Agenda item

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee received the Key Performance Indicators and Business Plan Update, together with a draft Cabinet report from the Head of Transformation.

Councillor Neil Gough, Deputy Leader, made some introductory comments.

Councillor Aidan Van de Weyer expressed concern about the Contact Centre. In response, the Deputy Leader acknowledged that the statistics were disappointing. He had commissioned some work that plotted the number of calls per day against call waiting times. This had revealed that the Contact Centre coped well if the number of calls received was 600 or fewer, but that performance fell significantly if that number was 800 or more. While it was important to resource the facility properly, staffing levels were not the only answer. The Deputy Leader reminded Members that, unlike some other organisations, South Cambridgeshire District Council could not simply close its Contact Centre for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, the Council was taking a holistic approach, encouraging those who could to use online alternatives while attempting to reduce waiting time for those who had no choice but to phone.

The Head of Transformation highlighted the increased number and different nature of calls received during the past 15 months when compared with previous years. He announced that the Contact Centre was now fully staffed and that the project to modernise telephony equipment was well-advanced. This equipment would enable the Council to offer residents a call-back option and officers were actively identifying resources. Another option being looked at was that of the webchat: it had been estimated that customer services staff could deal with three webchats in the time it took to deal with one telephone call. The Council was also exploring the deployment of Artificial Intelligence in order to allow residents to contact the Council when they wanted, including outside normal working hours.

Councillor Judith Rippeth welcomed the concept of seeking tenants’ feedback about response repairs by text message. The Lead Cabinet Member for Housing agreed with her view that this was less intimidating than a face-to-face survey,

Councillor Graham Cone was concerned about complaints seemingly not being resolved promptly. In reply, the Head of Transformation stated that good progress was being made in tackling the backlog of complaints made against the Greater Cambridge Planning Service.

The Deputy Leader undertook to investigate Councillor Dr. Richard Williams’ question about how many planning applications apparently determined within the 8- week or 13-week deadline had in fact been the subject of Extension of Time Agreements.

Councillor Dr. Martin Cahn was pleased to note that the Council was again offering a pension verification service and that efforts were being made to reduce the backlog of those with overseas pensions who had been on a waiting list as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In response to Councillor Dr. Claire Daunton’s question about the cost to South Cambridgeshire District Council of providing bed-and-breakfast accommodation during the pandemic, the Lead Cabinet Member for Housing said that, after taking into account grants received from Central Government, the net cost to the Council was £27,821 – a figure well within budget.