Contact: Ros Anderson Ext. 7589 e-mail: [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 The County Council's Complaints Policy requires departments to report to the appropriate Policy Review Committee on their monitoring of compliments and complaints. This is the second report in regard to compliments and complaints received within the Property, Business and Regulatory Services department and covers the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004.

1.2 The department provides a wide range of services to customers and users including members of the public, external organisations and businesses, other local authorities and all Hampshire County Council Departments. This is further illustrated in the table provided at Appendix A.

2. Recording, investigating and monitoring complaints

2.1 The department has adopted the County Council's definition for recording a complaint:

"An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the Department's staff affecting an individual customer or group of customers".

2.2 Complaints are recognised as valuable information that will help services to identify opportunities for improvement. Each service area has a long history of recording, investigating and monitoring complaints. Central collection and co-ordination of monitoring data is carried out on a monthly basis and six monthly reports are made to the Senior Management Group.

2.3 Each complaint is investigated by the relevant service manager and an appropriate response made to the customer. During 2003/04 most complaints (95%) were dealt with within the County Council's corporate performance target of 20 working days. Most of the service areas set more rigid targets than 20 days and 77% of complaints were dealt with within these targets.

3. Compliments

3.1 The department records compliments and expressions of satisfaction received from customers. The statistical information in this report covers unsolicited compliments from individual customers. A considerable amount of positive feedback is also received through customer review meetings and satisfaction surveys and this is maintained separately.

4. Compliments and Complaints Monitoring 2003-2004

4.1 The table at Appendix B shows the total number of compliments and complaints recorded

within each service area compared with the previous year. For PB&R as a whole, there were 875 compliments and 329 complaints. The following bar chart shows this higher percentage of compliments to complaints compared to the previous year:

5. Nature of compliments received

5.1 The number of compliments received by PB&R services increased by nearly 8% in 2003/04. The highest number (491) are received by the Trading Standards Advice Service from satisfied members of the public who occasionally also send in chocolates and flowers to express their appreciation of the help received. Property Management received 163 compliments mainly from schools and examples of these, and others received within PB&R are given in Appendix C.

6. Details of complaints received

6.1 The breakdown of complainants shows that 170 are from members of the public, 117 are internal customers and 42 external customers. The following bar chart shows a comparison of this breakdown with the previous year:

6.2 The table at Appendix D illustrates the nature of the complaints received within each service area and gives some specific examples. Further information is also provided about services in order to better understand complaints within the scope and overall context of the service provided.

6.3 Complaints are generally low in number across all service areas especially when measured as a percentage of workload. For some services the percentage is so small that it has been shown as <0.01%, e.g. for HC3S over 10 million meals are produced annually, for County Supplies over 600,000 order lines are processed annually, and for the Registration Service there are more than 62,000 events annually ranging from certificate issue to marriage and baby naming ceremonies.

6.4 The table below shows complaints as a percentage of workload for the service areas where it is useful to do so. These measures will help to indicate changing trends in future years.

	Service area	Estimated % of workload 2002/03	Estimated % of workload 2003/04
Property Services	Property Management	0.25%	0.1%
Business Services	County Supplies	<0.01%	<0.01%
	HC3S	<0.01%	<0.01%
	Hampshire Printing	0.15%	0.13%
Regulatory	Registration Service	<0.01%	<0.01%
Services	Scientific Service	0.03%	0.03%
	Trading Standards	0.16%	0.13%
Resources Group	Sir Harold Hillier Gardens & Arboretum	0.02%	0.04%

7. Complaints Monitoring 2003-2004 - Ombudsman

7.1 There were no complaints made to the Ombudsman during 2003/04 compared to 5 in the previous year.

8. Equalities monitoring

8.1 Again for 2003/04 none of the complaints recorded across PB&R were considered to contain a racial element.

8.2 There were a couple of complaints on other equalities issues which include customers dissatisfaction that the disabled parking bays were full at The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum last summer and also that there was a lack of motorised wheelchairs.

