Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Resources is circulated.

Councillor Bucknell, Portfolio Holder for Customer Services presented a report which sought endorsement of a Delivering Customer Focus Programme, details of which were presented.

One of the three goals of the bid for unitary status was that the new Council would provide high quality, low cost, customer focused services with the provision of customer focused services being one of the priorities in the draft Corporate Plan.

The Programme defined what the Council needed to do across the whole organisation in order to deliver customer focused services. It was noted that a great deal of this would be done by building on the work the Council was already doing ie Workplace Transformation, Business Transformation and Total Place.

Councillor Bucknell explained that the Programme would work in the same way as the Total Place project in that the object would be to first establish the needs of the customer.

Councillor Laura Mayes, Portfolio Holder for Organisation and Culture also commented on the Programme from a culture perspective.

The Leader agreed with the objectives of the Programme although commented that it could be more concise in places and include clearer outcomes. The Leader also commented that the Council should also review the standard letters and emails which are issued to ensure clarity of language and improve the Council’s website.

Resolved:

That Cabinet endorse the report presented and request that the Corporate Leadership Team and Customer Focus Board implement the Delivering Customer Focus programme.

Reason for Decision

One of the three goals of the bid for unitary status was that the new council would provide high-quality, low cost, customer-focused services.  Providing customer-focused services is one of the priorities in the Corporate Plan. 

High quality services focus on customer purpose and what the customer values. This is where we deliver high satisfaction and a great reputation.

Low cost services operate with minimum waste (activities which do not fulfil customer purpose or deliver customer value).  Low cost services also focus on root causes. These are where we deliver major cost savings.