Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor Geoff Driver and County Councillor Bill Winlow.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None declared.

To be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Resolved: - That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2014 be agreed as a true and accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

Andy Wilkinson, External Relations Team Leader, Office of the Chief Executive, attended and presented a report setting out details of complaints dealt with formally under the County Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure, and approaches via the Local Government Ombudsman during the first quarter of 2014.

It was reported that the complaints recorded were only those which were dealt with formally and that the majority were dealt with informally where possible. The report set out details of the types of complaints received by Directorate which totalled 11 in the quarter 1 April – 30 June 2014 but which excluded those complaints which were dealt with under the statutory procedures for adult and children's social care or which were referred to schools.

In response to a query raised by County Councillor Tony Martin, it was confirmed that the latest figures had been shared with Directorates.

In terms of Local Government Ombudsman referrals, there had been 25 in total in the quarter. These largely picked up complaints that had already been through the statutory processes for adult and children's social care. In the 12 month period to 31 March 2014, 163 referrals had been made. Of these, detailed investigation had been undertaken in respect of 60 with 19 of those upheld. The impact on the County Council of revised processes introduced by the Local Government Ombudsman was being discussed further with the Ombudsman.

Due to the small number of complaints recorded, it was proposed that, in future, a report on both formal complaints and Local Government Ombudsman referrals would be brought to the Cabinet Committee on an annual basis.

Resolved: - That the report, now presented, be noted.

Eddie Sutton, Assistant Chief Executive, and Sarah Jenkins, Business Performance and Transformation Officer - Customer Access, Office of the Chief Executive, attended and presented a report setting out details of the performance of the Customer Access Service.

The report set out the background to the service and described how the service had grown and developed since 2005 from 16 full time equivalent staff to over 200. The current performance target was 90% calls answered by the Corporate Services Contact Centre and 87.5% calls answered by the Social Care Contact Centre.

On a weekly basis some 900 calls were surveyed which attracted an 89% satisfaction rate.

Call waiting times were measured and with non-social care calls subject to a 19 second waiting time and those for social care subject to a waiting time of around 90 seconds due to their complexity. The introduction of Liquid Logic, which had replaced the previous social care information system known as ISSIS, would contribute to improvements in the call waiting time for social care queries, together with social care training for the corporate Customer Service Officers, allowing them to deal with non-complex social care calls. It was reported that work was being undertaken on proposals to realign resources between the out of hours service (8pm – 8am) and the office hours service (8am – 8pm) to ensure the best use of the resources available. It was confirmed that a call-back facility was available for those callers who chose not to wait for their call to be answered. Customer Service Officers attended libraries to provide help and advice and also provided a detailed support service for approximately 10% of Blue Badge applicants, averaging 25 – 30 minutes per application.

The Cabinet Committee felt that call waiting times should be consistent for all calls, regardless of their nature, as should the targets for calls answered. It was also suggested that Councillor involvement in the end to end Customer Journey Review, which was being undertaken, would be useful.

Resolved: - That:

(i)  The report, now presented, be noted;

(ii)  Further progress reports be considered by the Cabinet Committee in due course.

Janet Walton, Head of Public Health Commissioning, Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing Directorate, attended and presented a report setting out an update, since the previous report in November 2013, on the performance on the NHS Health Checks Programme in Lancashire in 2013/14.

It was reported that the Health Checks Programme was a national scheme aimed at detecting people at risk of developing a number of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease. The national target for the health checks was that 20% of the eligible population were invited each year to take part, with 75% of those taking up the offer. In Lancashire in 2013/14 the target was for 53,418 health checks to be completed out of 70,000.

Initiatives included the offering of health checks in the work place, building on the engagement activity already undertaken over the last 12 months with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and individual GP practices, particularly in areas of deprivation. 92% of GP practices were now involved, an increase from 77% and action plan had been put together which highlighted key actions and milestones.

Detailed information evidenced a wide variation between the CCG areas and individual practices undertaking health checks. This ranged from 70% of GP practices in the North Lancashire CCG area to 20% in the Greater Preston CCG area. Work was being undertaken on encouraging greater engagement and training time allocated to GP practices was being utilised to include health checks.

Reference was made to the effectiveness of the previous year's campaign and that opportunities for health checks being undertaken in, for example, leisure centres and gyms, should be explored. Support would also be sought from NHS England in terms of encouraging CCG engagement.

Resolved: - That:

(i)  The report, now presented, be noted;

(ii)  Further progress reports be considered by the Cabinet Committee in due course.

An item of Urgent Business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Members' intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There was no urgent business to be considered.

The next meeting of the Cabinet Committee will take place on Wednesday 1 October 2014 at 2.00pm in the Diamond Jubilee Room - Cabinet Room 'B', County Hall, Preston.

The Cabinet Committee noted that the next meeting would be held on Wednesday 1 October 2014 at 2.00pm at County Hall, Preston.