8.3 A new post-paid equalities monitoring form was introduced for complaints received from members of the public during 2003/04. This gives complainants the opportunity to state their satisfaction over the way in which their complaint has been handled. It is also the means by which data is collected for equalities monitoring. The forms are sent to as many complainants as possible but those where it could make the situation worse are not sent a form. The form was not used for HC3S complainants but will be introduced for 2004/05.

9. Conclusions

9.1 Good systems are in place to record and investigate customer complaints. Overall the numbers of complaints within PB&R when considered within the context of the volume and range of service delivery are low. However, the opportunity is taken to learn from complaints and where appropriate improvement actions are taken to eliminate the cause of problems and prevent them happening again. Most complaints are dealt with quickly and within the County Council's corporate performance target. For the second year running the number of compliments recorded is more than double the number of complaints.

10. Recommendations

That the Policy and Resources PRC notes the second annual report for PB&R compliments and complaints monitoring.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

TITLE LOCATION

Records of complaints and compliments Held by the respective Heads of Service.

N.B. The list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

P&RPRC0504A

APPENDIX A

Breakdown of main customers for individual PB&R service areas

APPENDIX B

Chart showing the numbers of compliments and complaints recorded

for PB&R service areas during 2003/04 compared with the previous year

Number of complaints recorded:

COMPLIMENTS

COMPLAINTS

* Central monitoring commenced for 2003/04

APPENDIX C

Examples of compliments received within PB&R 2003-04

Design Unit

"I was most impressed with the innovative design detail together with the quality of the finished article which spoke volumes for the skills and effort put in by your team and importantly the contractors employed....."

"We are all extremely pleased with the work that has already been done by you and your department and we look forward to seeing the project through to a successful conclusion. We have every confidence that this will be the case."

"Thank you for your work to date. You are great!"

Estates Practice

3 compliments were received regarding the work at Manydown and 3 about receipt of planning permission for the Early Years Centre, Bereweeke Road, Winchester.

Property Management

"Project officer has always provided me with excellent support and advice and very effective ongoing backup with projects. He has built up an excellent relationship with staff and acquired a very detailed knowledge of the college buildings and site as well as ourselves for further improvements."

"I was extremely impressed by all levels of service and the way in which the school's needs and requests were catered for."

"Remarkable service that the County officers have given since the fire at our school ... that all the officers concerned as I am sure that many have been involved behind the scenes without whose efforts the replacement facilities would not have progressed as they have."

"We cannot that you and your team enough for saving the night yesterday. Without your resolve to get things right the event would have fallen into a shambles. You were all so quick to react to our plight. Many many thanks for going the extra mile for us."

County Supplies

"We are writing to let you know we are very pleased with the service County Supplies provided in our selection of replacement photocopiers. We appreciated the help that you and your approved suppliers gave us in coming to the right decision even though it was for one photocopier."

"The best head teachers conference so far."

"Improvements in the service over the last few weeks, courtesy and efficiency."

"Thank you for help given and prompt delivery of goods."

Trading Standards

From members of the public:

"I am writing to inform you that ....have reimbursed me the sum of £307.09 in full and final settlement. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking you for your support in this matter."

"Thank you and your colleague for the pleasant helpful way you dealt with our enquiry. I'm sure without your efforts we would have got nowhere."

From Southampton Institute - "Thank you so much for a most interesting and enlightening presentation to our LLB students this morning. It is most important to the School of law to encourage interaction with the professions... your presentation was greeted with enthusiasm and interest by the students"

From an MP - "Thank you very much for your prompt and very informative response to my enquiry from my constituent. I do appreciate it."

From a pupil who attended the Junior Citizen Competition - "I enjoyed all the activities but I enjoyed the trading standards activity which was shopping for safe things."

