Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

Environment Policy Review Committee

30 June 2004

Annual Report on Compliments and Complaints Monitoring

Report of the Director of Environment

Item 11

Contact: Mark Braggins, ext 7103 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report discusses complaints and compliments recorded for the Environment Department during the period April 2003 to March 2004 and follows on from the Annual Report covering the period April 2002 to March 2003 which was presented to this Committee on 29 October 2003.

1.2 As part of the Environment Department's programme of continuous improvement this year, the report also summarises other types of contact with the public, as recorded in the Highways Public Enquiry Manager (PEM) contact management system.

2. Corporate Strategy

2.1 This report supports Aim 5 of the Corporate Strategy (Improving Services) through analysis of complaints, compliments and feedback, and continued improvement with the way they are handled by the Environment Department.

3. Definition of Complaint

3.1 The Environment Department defines a complaint as: "Any letter, telephone call, personal representation made to the Department regarding a failure in its services and functions". The definition is explained more fully in the previous report.

4. Complaints Monitoring

4.1 Members of the public contact the Environment Department in a variety of ways including:

In Person	Information Centres
	Environment Reception
	Face-to-face (with Councillor, management or staff)
	Chief Executive / Other Department
By Telephone	Highways 0845 8504422
	Reception
	Information Centres
	Individual Staff
	Chief Executive / Other Department
By Email	Individual staff
	Reception
	Information Centres Comments and Suggestions
	Chief Executive/Other Department
By Letter	Environment Department Office Services
	Local (primarily Highway) Offices
	Chief Executive/Other Department
Via Online Form	Information Centres
	"Air Your Views" form on Environment Website

4.2 The Environment Department records and monitors complaints about the services it provides. All `genuine complaints' (as opposed to `defects') are identified in a Complaints Reporting Database developed within the Environment Department. Relevant data is extracted from the PEM system; complaints or compliments received from other sources are logged into the Complaints Database by Business Support.

4.3 Information is categorised in the database to enable increasingly meaningful and useful information to be produced about the nature of complaints; their cause and resolution; time to resolve, etc.

4.4 Reports1 are regularly produced and reviewed at least monthly by the Complaints Manager and include:

(i) Complaints summarised by Section Name;

(ii) Complaints summarised by Type;

(iii) All complaints not yet marked as `complete'; and

(iv) Complaints open over 20 (calendar2) days. Any complaints not meeting guidelines for resolution are escalated appropriately.

5. Complaints Received

5.1 The total number of complaints recorded for the year 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 was 275, a sizeable increase on the same period in the financial year 2002-03. Cursory examination of the figures suggests a worsening situation, but further investigation indicates that the increase can be attributed to more consistent recording of complaints across the Department following efforts to increase awareness of the need to record complaints.

5.2 Of the 275, two were originally recorded as complaints, but have subsequently been determined to be defects. Complaints are categorised as follows:

Complaints from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004

Category	Number
Attitude of Staff	43
Health and Safety	39
Level of Service	148
Poor Communication	28
Response Time	17
Grand Total	275

5.3 The majority of complaints (196, approximately 71%) were recorded by Highways staff (including Street Lighting) using the PEM (Public Enquiry Manager) system. Another section with significant customer contact is Waste Services which received 34 complaints, 24 of which related to perceived attitude of staff in recycling centres. Appendix 1 shows a summary of all complaints by Section Name.

5.4 A total of 34 complaints referred to mess or debris being left by County Council workers or contractors; some of these (24) were categorised by staff recording the call as `Level of Service' whilst others (6) were categorised as `Health and Safety'. There is sometimes a fine line between debris left after works being classed as a `mess' and therefore an eyesore, rather than a potential danger. During the next period, more checking and analysis will be performed to ensure that calls are being recorded using the most appropriate categories.

5.5 Delays were the cause of complaints by 17 members of the public; in particular work not being completed within anticipated timescales.

