Agenda item

Business Support Review Update

Minutes:

Andy Ralphs (Strategic Director for Customer and Corporate Services) and Ross Johnston (Project Manager) answered Members questions on the Business Support Review Update.

 

Members discussed:

 

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that the Council’s customer experience score had fallen over the last quarter and how would improvements be made when a number of staff had been lost to the business support review?; it was responded that customer satisfaction wasn’t only related to one area such as the business support review – the review itself was still embedding;

 

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was business support a back office function or a front facing experience?; it was responded that the business support review didn’t include libraries however the One Stop Shop and the Contact Centre were included as well as financial transactions, revenues and benefits and administrative support;

 

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customer service was going to be delivered from libraries around the city however this front facing service was questionable as libraries were only open a few days a week; it was responded that libraries were not part of the business support review and had a separate budget and review. There was an opportunity as changes to business support embedded to see where there were opportunities to do things differently including longer opening hours;

 

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the importance of members scrutinising the library service as well as collaborative spaces in the next municipal year;

 

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that most people would not know what roles were included in the business support review. It was questioned if parking and planning officers brought into the review were being assessed as to what was being achieved now they were part of business support other than standalone in their departments? Was bets value still being achieved? It was responded that the responsibilities of officers remained as they did before. The performance of the teams was actively monitored and a reporting tool was available that provided automated and immediate updates on performance and how targets were being met. By centralising the resources and activities it enabled the ability to assess what was working well and what wasn’t working well. The Council was now in a position to put in place plans to upskill staff to provide more services for PCC as a whole other than working in a silo environment;

 

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was the overall benefits for the whole department going to be reviewed? There were concerns that the review took officers out of one area and giving them a specific job to do but what about the jobs they did previously? It was responded that a 3 month review of implementation was being undertaken as well as value added;

 

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the plan previously included cross training so that residents that couldn’t make it into the One Stop Shop in the city centre could visit a library in their local area and receive support; it was responded that there was a potential for business support staff to be positioned in libraries in order to provide a face to face support service and the upskilling of staff was being looked into in order to see if this would be provided.

 

Members agreed to

 

1.

note the Business Support Review Update;

 

2.

add the Business Support Review Update to the work programme for the October 2022 meeting in order to receive a detailed update on the reviews currently being undertaken and that members of staff perspective is included.

 

Supporting documents: