Best Value Review of Customer Services



ITEM BV6

Best Value & Audit Committee – 28 July 2004

Review Report

Customer Service in Environment & Economy

Review team members

Team Leader Paul Gerrish, Business Manager (E&E)

Member Representative Cllr Terry Joslin

Co-opted Member Geoff Jones

Other Team Members Nigel Strick, Head of Trading Standards & Registration

Colin Carritt, Area Engineer

Debbie Fox, Performance Management Officer

Karen Leverett, Performance Management Assistant

Laura Peacock, Planning Officer

Debbie Dent, Customer Services Manager (Resources)

Austen Naughten, Customer Services Officer (Resources)

Ian Tallent, Customer Services (Resources) Work Placement

Terms of Reference

The review should cover the following areas, ensuring that consistent systems and procedures are developed across the Directorate

Organisational Culture: How do current attitudes and behaviours in Environment & Economy reflect on the quality of customer service, and how can these be improved?

Service Standards: What level of customer service Environment and Economy can commit to providing that will be applicable to all areas of service and will provide a benchmark for measuring improvements in performance?

Information & Access: How can timely, accurate information can best be provided to customers in a way that customers want it to be provided. How can this information be provided to staff dealing with public queries?

Consultation: How can Environment & Economy improve the way it consults with its customers to assess their needs and improve levels of customer satisfaction?

Executive Summary

1. This is a cross-cutting review that impacts on all the services within the Directorate. As such gaining ownership of the outcome of the review across the Directorate is a key issue to be addressed.

2. The review has been externally focused, although it is anticipated that many of the principles will apply equally to internal services and customers. Undertaking the review led to the development of a vision for customer service within the Directorate and a number of proposed service improvements.

A Vision for Customer Service

3. Customer Service within the Environment & Economy means

4. Firstly, all customers:

• are able to contact the Council in any generally accepted way

• know what standard of service to expect when they contact the Council

• are treated courteously and with respect

• are able to readily access information about services

• are able to obtain information about the Council’s performance against published service standards

• understand how they can contribute to the decision making process

• understand how they can make their views known

• know that we will listen to their views, especially when received as part of consultation

5. Secondly, all staff understand:

• the importance of customer service to Environment & Economy

• the need to provide customers with information about our services

• the importance of seeking the views our customers

• the Management Team’s commitment to improving customer service

Proposed Service Improvements

6. The following broad areas of improvement have been identified:

• Promotion of a Customer Service Culture within the Directorate.

• Customer services training.

• Improve Recruitment and Induction of staff.

• Introduce a customer service performance framework.

• Improve telephone access to services and information.

• Improve the design, information and services contained on the website, including further development electronic contact or payment by customers.

• Improve the quality of consultations undertaken, initially by undertaking further research.

Customer Service Action Plan

7. Work on the Council’s Customer Services Strategy is going on in parallel to this review and each exercise is feeding the other.

Where appropriate, reference has been made to work being undertaken within the Corporate Development Team, particularly as it impacts on Environment & Economy (E&E). The current draft Strategy has a six point action plan associated with it, covering: Local Access Points, Contact Centre(s), Customer Service skills, Telephone Access, Commitment to Customers and the Website.

8. Not surprisingly, as members of the Corporate Development Team have been working on the Review, there is a significant correlation between the improvements suggested as part of the Review and the Action Plan being developed as part of the Corporate Strategy.

Action Plans from this Review

9. It is normal practice to develop action plans to implement the service improvements proposed. This has not been undertaken at this stage for three reasons: to ensure consistency with the Customer Services Strategy being developed, to involve those who will be responsible for implementation (to ensure ownership) and to ensure agreement is reached on the action plans as an aid to implementation.

10. Despite this, we need to make progress on implementing the proposed Service Improvements. It is proposed therefore, that the Committee agree the Service Improvements identified within the report and for officers to identify what actions are required to deliver the Service Improvements. Work should commence on implementing the actions where this is clearly not in conflict with the Strategy being developed.

Ensuring Implementation

11. Improving customer service is one of the Directorates priorities for the year. To ensure that action is taken following the outcome from this review, it is proposed to set up a Programme Board (with representatives from across the Directorate) to oversee the implementation and appoint to a full time post for a limited period to manage the implementation of the Service Improvements.

RECOMMENDATIONS

12. The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. endorse the Customer Service in Environment & Economy report and Proposed Service Improvements; and

2. request a further report to the Committee, on 20 October 2004, identifying the actions to address the service improvements.

Introduction

13. The project brief, agreed by the Best Value Committee on 22 October 2003 proposed covering the review in four areas: Organisational Culture, Service Standards, Information & Access and Consultation, with a specific brief as follows:

14. Organisational Culture: How do current attitudes and behaviours in Environment & Economy reflect on the quality of customer service, and how can these be improved?

15. Service Standards: What level of customer service Environment and Economy can commit to providing that will be applicable to all areas of service and will provide a benchmark for measuring improvements in performance?

16. Information & Access: How can timely, accurate information can best be provided to customers in a way that customers want it to be provided. How can this information be provided to staff dealing with public queries?

17. Consultation: How can Environment & Economy improve the way it consults with its customers to assess their needs and improve levels of customer satisfaction?

18. In practice there is no clear boundary between these areas of work, for example areas of organisational culture impact on service standards and vice versa.

19. The review has been externally focused, although it is anticipated that many of the principles will apply equally to internal services and customers. In undertaking the review, the Council’s commitment to promoting equality and social inclusion has been prominent when considering how services are, or should be, provided.