5.6 A total of 17 complainants were unhappy with the state of the footway or pavement, with four about overhanging vegetation and two about insufficient weed control.

5.7 Each complaint is investigated, and a response made to the complainant. Where the complaint reveals a problem, action is taken not only to rectify the specific problem, but also to look at trends which may require other changes to prevent a reoccurrence.

6. Complaints versus Other Communications

6.1 To put the 275 complaints in perspective, the total number of communications recorded last year by Highways staff alone, in the PEM system, was 59,187. This figure is summarised by category in Appendix 4.

7. Closure of Complaints

7.1 The statement on Hampshire County Council's corporate web site regarding response times is "We will send you an acknowledgement within five working days of receiving your communication and tell you who will be dealing with it and how long it will take to send you a full reply. We try to respond quickly and reply within 20 working days."

7.2 The statistics for the Environment Department for 2003/04 show that there were seven complaints still open after 20 calendar days. This compares favourably to the previous year in which 18 complaints were still open after 20 calendar days; the improvement is attributed to regular monitoring, reporting and follow-up.

7.3 The longest time to closure was 58 days in which the complainant (who was expressing dissatisfaction about level of consultation for school transport) declined to respond to several attempts by the Environment Department to discuss the complaint.

8. Complaints to the Ombudsman

8.1 A total of ten complaints relating to the Environment Department were received by the Ombudsman in 2003-04:

(i) 4 for passenger transport;

(ii) 2 for school transport;

(iii) 2 for highway maintenance;

(iv) 1 highway claim; and

(v) 1 for temporary road closure.

These are currently being dealt with by the Chief Executive's Department and staff in individual Environment Department sections.

8.2 A total of 17 complaints relating to the Environment Department were determined by the Ombudsman during the same period, none of which were deemed to be Maladministration. A summary of these is shown below:

(i) 9 where the Ombudsman concluded an investigation and issued a formal report finding no Maladministration by the authority;

(ii) 4 were outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction;

(iii) 3 were referred back to the County Council as a `premature complaint'; and

(iv) 1 for which the Ombudsman found no or insufficient injustice to warrant the matter being pursued further.

8.3 It is recognised that there is potential to improve the way that complaints received by the Ombudsman are dealt with between departments. The Business Support Section of the Environment Department is working closely with the Chief Executive's Department to improve communication and ensure that escalation is carried out appropriately and in a timely manner.

9. Compliments

9.1 Compliments are also recorded and during the year 165 were received about the Department's services - see Appendices 2 and 3. Unlike the number of complaints recorded, compliments are very slightly fewer than the previous year (166). The consistency of the volume of compliments suggests that all sections were already recording compliments and making them known to Business Support which collates the information.

10. The Way Forward

10.1 British Standards (BSI) is the National Standards Body of the UK, responsible for facilitating, drafting, publishing and marketing British Standards and other guidelines. In the recent (May 2004) Continuing Assessment Visit Report BSI commented:

"The complaints system now appears to be capturing significantly more events and this, together with improved analysis, has enhanced the information available for review".

10.2 BSI suggested: "It may be useful to graphically present this data so that trends may be more obvious." Business Support will investigate the feasibility of incorporating graphs in the Complaints and Compliments Database as suggested. BSI requested clarification of the procedure used to reclassify a complaint to `defect' - clarification will be added to the Complaints Process manual.

10.3 An investigation is currently underway into the feasibility of expanding the use of the PEM system across the entire Environment Department. The scope will include:

(i) web-based form(s) available to all staff to record complaints on-line;

(ii) consideration of effort/resource required for set-up; and

(iii) ongoing administration/maintenance/access.

Recommendations

1. That this report be noted.

2. That the specific action being taken to investigate feasibility of expanding the use of Public Enquiry Manager across the Environment Department also be noted.


Section 100 D - 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.

NB the list excludes:

1.	Published works.

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

TITLE

LOCATION

Complaints and Compliments Reporting Database

Environment Department

Network Folder

N.B. Appendices 5, 6, 7 and 8 contain some example reports and screenshots. They are intended for illustration purposes only, and some of the detail may not be legible in this document. A full range of reports is available from the Complaints and Compliments Reporting Database.

13/MB

APPENDIX 1

ALL COMPLAINTS BY SECTION

BETWEEN 1 APRIL 2003 AND 31 MARCH 2004

Business Support

Level of Service 1

Section Total 1

DMT

Level of Service 2

Section Total 2

Engineering Consultancy

Level of Service 1

Poor Communication 1

Response Time 1

Section Total 3

Highways East

Attitude of Staff 5

Health and Safety 2

Level of Service 19

Poor Communication 5

Response Time 4

Section Total 35

Highways HQ

Level of Service 3

Poor Communication 1

Section Total 3

Highways North

Attitude of Staff 2

Health and Safety 15

Level of Service 48

Poor Communication 6

Response Time 6

Section Total 77

Highways South

Attitude of Staff 7

Health and Safety 13

Level of Service 33

Poor Communication 3

Response Time 2

Section Total 58

Highways West

Attitude of Staff 2

Health and Safety 2

Level of Service 10

Poor Communication 1

Response Time 2

Section Total 17

Intelligent Transport Systems

Level of Service 3

Section Total 3

Minerals and Waste Planning

Attitude of Staff 1

Health and Safety 1

Level of Service 3

Response Time 1

Section Total 6

Passenger Transport

Health and Safety 1

Level of Service 3

Poor Communication 1

Section Total 5

River Hamble

Poor Communication 4

Section Total 4

Street Lighting

Attitude of Staff 1

Level of Service 2

Poor Communication 4

Response Time 1

Section Total 8

Traffic Management and Road Safety

Attitude of Staff 1

Health and Safety 3

Level of Service 7

Section Total 11

Transport Implementation

Poor Communication 1

Section Total 1

Transport Policy

Health and Safety 1

Level of Service 5

Section Total 6

Waste Services

Attitude of Staff 24

Health and Safety 1

Level of Service 8

Poor Communication 1

Section Total 34

Grand Total 275

APPENDIX 2

ALL COMPLIMENTS

BETWEEN 1 APRIL 2003 AND 31 MARCH 2004

Category	Number
Helpfulness of Staff, etc	60
Quality / Speed of Service	105
Grand Total	165

