Agenda and minutes

None.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12 September 2024.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2024 be agreed and signed by the Chair.

To receive an update on the Council’s Customer Service Strategy refresh.

The Service Delivery Manager: Customer Relationships and Welfare Services presented an overview of the proposals for the Council’s Customer Strategy Refresh for 2025.

The Customer Strategy was first launched in 2021 and set out the Council’s vision for developing customer experience when interacting with key Council services. The strategy set out an ambitious programme of developments, which were to be delivered over a 4 year period, with the majority of actions being completed within the first 12 months.

A refreshed strategy was approved by the Council’s Cabinet in September 2022 which re-focused the priority for any remaining actions to be implemented over the final three years.

Following the introduction of the current strategy some of the key achievements within the last two years have included:-

• Introduction of Ask Tom digital assistant and webchat tool resulting in 37% of customer FAQs being handled by Tom;
• Significant and sustained performance within the Corporate Contact Centre with the majority of key performance indicators being met each month;
• Successful implementation of a new customer services training programme for frontline staff;
• Expansion of customer insight programme and mystery customers;
• Introduction of a new suite of customer satisfaction surveys including QR code surveys;
• Introduction of a new ward member enquiry process and customer complaint handling policy with reduced response timescales;
• Improvements to My Telford including the launch of a brand new app, improved mapping and a review of closure response codes;
• Launch of new Leisure Services website with self-service facilities; and
• Production of a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.

In 2021, the Council became a member of the Institute of Customer Services in order to assess where the Council compared to private sector industries for customer service satisfaction. An initial benchmarking exercise was undertaken in 2022 which consisted of a resident’s survey and a workforce survey to evaluate how well the current strategy was embedded within the organisation. Key results from the first benchmarking exercise showed that the Council’s performance was strong against several measures and an action plan was developed to focus on those areas identified as needing improvement.

At the time of the meeting, the Council had recently completed a second benchmarking exercise which saw an increase in the UK customer satisfaction index to 74.0 from 72.1 and an increase in net promotor score to 19.4 from 16.1. The results also identified that workforce engagement with the current strategy, culture and processes had increased by 1.85 to a new index score of 76.96 from a previous recorded score of 75.1.

Members were advised that the results received would now make the Council eligible to be considered for the Customer Services Excellence accreditation and if successful, Telford & Wrekin would be the first Council in the UK to achieve this accreditation.

The Service Delivery Manager: Customer Relationships and Welfare Services informed Members that a new Customer Strategy is currently in development and would be considered at a meeting of Cabinet in April 2025. The new Strategy would be influenced by the action plan developed following  ...  view the full minutes text for item COMSC10

To receive a report on measures to improve road safety for all users.

The Service Delivery Manager: Strategic Transport & Highway Network Management presented the report.

The report provided Members with an update on the Council’s road safety strategy, education streams and its current delivery to improve road safety for residents. The report also outlined the progress that the Council had made in the prioritisation and delivery of Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO’s) and road safety engineering schemes.

During the last 5 years, the Council had invested over £7m in road safety improvements and education streams including the introduction of safer routes to schools and 20mph speed zones. The Council have been an active member of the Telford and Wrekin Safer Roads Partnership and have worked with a number of partners including West Mercia Police and Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service. The Partnership aims to reduce the number of deaths or seriously injured persons on roads across the West Mercia area.

Members heard that road safety activities had been delivered across the Borough since the adoption of the Road Safety Strategy in 2015 which aims to identify the causes of collisions. During 2021 and 2023 there had been an increase in the severity of road accidents across the Borough despite delivery of measures to improve road safety and education. This increase had been identified as part of a national trend and remained an area of focus for the Council and national road safety campaign groups. 

In 2016, road traffic accidents had peaked to a total number of 252 recorded collisions with 206 slight collisions, 44 serious collisions and 2 fatal collisions with the majority of collisions caused as a result of driver behaviour such as excess speed or medical circumstances. Since this peak, there was a 44% reduction in the total number of collisions recorded to a total of 141 in 2023, however fatalities had increased to their highest level since 2014.

Since April 2023, the Council had delivered 2,500 road safety education activities and had continued to deliver practical interventions with a focus on working with schools and colleges including schemes such as Bikeability and Be Bright Be Seen, pedestrian training for year 3 and 4 pupils, transition workshops targeted at year 6 pupils moving into secondary education, the introduction of junior road safety officers and targeted campaigns such as don’t drink and drive.

Members also heard that the Council had led the way in utilising the latest technology to develop and deliver innovative virtual reality (VR) headsets for road safety education. The package offered facilitates the use of road safety scenarios to provide training on a broad range of issues including the impact of drink and drugs, speed and in-car distractions. As part of the roll out process, headsets packages had been focused on new and young drivers under the age of 25 to highlight the importance of passenger safety and peer pressure. Workshops had also been held with mature drivers working in partnership with West Mercia Police and Shropshire Fire & Rescue. Since it’s launch in March 2024, over 400 people had received  ...  view the full minutes text for item COMSC11

The review the updated Work Programme for the Communities Scrutiny Committee.

The Service Delivery Manager: Registrars, Public Protection, Legal & Democracy presented the updated work programme to the Committee. The next two formal meetings were scheduled to take place in January and March 2025 and would look at items on domestic abuse grants and affordable warmth.

The Chair updated the Committee on the recent presentation delivered to the Council’s Cabinet at its meeting on 7 November 2024 which sought agreement from Cabinet to formally adopt the recommendations made by the Committee as part of the Elections Review work that took place earlier in the year.

The Chair thanked Committee Members for their hard work and participation in the review and extended their thanks to the Returning Officer and Deputy Returning Officer.