Context

20. Within the past year the Council has appointed a Customer Services Manager and set up a Corporate Customer Services Development Team. Responsibility for ensuring that a Customer Services Strategy is developed has recently been given to a Customer Services Steering Group. At the time of writing a draft Strategy and action plan is expected to be considered by CCMT in July and the Executive in September. The final Strategy may not be agreed until later this year.

21. Work on the draft Strategy is going on in parallel to this review and each exercise is feeding the other. Where appropriate, reference has been made to work being undertaken within the Corporate Team, particularly as it impacts on Environment & Economy (E&E).

Description of Research

General

22. The research undertaken within the review is outlined below. In some cases the research undertaken has informed more than one area of work.

23. A common theme in obtaining information for the various areas was a desktop search of local authority and industry websites, including our own. Wherever appropriate the focus was on those authorities who had received awards (LGA 2004 awards, Chartermarks), high scores in comparative evaluations (CPA, BVPI) or have been highlighted in other best practice listings (CHIPS, Benchmarking).

Culture

24. Examples from industry and local government were identified where customer service is very obviously core to the business. Site visits were conducted and evidence collected as to what underpins the organisation’s customer service ethos.

25. Site visits were made to Age Concern (Oxfordshire), Virgin Trains (Customer Service Centre) and ASDA (Head Office). The findings from these visits identified some key elements to creating an organisational culture that will sustain high standards of customer service.

26. A comparison was drawn between the practices employed at the external organisations visited and those currently seen across the E&E Directorate.

Service Standards

27. The research included an audit of present standards, benchmarking with other authorities, companies and organisations and finding out the views of the public.

28. In order to obtain information about this Council, use was made of previous research, including the report on informal comments, complaints and compliments in E&E undertaken last year. Copies of leaflets and publications were obtained, comments and complaints were analysed and a mystery shopping exercise carried out.

29. To obtain information for benchmarking, a search was made of third party web-sites, copies of publications were obtained and external visits were made.

30. The views of the public were sought through citizens panels.

Information & Access

31. Use was made of the outcome from the brainstorming workshop involving a cross section of staff from the Directorate. The workshop considered the strengths and weaknesses of how we engage with customers and sought views on what obstacles there are to providing information. Some staff who work directly with the public were also asked to contribute to the review. Discussions were held with the Customer Services Development Team about the developments that are taking place within the Council, particularly related to the Council’s Customer Services Strategy and Implementing Electronic Government.

32. Evidence was taken from a survey of Oxfordshire residents, commissioned jointly by the County and District Council’s in Oxfordshire (the Oxfordshire IEG Group), and undertaken in the summer of 2002. The outcome of a Parish Survey in 2003 has also been used.

33. An evaluation of the use of the Public Enquiry Manager (PEM) system was undertaken. This system is used to log contact with the Highways Maintenance Teams and take and record subsequent action.

Consultation

34. An analysis of the Council’s consultation database was carried out. A series of case studies of past consultations in Environment & Economy were carried out to evaluate the different mechanisms used. The County Council’s Consultation Officer developed the methodology for the evaluation. The studies covered as far as possible the full range of work carried out by the Directorate and the full range of methodologies used in consultation.

Organisational Culture

35. How do current attitudes and behaviours in Environment & Economy reflect on the quality of customer service, and how can these be improved?

Key Findings

Staff Views

36. The Brainstorming Workshop and the desktop research into best practice identified some cultural / staffing issues. There was a perception that there is an unwillingness on the part of some individual members of staff to own enquiries / problems. The attitude of staff is sometimes poor. A solution put forward was for the Directorate to recognise the importance of recruiting the right person, training and managing them well, and tackling underperformance.

Customer Expectations

37. A number of Best Value Performance Indicators measure customer satisfaction with E&E services. Surveys are carried out every three years. Performance can be compared as follows:

|Percentage of …. Satisfied with… |2000/01 |2003/04 Performance |

| |Performance |County Average |Top Quartile | |

|Users … civic amenity sites |74 |75 |77 |84 |

|All respondents … local provision of |46 |43 |49 |49 |

|transport information | | | | |

|All respondents … local bus services |51 |45 |51 |55 |

|Planning applicants … service received |88 |84 |93 |85 E |

38. Although the areas measured are limited, this indicates that, for 2000/01, customer satisfaction was generally above the average for County Council’s but below top quartile. Comparisons for 2003/04 should be available shortly.

39. The mystery shopping exercise carried out in May (see below) indicated a satisfaction level of 59% compared to 25% dissatisfied with the service.

40. If you assume satisfaction is a proxy measure for customer expectation, then the evidence is that the Directorate is above average in terms of expectation, but there is room for improvement.

41. As indicated above, site visits were made to Age Concern, Virgin Trains and Asda. All of the organisations knew the importance of being clear about what they can and cannot provide and of being clear about what the customer wants/needs. Age Concern gave the clearest examples of how these ideas were put into practice – the services they provide only takes place in response to an expressed need, users are involved in the planning and evaluation of services, special efforts are made for ethnic minority and disabled customers, great effort is put into helping users to understand the range of services available (i.e. NOT gardening services) and queries and complaints genuinely influence policies and services.

42. Prior to this review being undertaken, a review into informal comments, complaints and comments was undertaken within the Directorate. The report used evidence from internal and external sources to support changes being made to the way public comments are managed within the Directorate. This included clarifying definitions, improving management information, streamlining record keeping, customer satisfaction monitoring and better use of the Internet.

43. The report recognised that changes in processes were not sufficient and a strong management lead was needed in promoting a positive attitude to complaints. The information we receive through comments and complaints was not being used, but should be used to make our services better.

Recruitment

44. It is clear that the very nature of an organisation can influence the type of person who will apply for a position with that organisation. An organisation that is all about providing support and assistance is likely to attract those for whom direct interaction with the public is a large part of what they want from a job. Age Concern is a good example of this and a parallel can be seen in E&E with its Registration Service.

45. But for those organisations with less of a ‘social service’ feel the recruitment stage can still be a successful start to ensuring that employees provide the level of customer care expected. Recruitment processes have been seen to include selection criteria that will evaluate candidates against customer care standards/expectations and against the organisation’s own beliefs. ASDA, for example, claimed that its staff were recruited firstly for key personality traits and second on ability criteria. The company’s recruitment process always starts with team exercises amongst the recruits to identify those who interact well and who presents themselves positively.

46. Within the County Council, employees are often attracted to the organisation because of their commitment to providing public service. This is not always picked up in the wording of job descriptions by, for example, requiring applicants to be committed to good customer care. Within E&E phrases such as “Good interpersonal skills” and “Team Player” often appear in person specifications/job adverts. These criteria need to be tested at the selection stage.

Organisational values

47. The commercial organisations for whom customer service may not be the most obvious both clearly communicated their service and organisational values. Staff could be in no doubt as to how important these values are and the role they play in supporting them. Virgin Trains uses its “Ten Customer Commitments” as the basis for its induction training and re-uses them whenever and wherever the opportunity arises. Examples such as their customer NEWS LETTER (West Coast Update) then shows these commitments in practice.

48. E&E does have similar values, drawn from the Oxfordshire Plan, however communication of these values could be improved and ways to ensure we live up to them explored.

Training

49. The three site visits showed very clearly that from day one, through the induction process and throughout their time with the organisation employees receive clear messages about customer service. All three of the external organisations either have specific customer care induction training or at least feature customer care strongly in their induction programme. Such an approach was felt by those visited to be crucial in establishing and in reinforcing the importance attached to customer care by the organisation. At Virgin Trains, career development opportunities are dependent upon an employee’s attitude to customers and at ASDA managers are trained in the use of language and practices that are designed to promote good working relationships. Again, strong messages such as “a passion for exceeding the customer’s expectations” are commonplace in all training.

50. Within E&E it is far more usual for training and development to be delivered in isolation rather than being linked to the organisation’s core values. Customer service could feature more prominently in the induction process.

Conclusions

51. The site visits gave some clear indications of the steps that can be taken to develop a strong customer-focused organisational culture. When set out in list format, most of the improvements suggested for E&E appear quite obvious, but perhaps this offers the hope that they will easily be adopted. Even so, it must be recognized that most members of staff in E&E have been with the organisation for some time. Many of these are providing good customer service and in any case are receptive to change. Despite this, a sudden reinforcement of the organisation’s values is not likely to produce a change in culture overnight.

52. Examples of the Suggested Improvements:

The importance of customer service and organisational values should be led from the top by example and emphasis. This is the key to communication these values and needs to be supported by very clear and obvious communication to all staff, using a variety of different methods.

Training – Providing specific and periodic refresher training on customer service, linking training and development activities to the values of the organisation wherever possible.

Recruitment – use of selection criteria designed to explicitly assess inter-personal skills and attitudes, particularly to customer care.

Induction – getting the ‘customer service’ message across and introducing new staff to the values and standards of the organisation.

53. With regard the to use of standards, the potential contribution of formal standards and systems (quality systems, etc) was recognised in terms of the disciplined approach that could be brought about across the whole of the E&E Directorate. It was felt that such an approach would be beneficial in embedding a truly customer-focused culture.

54. Changes to culture do not happen easily and need to be driven from the top with messages continually re-enforced. There needs to be a clear commitment from the Management Team to promote Customer Service and to drive through the outcome from this review.

Service Standards

55. This work is to identify what level of customer service Environment and Economy can commit to providing that will be applicable to all areas of service and will provide a benchmark for measuring improvements in performance.

Key Findings

Audit of Present Standards

56. There are no corporate standards and no corporate strategy for customer care or for informal complaints. The Council has acknowledged this and a Customer Services Development Team set up as a consequence. An assessment is currently being made of Council wide standards to feed into the Customer Services Strategy.

57. Within Environment & Economy, Trading Standards and Registration both have set standards and publicise them. These standards are supported by an annual cycle of customer consultation, monitoring and review that promotes continuous improvement in customer care.

58. The Best Value Review and Audit Commission Inspection of Highways Maintenance recommended the development of a Customer Care Code of Practice.

59. The Council does have an agreed procedure for dealing with formal complaints. Environment & Economy has identified a member of staff whose responsibilities include monitoring and co-ordinating formal complaints.

60. The Directorate has a multitude of practices, some of which record contact from the public, the decision is left to the individual. Although individuals set standards and deadlines, these were not consistent. The audit clearly highlights that, despite pockets of good practice, there is no consistent recording system of who, when and why members of the public had contacted the Directorate.

Customer Contact – Current Experience

61. A mystery shopping exercise was carried out to establish the level of service a customer currently receives when contacting the Directorate. 15 mystery shoppers were appointed, all of whom work for other Directorates within the Council. 45 scenarios were developed and 32 scenarios were undertaken. Mystery shoppers were asked to mark within five categories of satisfaction and the results were as follows:

|Category |Number |Percentage |

|Very satisfied |11 |34% |

|Satisfied |8 |25% |

|Neither satisfied or dissatisfied |5 |16% |

|Fairly dissatisfied |5 |16% |

|Very dissatisfied |3 |9% |

62. It can be seen that 59% of the responses were positive, compared to 25% negative responses.

63. The key results from the exercise were:

• None of the calls were answered within 5 rings, although there was no correlation between this and negative satisfaction.