APPENDIX D

Details about the nature of complaints received and service area

Property Services

Service Area and number of complaints	Details of complaints and service
Design Unit 6 complaints	One complaint concerned a contractor; two were about the finished aspects of work; one related to a manufacturing fault; one to unresolved defects; and one to a sub-contractor's working programme. During this financial year, 67 building projects have been completed with 48 currently on site. A further 56 building projects are currently at design stage. The total value of programme let this financial year was £120 million, the most significant programme of work for a generation, and a Capital Programme of building works of around £300m over three years. The Practice continues to be nationally renowned as leaders in school design and implementation. During the past year, the Design Unit again submitted projects for architectural awards and were successful in receiving four. Of those four, one was an Award Winner, two National Bronze Winners and one a Mention. Communication has again remained high on the agenda with regular Team meetings taking place, cascading appropriate information from Senior Manager meetings and individual Team meetings now happening with the Head of Architecture. This enables staff within the Unit the opportunity to air their own views and feedback to line managers.
Estates Practice 4 complaints	The complaints received by the Practice were unconnected and related to: · An adjoining property owner who complained about a development at a school. · Graffiti (which was quickly removed) at Lychpit Local Centre in Basingstoke, which is managed by the Estates Practice for the County Council. · An American who expressed concern through an e-mail about the leasing of Chesapeake Mill at Wickham. It was explained that the long-term lease to the antiques restorer would allow public access to the mill and conserve its long term future. · The calculation of a service charge which was disputed by a tenant and has since been resolved.

Service Area and number of complaints	Details of complaints and service
Estates Practice continued	The Estates Practice provides estates surveying, planning and development, land agency and gypsy and traveller liaison services for the County Council. This involves the creation of capital receipts in the region of £20m per annum, the promotion of development projects ranging from small housing or commercial developments to the creation of Major Development Areas such as North Popley and Manydown near Basingstoke which will generate thousands of new homes, together with commercial, educational, employment and social facilities. Estates surveying involves the acquisition, management, valuation and disposal of the County Council`s property interests and investment decisions on the County Council`s land and property assets which have a value exceeding £2.5bn. The response to unauthorised encampments of gypsies on public land is provided by the Estates Practice together with the management of 4 permanent gypsy sites. The Land Agency Team manages over 7,000 acres of land either as part of the County Farms Estate, for recreation or land held in joint ownership at Manydown, near Basingstoke.
Property Management 57 complaints (includes 16 complaints about contractors)	There has been a significant reduction (39%) in the number of complaints falling from 145 in 2002/03 to 57 in 2003/04. Trends remain similar to the previous year with dissatisfaction over service delivery and complaints against contractors being the main causes. Staff training in best practice customer service was carried out during the early months of 2003/04. In addition more issues have been referred to the Customer Services Manager for resolution before they have reached the complaint stage. It is believed that this more proactive approach has contributed towards the lower number of complaints. Evidence that complaints are handled efficiently and effectively comes from the number of complainants that subsequently send in compliments about how issues are responded to! Some examples follow: · Complaint: "Very unhappy over the way in which the project officer is handling the project". Subsequent compliment: "Thank you so much for all your help both (x) and I are delighted with our new offices". · Complaint: "Frustrated at the time being taken as part of procuring the work and of the change of personnel that has occurred from Property Management". Subsequent compliment: "The project officer has been vigilant and this together with on site interaction with contractor has assured the smooth running of the contract."

Service Area and number of complaints

Details of complaints and service

Property Management continued

· Complaint: from a member of the public: "Intruder alarm going off at adjoining school at random times causing disturbance." Subsequent compliment: "Thank you for your quick speedy response to the security alarm as the problem now seems to be resolved." · Complaint: from a district councillor: "Frustrated at the time taken to undertake long term permanent repairs." Subsequent compliment: "Delighted that the work is now complete. Your help in this matter is most appreciated. Really pleased to see that the work has been done so successfully - many thanks."

