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Contact: Eirian Roberts 01286 679018
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for
absence. Minutes: Councillors Anwen J. Davies, Trevor Edwards, Dyfrig Jones, Aled Wyn
Jones, Michael Sol Owen and Hefin Underwood. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: No declarations of personal
interest were received from any members present. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items
that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration. Minutes: None. |
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The Chairman shall propose
that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 20th
October, 2016 be signed as a true record. Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee
held on 20 October 2016, as a true record. |
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GALW GWYNEDD AND RESPONDING TO PHONE CALLS PDF 290 KB To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for
Customer Care and the Galw Gwynedd, Siop Gwynedd and Registration Manager (attached). Minutes: Submitted - the report of
the Cabinet Member for Customer Care and the Galw
Gwynedd, Siop Gwynedd and Registration Manager, which set out the background of
establishing Galw Gwynedd in 2008 and responded to
specific questions that were raised beforehand from the scrutinisers in
relation to: ·
The latest performance data for answering telephone
calls from Galw Gwynedd and the Council's departments
in general. ·
The impact of recent changes on the performance of
answering telephone calls and the service's plans to improve performance. ·
Data
regarding the time it took to receive a telephone response at Galw Gwynedd and the feasibility of introducing a system
that would inform customers of how long the wait would be. ·
Methods of coping with the busiest periods. ·
The Self-service project's ability to reduce the
number of calls that would come to Galw Gwynedd. The Cabinet Member and officers expanded on the
written responses in the report, and also responded to further questions /
observations from the members. During the discussion: ·
Galw Gwynedd staff were thanked for their hard work, and the importance of
protecting those members of staff by continuing to improve the system was
emphasised. ·
It was noted that the steps
taken so far (by securing additional resources and using Siop Gwynedd
resources) had moved towards mitigating the problem and that was to be
welcomed. ·
The review of the method of
training staff was welcomed, along with the fact that the wording and frequency
of the message callers heard when waiting for their call to be answered would
soon be changed. The Chair summarised the main conclusions of the
discussion as follows: ·
An answering system option
should be considered, e.g. a message noting the waiting time for a response to
the call or offer an option to stay on the phone or referring the call on to
somewhere else. ·
A solution was needed for
calls that were missed across the Council departments, raising officers'
awareness of the numbers, and monitoring and finding solutions to that. ·
Consideration could perhaps
be given to responding to a recent misleading article in the Daily Post regarding
Galw Gwynedd's performance. ·
Arrangements should be made
for members of the committee to visit Galw Gwynedd. ·
Consider reporting back on
the progress to the committee within six months (if the member of the committee
that was part of performance monitoring meetings with the Cabinet Member saw
that the problem continued). ·
It would be beneficial for
the residents / members to be able to see the status of any enquiries made by
them, or on behalf of their electors. |
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SELF SERVICE PROJECT PDF 417 KB To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Customer Care and the
Self-service Project Manager (attached). Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member and the
Self-service Project Manager, which set the background of establishing the
Self-service Project and responded to specific questions that were raised
beforehand from the scrutinisers in relation to: ·
The aim, work programme and
progress of the project thus far. ·
The
aim for maximising the use of self-service. ·
Measuring success. ·
Access to services through
the medium of the digital channel thus far. ·
The
implications of creating a business plan for developing our own self-service
system rather than buying off the shelf. ·
The consequences that would
likely derive from the project for the people of Gwynedd. ·
Plans on how to communicate
these opportunities with the public. ·
Problems that had arisen
with the system thus far and how they were solved. The system on the website was shown to the members in order to ensure
clear understanding of the self-service project. The Cabinet Member
and the officers expanded on the written responses in the report, and also
responded to further questions / observations from the members. During the
discussion: ·
This project was
welcomed. It had the potential to be very useful, but it was emphasised that
this would be one way of communicating with the Council, and not the only way. The Chair summarised the main conclusions of the
discussion as follows: ·
Consideration needed to be
given to the way the service was promoted and that there was a role for Council
staff and members in general to raise awareness of the system. ·
The element of tracking
enquiries was extremely useful and that transferring all possible services to
the system was needed as soon as possible. ·
Consideration needed to be
given to the website's image and the location and size of the link to the
personal account. ·
In order to ensure the
project's success, it should be ensured that the back office staff were aware
of the system and were ready to act and that resources would be needed for
that. ·
The
self-service system should incorporate simple language principles in order to
facilitate the use of it. The Cabinet Member and the officers were thanked for
the discussion. |
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To consider the report of the Simple Language Scrutiny Investigation
Group (attached). Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Simple Language Scrutiny
Investigation Group on the investigation's work and conclusions into how simple
and easy to understand the terms that the Council used in their questionnaires
were. The investigation's members thanked Dr Llion Jones and Eleri Hughes from Canolfan
Bedwyr, Bangor University for their guidance, and to the officers for their
work of supporting the investigation. During the discussion, it was noted: ·
That it was hoped that this
work would motivate people to use clearer language in other fields across the
County, e.g. when drawing up reports for committees. ·
That the definition of any
acronym that was used for the first time in a document should be explained. ·
That simple language was
relevant to self-service also in order to ensure that people used it. ·
That Hunaniaith
should also be part of this in terms of the information they shared publicly. RESOLVED
to accept the recommendations of the Group, namely: (a) That the Communication and
Engagement Unit and Canolfan Bedwyr jointly develop
short guidelines (no more than two sides of A4) for staff on how to create
questionnaires in simple language and that they also create a vocabulary /
phrase list to avoid. (b) That Canolfan
Bedwyr provides input into an in-house pack of guidelines for arranging public
meetings, press statements, etc. that is currently being created. (c) Hold a pilot of the
questionnaire guidelines with a specific Council department to see whether or
not any impact has been seen following its introduction, before consideration
is given to establishing a more extensive plan. |