• 93% of calls were answered

• 7% (2) cited the answer as rude

• 82% of calls were answered with an introduction stating to where or to whom the person was speaking; but

• 64% of staff did not give their name when answering a call

• On average it took 2.8 transfers to get to the right person, on one occasion it took 9 transfers to speak to the right person.

• 11% (3) were dissatisfied with always getting through to an answerphone.

• 32% of callers were dissatisfied with background noise, not putting on hold while enquiries are being made

• There was some dissatisfaction with the difficulty of finding the correct phone number.

Benchmarking

64. Benchmarking was undertaken with six other authorities, five commercial businesses and one voluntary organisation. The research highlighted Charter Mark as accepted best practice. It was favoured over other benchmarking techniques as it promotes annual customer satisfaction surveys and continuous improvement. Within the Council Trading Standards, Student Support and the Fire Service have all achieved Charter Mark status.

65. Best practice authorities, e.g. Camden, display their corporate customer service standards both electronically and in leaflet form. Authorities such as Camden, Brent, Vale of Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire focus service delivery on increasing customer satisfaction levels.

66. Not all of the organisations, visited as part of the research into organisational culture, felt it necessary to make use of formal service standards but all clearly set out their expected standards of customer service. It was interesting that rather than focus upon numerical targets, all of those visited instead favoured standards of behaviour – expected attitudes, dress, manner, etc. Managers too were expected to lead by example and act as role models in reinforcing these behaviours. Within ASDA and Virgin Trains there was evidence that a person’s demeanour, helpfulness and appearance were all issues that would be considered at appraisal.

67. In comparison to these other examples it may seem strange that E&E has little influence over the conduct of its staff. In some areas of the Directorate there is no dress code despite E&E comprising many customer-facing services. More surprising is that staff are not always coached, reminded or encouraged in how to meet and speak to customers and other members of staff.

68. A search of local authority websites identified that in some authorities customer contact is welcomed and feedback encouraged. This is reflected in the wording of publications, working practices, provision of free-phone numbers and acting promptly to show the public that their efforts are worthwhile. Comments are invited from customers by various means, including leaflets at Park & Ride centres and via compliments slips. The complaints policy is transparent, easily understood and information clearly available on websites. On those local authority websites visited, the standards customers should expect and performance against those standards are clearly provided.

69. The review undertaken within Environment & Economy into informal comments, complaints and comments found that whilst information is collected in some areas, it is not analysed or used in any positive way.

70. One of the Best Value Performance Indicators measures the percentage of complainants satisfied with the handling of their complaint. Oxfordshire does not compare well against other authorities on this indicator, being one of the lowest performing authorities on customer complaints handling. (This indicator is for the authority not the Directorate.)

The Views of the Public

71. The opportunity was taken to use the Council’s Citizen Panel arrangements to establish views on service levels. The survey was carried out in late February to early March using a postal self-completion survey.

72. Three key issues were addressed using the Panel: what is a reasonable timeframe for answering customer telephone calls; what is a reasonable timeframe for answering customer e-mails, letters and faxes; and how effective would different customer service issues be in improving customer service?

73. The key findings from the responses to the first two questions are:

Telephone:

• 47% find it reasonable to answer within 7 rings

• 46% would prefer it to be answered within 5 rings

Email:

• 28% think it reasonable to answer within 3 working days or more

• a further 51% think it reasonable to answer within 2 days

• 17% would think it reasonable to expect a response within 1 day

Letter/Fax:

• 54% think it reasonable to answer within 3 working days

• a further 31% thought it reasonable to expect a response within 2 days

• 13% thought it reasonable to expect a response within 1 day

74. It is clear that public expectation is much higher than is currently delivered, even without the management information to compare. Part of this will be because the Council does not publicise standards and the public do not know what to expect as the norm. It is an obvious point but there is an expectation for Emails to be answered more quickly than letters, presumably because this is seen as a more immediate form of communication.

75. Citizen Panel members were presented with a list of customer services issues and asked to state how effective each would be at improving customer service by ranking them in order of effectiveness. The results can be seen in the graph below.

Chart 1: Improving Customer Effectiveness

[pic] (1 = most effective, 7 = least effective)

76. Undertaking customer service training was seen as being the most effective, followed by running telephone monitoring and response systems and improving opening hours and reception points. Improving electronic information and electronic forms was seen as being the least effective, however this was a much higher priority to younger panel members (18 to 24 year olds).

77. Consideration was given to obtaining the views of people who contacted the Directorate by the use of feedback forms. Unfortunately, because there is no consistency in recording contact, it has not been possible to undertake this research. Any attempt to do this would not be representative.

Conclusions

78. The research has illustrated extensive good work and good customer care across the board. However, the standard is inconsistent and in order to improve customer satisfaction levels it is essential to set and publicise standards. By doing this employees will know what is expected of them and the public also know what to expect.

79. We should not just have numerical, factual service level targets but also standards of behaviour, appearance, communication, responsibility and managerial behaviour (role modelling).

80. Based on customer expectation standards of behaviour should be set as follows:

• staff will always be helpful, polite and courteous.

• staff will always wear a name badge and/or give their name when sending letters or receiving telephone calls.

• Plain jargon free English will be used in communications, no technical terms and no acronyms.

• Personal information will be treated confidentially in line with the Data Protection Act.

