Question
In an attempt to address its financial challenges, the council has begun work on remodelling itself. We understand that the business case for the 21st Century Council project will come to the Executive in the Autumn. For this remodelling to succeed, there will need to be a shift in the way the council interacts with the public, so that the public can more easily get their queries answered satisfactorily and the work load on staff is reduced. This presents both threats and opportunities. If this is got right, there is a genuine chance to improve the responsiveness of the council to its residents. What steps does the administration intend to take to involve the public and others in contributing ideas to the changes to its customer-facing functions so that the outcome is as good as it can be?
Minutes:
In an attempt to address its financial challenges, the Council has begun work on remodelling itself. We understand that the business case for the 21st Century Council project will come to the Executive in the autumn. For this remodelling to succeed, there will need to be a shift in the way the Council interacts with the public, so that the public can more easily get their queries answered satisfactorily and the work load on staff is reduced. This presents both threats and opportunities. If this is got right, there is a genuine chance to improve the responsiveness of the Council to its residents. What steps does the administration intend to take to involve the public and others in contributing ideas to the changes to its customer-facing functions so that the outcome is as good as it can be?
Answer
It is true to say that we have an opportunity to transform the way the Council interacts with our residents to make it easier and simpler for residents to find the information they need, access services they require and track progress on issues on the way to being resolved. This will enable people to track progress of their own requests and queries online, to reduce the risk of email requests being missed and save the cost and inconvenience of having to contact the Council to get an update.
As we develop our plans we will, of course, want to capture the views, experiences and ideas of our residents to help us to get the changes right. We will do this through a variety of ways, using existing communication channels such as our website and asking customers who ring us. We will also use our social media presence to engage people. We will hold public events, set out our aspirations and goals and ask our residents to help us achieve them, enabling us to save money and improve the experience people have in dealing with the Council.
The Leader and Chief Executive have already offered to meet every Town and Parish Council to discuss the change programme. Many meetings have already been scheduled and we are talking also to our partners in other agencies about the changes and any ideas they have as to how we should go forward.
Supplementary Question
My concern is at the margins of society with the most vulnerable who are least likely to cope. Can you explain what you are doing to make sure that they can keep access to their services?
Answer
There is no intention of taking access away from people who cannot gain access through electronic means. We know, for instance, in the libraries, that we have people that want to come and visit libraries locally. There is no intention to take the ability to access Council services direct, face to face, away from the public.
What we are trying to do is make the people who can, access services electronically; make it easier for them and make it their preferred method and actually make it more reliable so they move from less efficient and costly methods into using electronic means. So, hopefully, we will manage to square the circle and reduce the amount of people who require expensive services at the same time as protecting those who need more expensive routes.