Agenda and minutes

County Councillor Tim Ashton replaced County Councillor Paul Rigby for this meeting.

County Councillors Sue Hind, Terry Hurn, Nweeda Khan and Sobia Malik attended the meeting virtually.

Apologies were received from County Councillor Jean Parr and Charles Edwards.

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.

To be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2023 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Peter Buckley, Cabinet Member for Community and Cultural Services, John Morrissey, Director of Organisational Development and Change, Rachel Pimbley, Head of Change and Improvement, Louise Wood, Strategic Communications and Web Manager, Paul Sutcliffe, Head of Digital Business Engagement, and Terry White, Head of Service Customer Access to the meeting.

The report presented provided the committee with key updates on areas of work linked to Customer Experience, including the activities to improve the Customer Experience within the county council's services, data and insight, the role Members play in understanding Customer Experience, and digital interaction.

A presentation was also presented to the committee, a copy of which is attached to the minutes.

Comments and queries were raised by the committee as follows:

• The committee emphasised the need to ensure there was functionality available for people who preferred to talk with an officer directly rather than an automated system and inquired how customers were contacting the council to report faults, such as whether they were filling out online forms, by telephone, or face to face. It was noted that this would often depend on the service, for example, services such as Highways had the functionality in place for faults to be logged either online or via telephone, and so a breakdown could be provided, whereas services such as Adult Social Care did not. The committee asked that data, broken down by service on how customers were contacting the council, for example online, telephone or face to face be provided at a future meeting as well as details on what accounted for the largest queries received over time.

• Concerns about using the Lovecleanstreets app and completing online forms in general were raised by the committee and the following issues were highlighted:

Members requested for data to be provided to the committee on the split between digital and non-digital customers, landing pages and the journey customers were taking online, call and digital form drop off rates.

It was noted that the system was new, and that the council was conducting service reviews to see the path residents were taking, to identify what could be improved. It was also highlighted that if members had any concerns, they were able to contact officers to look at any potential solution and the committee suggested that a session or drop-in session for members to share digital issues being experienced by them or by residents could be arranged. It was also noted that any matters discussed regarding the Lovecleanstreet App and other Highway related issues should be shared with the Environment,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chair presented a report that provided an overview of the work undertaken by the Warm and Welcome Public Spaces Task Group at its meetings held on 24 November 2022 and 26 January 2023.

It was noted that updated statistics on where and how much funding had been distributed to voluntary, community and faith sector groups would be circulated to the committee.

It was also asked about whether funding would be available to fund the Warm and Welcome Public Spaces after March 31, 2023, and it was noted that a decision on this would be for the Cabinet Member for Resources, HR and Property (Deputy Leader) to comment on.

Resolved: That the report on the work of the Warm and Welcome Public Spaces Task Group, be noted.

The committee considered the work programme for the 2022/23 municipal year, including the responses to the previous committee recommendations from the relevant Cabinet Members.

Resolved: That the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny work programme for 2022/23, including the progress relating to the committee's recommendations, be noted.

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 chair 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 member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

The next meeting of the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Thursday 13 April 2023 at 10.30 am in Committee Room B – The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the Community, Cultural, and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Thursday 13 April 2023 at 10.30am at County Hall, Preston.