81. If you base the Directorate’s targets for responding to customers on their expectations, the following targets would be appropriate:

|Answering the telephone |Within 5 rings |

|Replying to Emails |Within 2 working days |

|Replying to letters / faxes |Initial response – 2 working days |

| |Full response – 7 working days |

| |If not possible |

| |– agree date with customer |

|Appointments |Within 3 working days |

82. However, these targets would not be appropriate or achievable for all services. Different services warrant different response times by nature of the service and the nature of the communication. These standards are more relevant for generic Email addresses and publicised telephone contact points, rather than all points of contact.

Standards should be looked at service by service with the aim of having consistent aspirations where this is appropriate and generally improving response times wherever this is possible. The important point is that customers should know how to contact the Directorate and the standard to expect when doing so.

83. If you set standards it is important to measure whether those standards are being delivered, subject to this work being cost effective. The current procedures are inconsistent across the Directorate. It is proposed that wherever it is cost effective, a minimum set of data should be specified.

84. A process needs to be set up to ensure that the minimum data set of management information is collected on a regular basis to monitor performance against the standard. Heads of Service should be free to establish their own system for collating the agreed set of data. An annual monitoring framework should be set and an annual audit undertaken to test check the quality of the data.

85. It is no good just assuming that the standards you are working to are what the customer wants. It is important to get feedback from the customer wherever this is possible. Where there is contact with the customer, e.g. relating to reporting a fault or making a complaint, we should obtain the customer’s views about the contact, e.g. by providing suggestions and complaint forms at reception points and providing feedback forms with written communications. Regular surveys and use of Citizens Panels can also help to gauge public satisfaction.

86. By setting standards and monitoring against those standards the Directorate can signal to staff the importance of customer service. This will then start to impact on and develop the culture within the Directorate. If you set targets, measure progress against those targets and identify improvement, you then have the evidence to instil the ethos of continuous improvement. Once this is established, the potential for extending Chartermark status within E&E can be explored.

Information & Access

87. The work related to Information and Access is concerned with identifying how timely, accurate information can best be provided to customers in a way that customers want it to be provided. This includes identifying how this information can be provided to staff dealing with public queries.

88. In doing this we need to consider how well we currently engage with our customers and identify any significant obstacles to improving how information is provided. We need to identify good practice in the best performing organisations and compare it with local practice. Another key element to this area of work is the extent to which electronic access to services can improve service to customers.

Key Findings:

Method of Contact - General

89. The survey of Oxfordshire residents is helpful in identifying how customers access services and information. The public generally use three main methods of seeking information from the Council: by phone (81%) in person (27%), or through the website (10%). This compares with 80%, 34% and 21% respectively when seeking information generally about services when the private sector is included. These three methods are also the preferred ways for seeking information.

90. There are two aspects of note from this part of the survey: the telephone is easily the most preferred method and looks set to remain the main channel of contact and the website does not feature as strongly when accessing information from local authorities.

91. Although not featuring as prominently as the above methods, people also access information generally about services by post, through a third party, by Email, by texting and through digital TV. When it comes from seeking information from the Council, Email is not as prominent and texting and digital TV are not used at all.

92. In terms of reporting faults to the Council, telephone is both the main method of providing information (87%) and also the preferred method (80%). This is followed a distant second by reporting faults in person. Reporting through the website is low at 4%. Other methods of reporting faults include by post, through a third party, and by Email. Texting from a mobile phone or digital TV were not used by respondents to the survey, although some people used this method to report faults in the private sector.

93. In relation to the Parish Council survey:

• The top 10 Council services that the Parish Councils have dealings with are E&E services.

• There is a correlation between how parishes receive information and how they would like to receive information, although News for Towns and Parish Councils is significantly lower in terms of preferred methods.

• Despite not being as popular source of information, 73% found News for Towns and Parish Councils useful and 52% felt it increased their understanding.

94. The Customer Services Development Team is setting up Customer Services Partnerships with District Councils. This is supported by central government, the Districts are keen and ready, and the joint website, Oxfordshire Gateway, is already in place.

95. The intention is for customers to be able to access as many services as possible through a minimum number of contacts. It is also the intention that customers are dealt with by well trained staff with information on who deals with what and where across all Oxfordshire authorities. Staff should be capable of providing information directly from the authority’s systems, process information received where appropriate, or pass customers onto other authorities in a seamless manner.

96. The Customer Services Development Team has elicited the help of Environment & Economy is doing this because of the volume of mismatched calls with Districts and the high level of customer interaction.

Telephone Contact

97. As indicated above, the telephone is the most commonly used method of communicating with the Council, and is the most preferred. If the telephone is likely to remain the main channel of communication, it is important we get it right.

98. The desktop research of websites identified that other local authorities have devised a number of different methods to make contact as simple as possible. Single or a limited number of points of contact have been made available. Authorities now facilitate contact outside the usual 9 to 5, reflecting the wishes of the public.

99. In the survey carried out jointly with the District Councils, 57% of the people consulted would find the ability to contact the Council until 8 or 9 pm useful, particularly for reporting faults. 60% of the people consulted would find the ability to contact the Council on Saturdays useful, although there was no consensus on the usefulness of being able to contact the Council on Sundays (45% would find it useful and the same proportion would not find it useful). The implications of the evidence is not totally clear as there is an issue about which services the public would like contact hours to be extended, i.e. District or County services.

100. The Best Value Review of Customer Care (2001) recommended the introduction of extended opening hours. This was not progressed on the basis that there was not enough demand, following a survey of calls received on answerphones out of hours. Extending the hours for telephone contact will have resource and staffing implications. Before going down this route further evidence is needed that this service is required for County Council and/or E&E services and what the cost would be.

