Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Magda Cullens, David Dickinson, Catherine Hoyle, Keith Iddon, Thomas McGowan and Joyce Snape. 

Members of the Committee are reminded of their responsibility to declare any personal interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act 2000, the Council’s Constitution and the Members Code of Conduct.  If the personal interest is a prejudicial interest, then the individual Member should not participate in a discussion on the matter and must withdraw from the room and not seek to influence a decision on the matter.

No interests were declared.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Corporate and Customer Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 6 June 2006.  The minutes are enclosed.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Corporate and Customer Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 6 June 2006, subject to the inclusion of apologies from Councillor Mrs S Walsh and the date of next meeting being corrected to 11 July 2006.

The Chair will update the Panel on the Decriminalisation of Parking Enforcement Inquiry.  The Final Report reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 27 June and Executive Cabinet on 29 June.

The Chair advised the Panel that the Decriminalisation of Parking Enforcement Inquiry report (undertaken by the former Customer Overview and Scrutiny Panel) had been supported by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 

The report and recommendations had been approved and adopted by the Executive Cabinet at it’s meeting on 29 June 2006.  The Cabinet Members and other Councillors present welcomed and commended the excellence of the report and its recommendations.

RESOLVED

1. That the update be noted
2. That a monitoring report be presented to the Panel in January 2007 as per the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme.

The Chair will lead a discussion on the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for the ensuing Municipal Year.  The Work Programme is enclosed. 

The Panel considered the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for 2006/2007 and noted that monitoring reports on previous Inquiries would be presented throughout the year.

RESOLVED

1. That the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2006/2007 be noted,
2. That the Democratic Services Officer email a link to all previous Overview and Scrutiny Project Outlines and Inquiry reports to all Members of the Panel.

The Panel will undertake the scoping exercise for an Inquiry into Contact Centre Efficiencies and Partnership with Lancashire County Council.  A blank copy of the scoping document and project plan to be completed are enclosed. 

The Panel considered the Inquiry Project Outline for the “Contact Centre Efficiencies and Partnership with Lancashire County Council” Inquiry.  Officers had suggested that there be two strands to the Inquiry: “efficiencies” and “partnership working”. 

It was agreed that the objectives for the Inquiry be set as:

Efficiencies

1. To assess the contribution of the Lancashire Shared Services Contact Centre to the achievement of the Council’s efficiencies agenda. 

Partnership Working

2. To assess the effectiveness of the partnership arrangements for the Lancashire Shared Services Contact Centre (officer and Member arrangements).

3. To assess whether the Council is achieving the desired benefits of partnership working, for example, procurement, single point of access to services, efficiencies through extended opening hours and workload sharing.

The Desired Outcomes would be:

Efficiencies

1. To maximise efficiencies from the Lancashire Shared Services Contact Centre partnership arrangements.

Partnership Working

2. To establish that the partnership arrangements are working effectively, and, in situations were this is not the case, to propose actions to remedy the situation.

3. To ensure the partnership is delivering the highest quality customer experience.

The Panel discussed the terms of reference, key issues and risks and considered the information requirements and sources.  It was agreed not to set the timescales of the Inquiry at this point. 

Officers advised the Panel that the Council had been awarded Charter mark status for Customer Service.  Members and officers would be invited to a celebration event to be held week commencing 7 August.  A presentation would be delivered after the event to provide Members with information about the Contact Centre.  This would include how the Contact Centre started, the current position and the future plans. 

In response to a query Members nominated themselves to be a member of two sub-groups: “efficiency” and “partnership working”.

RESOLVED

1. That the draft Project Outline be agreed,
2. That the “efficiencies” sub-group membership be as follows: Councillors P Baker, A Cain, E Smith and S Walsh.
3. That the “partnership working” sub-group membership be as follows: Councillors A Birchall and Miss Molynueax.
4. That the Democratic Services officer contacts the Panel Members not present at the meeting to request nominations for the sub-groups.
5. That the Democratic Services officer co-ordinate the production of a file containing the requested information to be distributed to the Panel Members prior to the next meeting.