Business Services

Service Area and number of complaints

Details of complaints and service

HC3S (Hampshire County Council Catering Service) 100 complaints

Complaints were generally about: · Lack of choice of school meals · Poor portion sizes · Too much processed food · Poor value for money · Poor quality Each complaint is dealt with on individual merit and 90% of cases do not warrant a countywide change of policy. On some occasions where there has been a lack of choice at the end of service and HC3S has introduced a dot system within the school concerned. This allows the children to order their food prior to lunchtime, which usually ensures that the children get their choice. In most cases, a 'one on one' visit from the appropriate area/district manager will sort a problem within a unit. There has been a significant increase in the number of complaints received this year. It is believed that this is due to: · Increased publicity, through the website, the press office etc. · Introduction of the `myschoollunch' website, allowing users to e-mail comments and complaints · More detailed information available on the HCC website · Introduction of contact phone number and e-mail address on the pupil leaflet which is now sent to all children on roll each term, rather than annually. · `Acquisition' of West Berkshire schools.

Service Area and number of complaints	Details of complaints and service
HC3S continued	HC3S produced an estimated 10.46 million meals in the 2003/04 financial year, averaging 52,290 meals per day over 200 trading days.
Hampshire Printing Service 17 complaints	All of the complaints to HPS were about errors or printing quality and included: · 3 complaints about incorrect instructions from office to factory; · 10 spelling, format or imposition errors in pre-press; · 3 printing errors where wrong plate were used or image printed incorrectly; · 1 job printed incorrectly by supplier. Among specific examples of complaints is a compliments slip that was printed with an incorrect telephone number and another job where the pages were found to be out of sequence after they were bound. All complaints are formally logged and investigated as part of the service's ISO 9001:2000 externally registered quality management system in order to establish the root cause and implement appropriate corrective and preventive actions.
County Supplies 12 complaints	Complaints typically relate to the service provided and occasionally about an appointed contractor. Below are examples of three different complaints that were received : · December - Approximately 10 telephone calls received complaining that some vendors were not available in EBP. · January - Non supply of paper towels. This was due to customer orders becoming `lost' in the SAP interface and arrived a day late thus missing the delivery deadline. Enterprise team were contacted to resolve this problem. · February - Customer was displeased with the manners of the commercial courier delivering the new County Supplies Catalogues. The courier was contacted and informed of the situation and actions have been taken to resolve this incident. All complaints received are taken very seriously and dealt with in a quick and systematic way. The customer is contacted and kept informed of progress. Compliments and complaints reports feature on the agenda at section head's monthly meetings.
Hampshire Transport Management	HTM has a fleet size of 683 vehicles, 5 vehicle workshops and operates the courier service. It operates as a business unit is service driven and aims to supply what is needed at the right price. Only 1 complaint was received during the year.

Regulatory Services

Service Area and number of complaints	Details of complaints and service
Hampshire Registration Service 6 complaints	Several of the complaints were beyond the control of the service and concerned legislative requirements. One complaint was the result of confusion over the boundary at Whiteley and the member of the public's difficulty in establishing which register office was the correct district. This is not an isolated occurrence and will be addressed if the New Scheme for removing the boundary and amalgamating the districts of Droxford and South East Hampshire is agreed. The service has developed a very effective training programme and issues arising from complaints, and other sources for highlighting potential for improvement, are built into this and cascaded to all staff. The following is an estimate of the number of services provided during 2003/04: Marriage Notices 12390 Marriages at Register Offices 2805 Marriages at Approved Premises 2534 (there are 106 approved premises) Births Declared 5027 Births Registered 7489 Deaths Registered 9634 Certificates Issued 71031
Hampshire Scientific Service 28 complaints	There have been two changes in the profile of complaints received by the service. 1. Incorrect / insufficient information in report to the customer - there has been a decrease in this type of complaint. All reporting staff were previously reminded to check reports for errors, particularly cutting and pasting type errors, before signing. This additional checking is continuing to reduce the number of errors. 2. Administration / Registration error - There has been an increase in the number of complaints due to sample registration errors. An investigation has looked at possible causes and suggested ways of working to reduce these errors which will be closely monitored over the next few months to check for improvement No specific trends have been found regarding other complaints six of which on investigation were found not to be justified. During the year 127,950 tests or determinations were carried out for customers. The service has a quality system that is externally accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and also by BSI for meeting the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:2000.