101. Some problems with telephone contact were identified at the brainstorming workshop for staff. Lack of knowledge about “who does what”, particularly for staff answering phones, was identified as a particular issue. (The Customer Services Development Team is currently working with District Councils and E&E to put together a database of such information.) In addition the Council phonebook is generally out of date. Attempts have been made in the past to resolve this.

102. The Highways Maintenance Team currently uses PEM when contacted by the public. The evaluation of PEM concluded that although use was a definite step forward, it does not currently achieve any of the objectives to an adequate degree, but it could be made to do so. One key issue identified in the review was the number of calls made to the Area Offices that had to be re-directed elsewhere. It may be better to filter these calls centrally.

103. Once the organisation has interacted with the customer, it will have received information. Putting this information into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, a planned and sophisticated approach to handling and storing such information, many benefits can be derived.

CRM is a Government requirement in implementing e-government, and currently half of local authorities are either using, or are in the process of implementing a CRM system. This is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed by the Council corporately through the Customer Services Team, rather than by this Directorate.

104. Other aspects of contact currently being considered by the Customer Services Steering Group in conjunction with the Districts, include:

• Developing one stop shops, starting with something small and building on that.

• Developing responses to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and exchanging them with West Oxfordshire District Council as a pilot.

• Promoting recognition that technology needs to be improved to enhance FAQ scripting.

• Looking at potential economies of scale to decide whether to roll out or enlarge.

105. Any outcome from this review needs to be considered in the context of this work.

Contact in Person

106. The survey of Oxfordshire residents highlighted the fact that contact in person was one of the three principal methods of contact. We need to ensure that there are adequate facilities and access to information at the key points.

107. As indicated above Local Access Points/Contact Centres are being considered by the Customer Services Steering Group in an attempt to improve the availability of information about District and County Services. This includes developing one stop shops, starting with something small and building from there.

108. There are 21 buildings used by Environment & Economy, including Speedwell House, County Hall, Oxford Register Office, 13 Registration Offices, the Central Library and Fletchers House, Woodstock, which could be classified as being visited regularly by the public.

109. Those buildings where the public are likely to attend in person to request information have formal reception areas with reception staff and facilities for face-to face meetings and are physically accessible by people with disabilities, although not all have toilet facilities to the required standard.

110. In addition to E&E buildings, the Council has libraries throughout the county where information about the directorate and its services is held.

Electronic Contact (website)

111. The surfing of best practice local authority websites showed that most have put a lot of thought into the structure of their websites. Services and information is grouped around customer requirements, e.g. by fitting around life events rather than internal structures.

Some authorities have developed a GIS map based format for some services, e.g. Rights of Way. Multiple language services are also used to help with access issues. Citizen portals are used, where people can register and tailor the information shown to meet their needs.

112. Within Environment & Economy, some services place forms on the Internet for completion by members of the public. The form can be sent electronically or printed, signed and sent where a signature is required for legal reasons. The latter is available within Oxfordshire’s Registration Service. Within the survey of Oxfordshire residents, over half the people consulted would find the ability to contact the Council until 8 or 9 pm or on Saturdays useful. 46% of those consulted would like to contact the Council to report a fault in the evening or at weekends. Further development of the Internet would provide this service, at least in part for those willing to use electronic means. This would also facilitate engagement by the younger age groups.

Paying for services Electronically

113. Exactly half of those consulted would be likely to use a plastic card to access and pay for Council services, although this does relate to County and District services. The ICT Team are currently helping with the development of this facility for the payment of parking fines and fees for registration services. This could be subsequently extended to other services.

Conclusions:

Method of Contact

114. All methods of accessing information should be available to the public. The telephone in particular should be adequately supported and ensure that information and services, including fault reporting, are easily accessible by phone.

Telephone Contact

115. The issue of a Customer Relationship Management system would be a major project for the Council and is one that cannot be determined by E&E in isolation. This needs to be addressed by the Customer Services Development Team through the Customer Services Steering Group. The Customer Services Steering Group’s current view is to make small-scale improvements in Customer Service that move the Council towards having one point of contact.

116. Linking in with the Customer Service Development Team’s strategy, consideration should be seriously given to limiting the number of telephone contact points within the Directorate. Services with a high volume of calls, e.g. the Registration Service and Highways Maintenance, should perhaps have their own number, with others being fielded centrally within the Directorate. This should be developed in conjunction with Heads of Service and the Customer Services Development Team.

117. The Customer Services Development Team is to develop a database of information about who does what within the Council which will prove invaluable to first line enquiry staff. This should include resolving the issue of the out of date phonebook. They are also identifying frequently asked questions (with appropriate answers) for both E&E and District services.

118. Further research should be undertaken on staffing of telephones until 8pm during the week and on Saturdays. This should considered in conjunction with the initiatives under the Council’s Customer Services Strategy.

119. In relation to PEM, the recommendations that could be implemented now and are pertinent to the review of Customer Services include:

• review how and where calls are received

• agree set processes and procedures for dealing with and logging calls

• appropriate training for staff

120. The management information available from the Council’s telephony system is currently limited. For example, the Registration Service does not know how many calls they are missing at present due to unavailability of operators. PEM does not have call queuing facility and customer information announcements. Corporate ICT Services is looking at the Council’s corporate telephony system. Local solutions should not be developed in lieu of this, although where small scale changes can offer interim benefits they are being or will be explored, particularly in relation to the Registration and Highway Maintenance Services.

Contact in Person

121. Linked to the number of telephone contact points, the Council’s Customer Services Development Team is developing One Stop Shops in conjunction with the District Councils. The Team is also planning to link existing customer services staff in the Directorates, with appropriate customer care training. Both these projects should be left to the Customer Services Development Team to progress but ensure that E&E contributes and offers help as and when required.

