Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes from the meeting held on Wednesday 1 December 2021 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were given by Cllr Hollinghurst, Cllr Barry-Mears, Cllr Ransley, Cllr Bassadone, Cllr Pringle, Cllr Oguchi.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)           may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

There were no declarations of interest.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation

None.

None.

J. Nason presented the work undertaken to develop the Customer Strategy and the proposal to request the budget to progress this work and for the role of Head of Transformation.  J Nason advised that the work was undertaken by a management consultancy working alongside officers across the Council to analyse work provided and how customers engage.  Workshops were then held with officers to map out processes and identify areas for improvement.

J Nason advised that the key driver is to embed the vision across Dacorum Borough Council and put the customer at the centre of its services to provide a positive and effective experience as well as empower staff to deliver consistent and quality services.  It also looks to align the organisation, deliver on priorities, build on agile practices, maximise existing and new technologies, and build financial security.

The report identified digital interaction with the Council as very low with most interactions via telephone and the analysis sets out a strong case for changing the strategies and requirements around these systems.

J Nason advised that Phase 2 looks at implementing the Strategy to ensure it is embedded across the organisation and map out customer journeys by making improvements identified as part of Phase 1.  Phase 2 will also look at technology and identifying a management system that can allow 1 single record of the customer.  The paper also sets out a need for a Head of Transformation, a 2-year fixed term post to oversee delivery of the transformation programme.

         Cllr Freedman commented that the analysis highlights current issues but doesn’t provide much detail on how to change it, and that he would like to see a record of what customer contact has been made.  J Nason explained that a Customer Relationship Management system would enable them to do this and allow customers and officers to identify who was spoken to when and what information was provided. The CRM system will be part of Phase 2 and help resolve customer queries.

         Cllr Harden noted 2 error messages on page 71 in section 4.1 and page 73 in section 5.

         Cllr Harden commented on section 3 and queried how correspondence with MPs compares to correspondence with Councillors.  J Nason confirmed that she did not have this information and would look into this.

         Cllr Harden noted the reference to ‘internal customers’ and asked how Members can be more streamlined in being dealt with.  J Nason advised that this could be included as part of Phase 2 and that they could categorise this in terms of the CRM system or have a dedicated contact with an aggregated and centralised officer staff pool to ensure just 1 point of contact.

         Cllr Harden queried the ‘Response Once’ scenario and how this expertise would be brought to CSU.  J Nason explained that they would look to learn from enquiries and have banks of information available online.  This will be facilitated by having the right technology in place and ensuring that the information on the website is easily  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Cllr Imarni stated that Councillors could submit any questions to be considered via email.

Cllr Imarni stated that all outstanding questions had been addressed.

There being no further business, Cllr Imarni closed the meeting.