APPENDIX 3

ALL COMPLIMENTS BY SECTION

BETWEEN 1 APRIL 2003 AND 31 MARCH 2004

Helpfulness of staff, etc 1

Quality/speed of service 1

Total 2

Business Support

Helpfulness of staff, etc 2

Total 2

DMT

Helpfulness of staff, etc 2

Quality/speed of service 2

Total 4

Engineering Consultancy

Helpfulness of staff, etc 1

Quality/speed of service 2

Total 3

Environment Strategy

Helpfulness of staff, etc 1

Quality/speed of service 4

Total 5

Environmental Performance

Quality/speed of service 1

Total 1

Highways East

Helpfulness of staff, etc 8

Quality/speed of service 21

Total 29

Highways HQ

Quality/speed of service 4

Total 4

Highways North

Helpfulness of staff, etc 10

Quality/speed of service 13

Total 23

Highways South

Helpfulness of staff, etc 5

Quality/speed of service 11

Total 16

Highways West

Helpfulness of staff, etc 11

Quality/speed of service 28

Total 39

Minerals and Waste Planning

Helpfulness of staff, etc 2

Total 2

Passenger Transport

Quality/speed of service 7

Total 7

Spatial Strategy

Helpfulness of staff, etc 1

Quality/speed of service 1

Total 2

Traffic Management and Road Safety

Helpfulness of staff, etc 7

Quality/speed of service 5

Total 12

Transport Implementation

Helpfulness of staff, etc 1

Total 1

Transport Policy

Helpfulness of staff, etc 7

Quality/speed of service 5

Total 12

Waste Services

Helpfulness of staff, etc 1

Total 1

Grand Total 165

APPENDIX 4

ALL PEM CALLS BY TYPE - APRIL 2003 TO MARCH 2004

Complaints

Attitude of staff, rudeness, etc 16

Health and Safety 35

Level of service 112

Poor communication 18

Response time 14

Total 196

Compliments

Helpfulness of staff, etc 26

Quality/speed of service 53

Total 82

Extinguishment of Highway

No Class 86

No Type 37

Total 123

Highway Claim

Bollards or posts 18

Carriageway icy, snow, etc 14

Carriageway other 91

Carriageway pothole, rut, etc 381

Carriageway surface dressing 31

Debris 14

Drainage system defects 28

Fence, gates, etc 15

Footway icy, snow, etc 7

Footway other 73

Footway surface dressing 13

Footway unevenness (trips) 239

Gully 9

Kerbs/Channels 49

Manhole covers 54

Other/Unknown 109

Pre-salting/Gritting damage 6

Sign 15

Streetlight 3

Trees and hedges 65

Total 1,242

Highway Defect

Bridges, structures, parapets, etc 77

Bus shelters, etc 54

Carriageway defects, potholes 4,103

Cattle grids: loose, damaged, blocked 84

Cycle way, paths, depressions, etc 317

Drainage, blocked grips, ditches 2,904

Fencing, pedestrian, guardrails 256

Footways, potholes, paviors 3,956

Forest fencing, gates, stiles 106

Graffiti, highway furniture 88

Kerbs/channels loose, damaged 374

Landslides/earthworks 18

Manhole covers, etc 1,191

Road markings, road studs 403

Safety fencing, crash barriers 165

Signs, verge posts damaged, etc 1,242

Street furniture, seats 117

Surface dressing, loose stones 463

Trees/hedges/shrubs cut/trim 9,554

Verge maintenance, grass cutting 1,256

Weeds, ragwort, etc 308

Total 27,045

Highway Hazards/Obstructions

Animal on the road 54

Debris on the road 427

Encroachments 193

Obstructions, signs on footway, etc 569

Spillages, fuel, oil, mud, etc 450

Total 1,693

Licences

2 Way Portable Traffic Signals 692

3 Way Portable Traffic Signals 259

4 Way Portable Traffic Signals 59

Banner 165

Building materials 33

Bunting 4

Bus shelters 3

Charity stalls 1

Christmas lights 32

Hanging baskets 4

Notice boards 10

Other 191

Planting 26

Scaffolding 444

Seat 7

Skip 3,999

Total 5,931

Non-Hampshire County Council Items

Non-Council items 300

Total 300

Non-Stats

Trenches/Road openings 479

Vehicular accesses, new requests 2,293

Total 2,773

New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA)