Electronic Contact

122. We need to develop the website to improve accessibility to information wherever this is possible. This will help both the public and first line contact staff who can provide or direct the public to information contained on the Internet. We should develop the website further for fault reporting, thereby enabling the public to contact the Council out of normal hours and addressing their needs. The complaints policy and service standards should be made available more easily through the website.

123. The Directorate has the benefit of two members of corporate ICT to help improve services within the Directorate, one is specifically concerned with developing the Internet and Intranet and the other with developing customer services. These resources should be used to improve the content of the website and the services provided through it. The research undertaken into best practice can be used with services to engender and develop ideas.

Consultation

124. How can Environment & Economy improve the way it consults with its customers to assess their needs and improve levels of customer satisfaction?

Key Findings

125. The groups most commonly consulted were district councils (consulted in 80% of consultations), parish councils (74%), the public (48%), neighbouring authorities (45%), Emergency Services (33%) and town councils (20%).

126. In 2003, a survey was carried out of Parish councils. A key finding outcome from the survey was that E&E was overwhelmingly the directorate with which parish councils had the most contact (constituting the ten most common service areas with which the council had had dealings).

127. There were specific questions regarding consultation by the County Council, including how well the county council consults. 42% of respondents agreed that OCC consultation documents were easy to understand, with only 19% disagreeing. However, this leaves a significant number of people who were not able to agree or disagree with the statement. More worryingly only 28% agreed that the council provides them with adequate information of how its consultations are used to inform decision making, with 23% disagreeing.

128. Parishes were asked to set out realistic timescales for consultations. Responses ranged from 2 to 30 weeks, with an average of six weeks.

129. The third most commonly consulted group is the public. A decision was taken not to consult on how well we had managed consultations in the past. However, it is vital that we ensure some means of feedback on future consultations.

130. The analysis of past consultations showed that 64% of consultations carried out in E&E are statutorily driven. It also showed that letter was the most commonly used form of consulting (used in 74% of consultations) followed by street notices (50%), press notices (12%) and then workshops (8%), questionnaires (5%) and leaflets (4%).

131. The case studies identified a number of areas of good practice, including learning from past consultation. Despite there being good examples of consultation in many areas, good practice is not systematically shared. Overall pro formas were used in a high proportion of consultation but they could be used more extensively.

132. Some areas for improvement were identified through the case studies. There seems to be inconsistent feedback to the public with regard to the outcome from the consultation process. Consultations seem to overrun original timescales. Training for those undertaking consultation would also be of benefit.

133. The Council is currently addressing the use of the Internet for consultation. Information on consultations is about to be made available through the Council's website. This should help to reduce duplication and allow people to input into ongoing consultations more easily. The site will be reviewed once it has been up and running.

Conclusion

134. In retrospect, given the importance of consultation to the Directorate, the research that went into this area was not as wide ranging as it should have been. No work was undertaken in benchmarking what we do with other authorities or indeed with other parts of the Council, other than the case studies. It is proposed that further work should be undertaken in this area.

135. Having said that some improvements can be made. We need to ensure there is adequate feedback to consultees, and to give them the opportunity to comment on the consultation process in order that we can continually improve. The opportunity to feedback views could be incorporated into the letter informing people of the decision taken, or by providing information at relevant exhibitions and on the website.

136. The outcome from the case studies suggested a need for training of staff carrying out consultations with a view to improving the quality of consultations undertaken, in particular looking at:

• Improving awareness of the range of methods available and how they can increase awareness of the implications of work being carried out

• Effective planning of consultations, including realistic timescales for carrying out work

• Understanding the level of flexibility we have in interpreting statutory guidance

• How to improve the quality of feedback we provide to participants.

137. However, this training should perhaps await the outcome of the further work identified above. More systematic means of sharing good practice between different teams, services and directorates should be explored, but again after the further work to identify more precisely what good practice is.

138. Extending the use of the Internet as a means of consultation should only be pursued in conjunction with the corporate centre.

A Vision for Customer Service

139. Taking into account the work that has been undertaken during the course of this review, a vision for Customer Service has been developed.

Customer Service within Environment & Economy means

140. Firstly, all customers:

• are able to contact the Council in any generally accepted way

• know what standard of service to expect when they contact the Council

• are treated courteously and with respect

• are able to readily access information about services

• are able to obtain information about the Council’s performance against published service standards

• understand how they can contribute to the decision making process

• understand how they can make their views known

• know that we will listen to their views, especially when received as part of consultation

141. Secondly, all staff understand:

• the importance of customer service to Environment & Economy

• the need to provide customers with information about our services

• the importance of seeking the views our customers

• the Management Team’s commitment to improving customer service

Proposed Service Improvements

142. Although the research for the review was undertaken in four specific work areas, there were inevitably common issues for some areas and cross fertilisation of ideas. In pulling the work together for this report, a number of broad areas of improvement were identified.

