Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr James Hockney and Cllr Kate Anolue. Cllr Hockney was substituted by Cllr Lee Chamberlain.

Apologies for lateness were also received from Cllr Mahmut Aksanoglu.

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest received regarding any item on the agenda.

To agree the minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee meetings held on 27 July 2023 and 14 September 2023.

The minutes of the previous meetings held on 27 July 2023 and 14 September 2023 were agreed.

To receive the report of Eleanor Brown, Director of Customer & Communications (Acting).

Eleanor Brown, Director of Customer & Communications (Acting) introduced the report which provided an overview of Enfield Council’s complaint handling process which include corporate, statutory (social care) and Ombudsmen complaints. Each category has different handling processes and those for social care are based on legislative requirements. For both types, if the complainant remains unhappy with the Council’s final response, they can escalate this to the Ombudsman for independent review. A complaint can be wide-ranging, but it is broadly defined as an expression of dissatisfaction with a service provided, or lack of action by the Council or its staff which requires a response.

Questions were invited from Members.

Members raised concerns that a copy of the Annual Corporate Complaints Report 2022/23 had not been made available for this meeting as it was felt that a lot of the questions that may arise this evening would have been covered within that report. The Chair agreed and said that if there was a report that compliments the information presented this evening, then it would have been useful for the committee to have seen this. The Chair did however apologise that there had been a misunderstanding when clarifying with Officers the information required by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, and it was therefore AGREED that following the meeting the Annual Corporate Complaints Report 2022/23 would be circulated to Members.

In response to questions regarding how residents can make complaints, it was confirmed that complaints can be submitted in various formats including via Enfield Council’s website, telephone, email and post. Upon receipt, complaints are assessed and distributed to services by the Council’s Complaints & Access to Information Service. The team’s role is to support services with their responses; provide guidance where necessary; deliver corporate complaints handling training and conduct regular performance reporting to drive performance improvement and a complaints learning culture across the organisation.

In response to queries relating to processes and performance targets it was advised that although these vary depending on the complaint type, all complaint responses record whether the complaint is upheld, partially upheld or not upheld and why.

Further details were provided on the first stage and final stage complaints process. To measure performance, the Council measures how many first stage complaints are answered on time. The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) target for this is 95% within 10 working days. For final stage complaints, the KPI is 95% within 30 working days.

Following further questions from Members regarding Key Performance Indicators and how these are monitored, it was advised that weekly departmental reports are circulated to Executive Directors, Directors, Heads of Service and responding officers to increase on time performance rates. Departmental Management Teams receive updates regarding their complaints performance and learning as well as quarterly KPI results. Corporate KPI performance is also included in the Council’s Quarterly Performance Reports.

Members asked whether officers responding to complaints have access to customer call recordings when a complaint is received via the contact centre. Officers advised that it was the responsibility of the service area to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive the report of Deborah McBeal, Director of Integration, NHS North Central London ICB.

(The report will be sent as a To Follow Paper).

The Chair advised Members that this item had been withdrawn from tonight’s agenda and explained the reasons for this.

AGREED that the ICB Clinical Commissioning Update report will come to the next business meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, scheduled to take place on Monday 15 January 2024.

To note the Overview & Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2023/24.

NOTED the Overview & Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2023/24.

To note that the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee business meeting is scheduled to take place at the Civic Centre at 7pm on Monday, 15 January 2024.

Members NOTED that the next business meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to take place at the Civic Centre at 7pm on Monday, 15 January 2024.