Defective reinstatement/trench 71

Disturbance noise 2

Information enquiry 75

Leaks water, gas, etc 11

Obstructions, driveways, etc 28

Other 167

Plant damage 15

Signing/guarding (H&S issues) 25

Utility traffic management issues 52

Total 446

Obstruction Notice

Remove carriageway obstructions 6

Remove encroachments 6

Remove footway obstructions 28

Remove verge obstructions 13

Total 53

Other Hampshire County Council Items

Other Council items 2,589

Total 2,589

Other Department Items

Other Department items 3

Total 3

Other Local Office Work

Drainage 22

Fencing 7

Gully Emptying 9

Minor Capital Schemes (under £10,000) 2

Ordinary Maintenance Works 41

Road markings 14

Sign maintenance/cleaning 8

Special Maintenance Schemes 145

Total 248

Rechargeable

Damage to highway structure 50

Damage to street furniture 187

County Council work done for Statutory Utilities 16

Other 1,110

Provision of tourist signs 10

RTA/debris clearance 76

Spillages (oil, fuel, etc) 33

Work for Parish Council 4

Total 1,486

Referred to other Section

Other Department items 249

Total 250

Scanned Letters

Total 2

Scanned Photographs

Total 1

Status Enquiry Search

Normal highway status enquiries 3,765

Total 3,766

Street Lighting

Bollard shell missing 65

Column/post problems 192

Day burner (off at night) 126

Door Problems 39

Exposed wires 105

Flickering, buzzing, etc 70

Intermittent 52

Lantern Problems 116

Not working 3,428

Other 1,269

Overgrown vegetation 17

Street light on continuously 330

Total 5,811

Traffic Management

Abnormal loads 16

Cycle ways, cycle facilities 20

Direction/village name signs 140

Other 488

Pram crossings 18

Prohibition/banned turns 10

Regulatory/warning signs 122

Road closures, prohibitions 546

Road markings 248

Safety schemes, traffic calming 236

Speed limits 175

Temporary events signing 172

Tourist signs 36

Traffic lights, toucan, pelican 323

Waiting and parking issues 618

Weight, height, width restrict 24

Total 3,192

Transportation Issues

Enquiry about specific scheme 7

General enquiry 34

Request to add new scheme 1

Total 42

Trees/Hedges Notices

Cut overgrowing tree/hedges 776

Fell/prune dangerous trees 104

Total 880

Weather Related Issue

Fallen trees, etc 50

Flooding 618

Icy roads 334

Snow on roads 31

Total 1,033

Total calls for 2003-04 59,187

APPENDIX 5

Wide Range of Standard Reports available in the Complaints Database:

During the next period, the use of graphical reporting will be investigated to assist with trend identification.

APPENDIX 6

Standard Management Report: Discrimination Totals/Summary

Note: This information is extracted from the Complaints and Compliments Reporting Database.

- The figure for 'None' indicates the number of complaints for which there was no form of discrimination.

Environment Department Complaints - Discrimination Summary

Between: 01/04/2003 and 31/03/2004

Age 1

Disability 4

Gender 0

None 270

Race 0

10 June 2004

Between: 01/04/2003 to 31/03/2004

Age 1

Database ID Other ID Incident Date Description Action / Remarks Complete Date

1530817163 175914 09/10/2003 Bollards have been erected to prevent parking, why have we done bollards removed 15/10/2003

this, feel it will force cars to park along the road meaning the

elderly have to walk further than they can manage from car to get

their pensions etc

Disability 4

Database ID Other ID Incident Date Description Action / Remarks Complete Date

1232182384 175917 09/10/2003 Bollards been erected to block lay by and is concerned people will bollards removed 15/10/2003

start parking on the pavement and her husband uses an electric

wheelchair and she is worried he will be forced to go into the

road to get by which is very dangerous.

-66196141 159161 28/08/2003 Complaint that resurfacing work looks unfinished Telephoned to explain the 28/08/2003

surface dressing process (IF

28.08.03) Mr xxxxxx is

disabled and says that the surface

is bumpy, rough and poor

-170279448 111003 11/10/2003 Mr xxxxxx is partially blind and sensitive to his disability. NOTE: This complaint was 17/10/2003

Apparently he was verbally abused and called names after asking received on the green surveyors

the price of a furniture item. He should not have to put up with form via Waste Management not

such behavior from a Council employee. by email

HCC letter to complainant sent

16 October 2003

Hopkins letter to complainant

sent 17 October 2003

-2078304226 176302 10/10/2003 Bollards erected to prevent parking, requests we install a disabled bollards removed 15/10/2003

parking bay as her elderly parents are now unable to collect their

pension or do their shopping as they cannot walk to park the car

elsewhere, please call to update

Grand Total : 5

01/04/2003 and 31/03/2004 - Summary by Month

April 2003 April 2003