|Promotion of a Customer Service Culture within the Directorate |

|Promotion of the Vision for Customer Service |

|Commitment from the top that the outcome from this review will be implemented |

|Promotion of that commitment and the outcome from the review throughout the Directorate |

|Commitment from the top in promoting a positive attitude to customer comments and complaints |

|Customer services training |

|Provide specific and periodic refresher courses on customer service to all staff |

|Communicate organisational values to all staff, clearly and obviously using different methods |

|Link training and development activities to the values of the organisation wherever possible |

|Improve Recruitment and Induction of staff |

|include customer service qualities in person specifications |

|develop selection criteria to assess interpersonal skills and attitudes |

|get the customer service message across at induction |

|introduce new staff to the values and standards expected |

|Introduce customer service performance framework |

|set standards for behaviour, practice and responding to customers |

|publish standards and make them readily available to the public and staff. |

|establish data collection methods for minimum data set across the directorate |

|monitor standards periodically |

|ensure comments and complaints are used positively to continuously improve the service provided |

|Improve telephone access to services and information |

|Reduce the number of contact point in consultation with Heads of Service, consistent with the Customer Services |

|Strategy. |

|Develop a data-base of information, including frequently asked questions, for use by reception staff and those |

|answering the telephone (this is already in progress, with E&E as a pilot under the Customer Services Action |

|Plan (see below). |

|Investigate the need for, and cost implications of, staffing telephones outside normal office hours (needs to be|

|considered corporately). |

|Implement the recommendations from the review of PEM. |

|Improve the design, information and services contained on the website, including further development electronic |

|contact or payment by customers. |

|Staff have recently been appointed to improve customer service and Web Content. It is proposed that they |

|undertake this improvement using the information gathered in the web search into best practice as a starting |

|point. A by-product of this service improvement will be to deliver some of the Council’s IEG requirements. |

|Improve the quality of consultations undertaken by: |

|Undertaking further research to identify more precisely what constitutes best practice |

|Ensuring there is adequate feedback on consultation |

|Training for staff on best practice on consultation |

143. Although the work undertaken within the review has identified the service improvements outlined above for implementation, there will inevitably be changes taking place that may need a review of our approach to customer services or aspects of it. An example could be further collaboration with District Councils, specifically on serving the needs of the people of Oxfordshire, or as a consequence of say, Area Forums.

Customer Service Action Plan

144. As indicated above, the Corporate Customer Services Development Team, in conjunction with the Steering Group, is developing a Customer Services Strategy. The current draft Strategy has a six point action plan associated with it. In summary the six point Action Plan covers: Local Access Points, Contact Centre(s), Customer Service skills, Telephone Access, Commitment to Customers and the Website.

145. Not surprisingly, as members of the Corporate Team have been working on the Review, there is a significant correlation between the improvements suggested as part of the Review and the Action Plan being developed as part of the Corporate Strategy.

Action Plans from this Review

146. It is normal practice to develop action plans to implement the service improvements proposed. This has not been undertaken at this stage for three reasons.

147. Firstly, as mentioned above, the proposed service improvements are closely aligned with those proposed under the Customer Services Strategy. This Strategy has yet to be considered by the Executive, and may not be approved until later this year. It would not be appropriate to formally agree to service improvements and action plans as a consequence of this review prior to Customer Services Strategy being approved. At the same time we would not wish to delay implementing some of the service improvements until the Customer Services Strategy is approved.

148. Secondly, the action plans need to be considered carefully, in some cases with other Heads of Service. Best Value Reviews are usually managed by the service lead and as a consequence service improvements are owned by that individual. In this case the review is cross cutting and it is important that the Heads of Service within E&E own the outcome from the review and can sign up to the action plan and its implications for them.

149. Thirdly, it is especially important to take time to obtain agreement to the action plan to deliver service improvements given the concern over implementation of previous review recommendations.

150. As indicated above, we need to make progress on implementing the proposed service improvements as a consequence of this review, but be aware of the potential implications of the Customer Services Strategy yet to be agreed by the Executive. What is proposed therefore, is for the Committee to agree the Service Improvements identified within the report and for officers to identify what actions are required to deliver those improvements. Work should commence on implementing the action plans where this is clearly not in conflict with the Strategy being developed.

Ensuring Implementation

151. This is a cross cutting review and the responsibility for delivery is more complex than for a single service. Ensuring implementation is important for a number of reasons, not least because improving customer service is one of the Directorate’s priorities for the year. To ensure that the outcome from this review is actioned, it is proposed to set up a Programme Board to oversee the implementation and appoint to a full time post for a limited period to manage the implementation of the service improvements.

152. The Programme Board should include the Director, Business Manager, senior representatives from each service and key individuals from the Support Services. There would also be a Programme Manager identified plus Project Managers for specific aspects of the action plans.

153. The Directorate has established a Better Working Investment Fund to assist projects that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Directorate and help the Directorate deliver its cross cutting service priorities. There is an expectation that this Fund will help with the implementation of the Service Improvements.

RECOMMENDATIONS

154. The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

a) endorse the Customer Service in Environment & Economy report and Proposed Service Improvements; and

b) request a further report to the Committee, on 20 October 2004, identifying the actions to address the service improvements.

Paul Gerrish

Business Manager (E&E)

Review Team Leader

Background Papers: Mori survey

Implementing Electronic Government in Oxfordshire

Parish & Town Council Survey (2003)

Evaluation of PEM - 2004

Best Practice research on customer service - 2004

Mystery Shopping – outcome - 2004

Citizens Panel – outcome - 2004

Website survey – outcome - 2004

Consultation Database – Analysis - 2004

Brain Storming Workshop – outcome - 2003

Site Visits – findings – 2004

Informal Comments, Complaints and Compliments in E&E - 2003

Glossary of Terms

BVPI - Best Value Performance Indicator

CHIPS - Corporate Assessment Helpful & Interesting Practices

CPA - Comprehensive Performance Assessment

CRM - Customer Relationship Management

E&E - Environment & Economy

FAQ - Frequently asked questions

GIS - Geographical Information System

ICT - Information & Communication Technology

IEG - Implementing Electronic Government

LGA - Local Government Association

OCC - Oxfordshire County Council

PEM - Public Enquiry Manager

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