Service Area and number of complaints

Details of complaints and service

Trading Standards Service 42 complaints

The main trend identified from complaints relates to members of the public who expect more action by Trading Standards and are unhappy that the service is either restricted by legislation or has changed to an intelligence led approach. A few complaints were about difficulties in contacting the service (both the Advice Service and Trading Standards direct). A new electronic call handling system was introduced during the year and this caused three complaints from callers who do not have a touch tone phone that is required to use the system. However, the system has been beneficial at times when Advisers are engaged on calls already and enables the public to help themselves to obtain information on the most common enquiries. Two examples of specific complaints are: · A caller who asked for details held about a trader. They were dissatisfied when it was explained that the service could not release information on traders if any is held on its database. · A caller complaining that he could not get through on the 0845 6030081 advice line. When he called the number was engaged all the time and when he did get through the answer machine picked up his call. He chose not to leave a message because he did not know when he might get a call back. The message on the answer phone has been changed to ensure callers know when their call will be returned. The service has an externally registered quality system meeting the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:2000 and also the Community Legal Services Quality Mark for Advice Services. 24,240 enquiries from the public and businesses were dealt with during 2003/04, and 9200 planned visits undertaken to business premises.

Resources Group

Service Area and number of complaints	Details of complaints and service
The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum 39 complaints	The total number of visitors to the Gardens during this period was 110,000, an increase of 32% over 2002/2003. This number excludes those who visited the Pavilion without stepping into the Gardens, and corporate hire clients. The catering service attracted 13 complaints; The VEP restaurant opened in April 2003 and ten of these complaints where received in the first six months of the reporting period, and 3 in the last six months. Almost all of these related to days with exceptionally high visitor numbers. The catering service has been reviewed following one year's operation and adjustments have been made to meet the increased demand. Following the opening of the VEP restaurant the opening hours of the Tea Rooms at Jermyn's House reduced significantly and this resulted in a fewer than expected number of complaints (8), given the dramatic changes to the catering arrangements. A Christmas Grotto attraction was run in December 2003 and 9 complaints were received from the parents of children visiting the Grotto. Most of these complaints related to what was perceived to be a limited range of gifts presented to groups/large families of visiting children. The lessons learned have been incorporated into the planning for Christmas Grotto 2004. Three complaints related to admission charges: one from a Brownie pack on the increased charges for an educational visit, and two from people who believed they had been overcharged for senior citizen tickets. Two complaints related to access problems: one on the lack of motorized wheelchairs and the other on the disabled parking bays being full on a busy day. For the first time, evening performances events were staged in VEP. Two complaints were received about the positioning of seating, resulting in these members of the audience not being able to see or hear satisfactorily. One complaint was received following the unadvertised change of topic of a Gardener's Breakfast event and a further complaint was made that an ice cream van was no longer in the car park following the opening of the VEP. This was a period of significant change to customer services and associated facilities. The new catering arrangements, shop, and ticketing services; revised membership scheme, enhanced corporate hire business, larger and more challenging events, and greatly increased admission charges had the potential to generate many more complaints than were received and the implementation of a more responsive visitor services system has proved its worth. It is of note that some very good feedback was received after the complainants had had their issues dealt with, and with the Gardens' policy that the Director replies personally to every written complaint.
Access Team 3 complaints	The numbers of complaints are insufficient to draw any conclusive findings or establish trends at this stage, indeed one complaint received was not related to a County Council activity. However the access team actively seeks feedback on both contractor performance using the Property management template and on the professionalism of its staff. The access team continues to improve communications with customers and contractors to ensure that expectations are clearly understood by all parties.