Issue - meetings
Members Enquiries Policy and Process
Meeting: 05/10/2021 - General Purposes Committee (Item 4)
4 Members Enquiries Policy and Process PDF 239 KB
Additional documents:
- Appendix. 1 for Members Enquiries Policy and Process, item 4 PDF 354 KB
- Appendix. 2 for Members Enquiries Policy and Process, item 4 PDF 224 KB
- Webcast for Members Enquiries Policy and Process
Minutes:
Raj Chand, Director of Customer Services, introduced the report which provided information on how it was intended to improve the process for Members Enquiries (ME’s) and in dealing with the service moving forward.
Ms Chand explained that following several consultation meetings with Members and officers, the new ME policy and process simplifies existing protocols by reducing the number of steps interested parties need to take in managing ME’s and also addresses historic issues around the delivery of the service. It was noted that there were still some areas that would need to be improved as part of this process and therefore this process would be kept under continuous review so that it can be continuously improved for residents and Councillors.
The Committee was referred to the proposed policy and process appended to the report and further explained that it incorporated the changes taken on board from feedback from Members in order to make the process robust and more efficient.
The Chair invited Councillor Marc Francis to address The Committee;
In his submission, Cllr Marc Francis highlighting the following points,
· It was noted that this Authority had been subject to cuts in its funding from central government and aware that the service received by Councillors cannot be excluded from making contribution towards those savings.
· That there were no criticisms of staff from the Information Governance who currently work on ME’s and specifically mentioned Ms Konica Das for her continuous hard work on the ME’s.
· He questioned the decision to move the administration of ME’s from Members Support to Information Governance.
· It was noted that previously enquires were assigned to the relevant department within two days and in the nine months since its responsibility has moved from Member Support Office to Information Governance, there had been a number of ME’s with more than two-week delays.
· Further examples of delayed ME’s and the increase in the backlog of ME’s being processed were noted.
· That the decision to change the service, placed a large part the duties and responsibilities of four members of staff in Members Support Teams on the shoulders of one member of staff in the Information Governance Team and questioned how feasible this was?
· The excellent level of service provided for ME’s by the Members Support Team over the past years was noted.
· Having enquired about the claims made that the cuts to the service provided by Member Support Team were approved by Councillors themselves in the budget were inaccurate. The budget for 2017/18 made no reference to a saving required in Members Support Team and therefore it not being a key decision, backbench members had no knowledge or oversight of this.
· Concerns were raised of a possible two-tier approach that was felt amongst backbench members with the level of service provided in relation to ME’s. As it was apparent that ME’s raised by the Mayor’s office and Cabinet Members were assigned swiftly to the relevant department and responses sent back to residents equally quickly. However, enquiries from the 30 backbench ... view the full minutes text for item 4