriate, on a regular basis.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Head of Corporate Improvement on the public facing Strategy and Action Plan for Communication and Consultation in relation to the Council’s Transformation Plan.

The report indicated that where decisions about changes to services were being made quickly there was a need to have a clear distinction of when information should be provided to the public and when there was an option for the public to offer feedback that could be taken into consideration when making decisions. This would ensure that communication and consultation with the public was appropriate and avoided unnecessary use of resources. 

The report indicated that the respective Cabinet and Council meetings held on 27 January 2011, had approved the principles on which this approach was proposed, as part of the guidance on decommissioning services.

Appendices 1 and 2 to the report detailed the respective Strategy and Action Plan for ensuring that the communication that did take place was appropriate.

The report indicated that as consultation and engagement on service reduction and cessation commenced, links would be provided from the Sefton website to the Council’s on-line E-consultation tool; and a range of other ways for consulting the community would be used, particularly around stakeholder engagement.  The Communication and Consultation Strategy would also be published on the website to show that the Council was open about the approach it was taking.

The Public Engagement and Consultation Manager presented the report and indicated that the Council was currently exploring the use of an on-line tool called ‘YouChoose’ - a budget simulator provided free of charge by the Local Government Association.  The tool could be used to communicate with the public about choices that could be made in meeting budget reductions and enable the public to provide feedback in relation to decisions about reducing or re-designing a service. Members welcomed the use of YouChoose, but queried the branding of the tool which could be potentially misleading to the public.

RESOLVED:

That the Transformation Programme’s Communication and Consultation Strategy be noted and exploration of the use of the budget simulation tool, YouChoose, be endorsed.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive on the New Media and Social Networking Update exploring the potential for the Council to develop a corporate approach to the use of recognised social media as a tool to provide information, communicate with residents and partners and engage with service users.

The report indicated that with the reduction in government grants, the current Transformation and prioritisation of Sefton Council services and the Government’s ‘Transparency’ Agenda, the expectations on Local Authorities to engage, be accountable for and work openly, were greater than ever. As such, the Corporate Communications Team was currently looking at effective and cost efficient ways of improving its new-media offer for residents and to help meet the significant changes in the way the authority delivered its services.

The report indicated that Social Media was becoming a foundation of communication in modern society and the Smarter Government and Digital Britain White Papers outlined the Government’s ambition to create digitally enabled public services used by a ‘digitally enhanced’ population; that Social networking was a relatively cost-effective way for engaging with services users and that in the UK 21.8 million people used social networks.

The Head of Communications presented the report, indicating that social media provided an excellent opportunity to address the Transformation agenda in an innovative way. He stated that many Local Authorities were now exploring social networking to a varying extent with most concentrating their activity around well-known sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which had a recognised legitimacy with the public and other large public organisations, such as the Police and Central Government. He continued that social media could be used for engaging with the public, providing media information/public messages, reporting problems, building communities and enhancing democracy and campaigning.

Arising from discussion, some of the challenges of using social media were raised, including:

• pressure on staff resources in maintaining the sites and responding to questions.

• a protocol would need to be considered around who would be responsible for updating social networking sites

• reputation management and the difficulties ensuring that all postings were appropriate

It was also suggested that the use of social networking could incorporate the use of emails, with members of the public being able to sign up for email alerts from the Council.

The report concluded by indicating the actions to be taken in order to move forward with the implementation of social networking. These included examining how a response system could be integrated into existing customer service arrangements to manage the issues and complaints; produce a draft protocol for social media activity to be managed centrally; liaising with other Council departments to see how they used social media sites to promote their services for incorporating into a Corporate Protocol; setting up Facebook and Twitter networking sites as a pilot to be linked to the Sefton website; and exploring the use of You Tube for targeted video content which could link through to the Council website.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Corporate Improvement

The Cabinet Member considered the annual report of the Head of Corporate Improvement on the activities of the Public Engagement and Consultation Team and Standards Panel between January 2010 and December 2010.

The report indicated that the Council and its partners had adopted the principles and standards outlined in the Public Engagement and Consultation Framework to ensure that the public engagement that took place in the Borough was coordinated and of a high quality.  A key element of this coordinated approach had been the establishment of a Public Engagement and Consultation Panel (the Panel).

The report indicated that the Panel had been operating to Terms of Reference that outlined its main purpose as being

‘To act as an independent quality assurance panel to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of engagement and consultation throughout the Borough’.

The report outlined the following activity and work undertaken between January and December 2010:

• Proposals appraised by the Panel (Table 1)
• Feedback and Evaluation Reports (Table 2)
• Attendance at the North West Together We Can (NWTWC) Learning Exchange Seminars held in March and November 2010 (Public Engagement and Consultation Network Meeting) – where consideration was given to the imminent budget cuts and how this might impact on engagement and consultation activity
• Training and development
• eConsult System (Consultation Finder) for the management and administration of consultation on behalf of Sefton Council, Sefton CVS and NHS Sefton.

The Public Engagement and Consultation Manager presented the report and answered questions thereon.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Report of the Public Engagement and Consultation Team and Standards Panel be noted.

Presentation by the Customer Services Client Manager

The Customer Services Client Manager (CSCM) gave a presentation on the development of Customer Profiling for improving the services which the Council provided to its communities.

She explained that Customer Profiling could be extremely beneficial to the Council in ensuring that customer insight was the driver for service design; challenging delivery models to reduce duplication and non-value-adding customer contact; integrating web performance, contact centre and face to face services to empower customers with an authentic choice and move to a more evidence based policy approach; and combining local knowledge with strategic planning and control.

The presentation illustrated how the Council could:

• represent demographic information on maps;
• represent service information on maps, including customer complaints; and
• identify the location of Sefton Council premises on maps

The CSCM indicated that she had looked at the customer profiling websites of other local authorities, namely Cornwall, Newcastle City Council and Barnet.

The following questions would need to be considered in order to move forward with customer profiling/maps:

The Cabinet Member indicated that these questions would be considered in the ‘Business Intelligence’ workshop immediately following the meeting.

The CSCM concluded by summarising the benefits of customer profiling, which could be used to:

• report, publish and share key decisions
• focus service delivery
• make efficiencies
• establish and improve area resilience.

Arising from discussion, the following points were made:

• any use of profiling data would require development time, and would require resources to keep data up to date and relevant.
• the need to define the term ‘complaint’
• the usefulness of recording information/data on a ward by ward basis
• the Council should record compliments as well as complaints for informing service delivery
• the top ten hierarchy of questions/complaints could be highlighted (i.e. dog fouling, waste collection, street lighting, etc).

RESOLVED: That