Contact: Stuart Dorward Ext: 6110 [email protected]

1 Introduction

1.1 The Recreation and Heritage services use a number of methods to seek feedback from customers and users. An important source of information is the complaints, suggestions and compliments that service users make when they visit libraries, museums, country parks etc. This report provides an overview of the main issues arising from the routine monitoring of this customer feedback during the year ending 31 March 2007.

1.2 The County Council operates a corporate policy on the handling of suggestions and complaints. This specifies procedures and standards that all Departments are expected to meet. There is a formal requirement to report annually to scrutiny committees on the handling of suggestions and complaints. For that purpose this report will also be considered by the Culture and Communities Select Committee at its meeting on 19 July. A consolidated report covering all departments of the County Council will be considered by Cabinet at a later date.

2 Recommendation

2.1 That the information on the monitoring of customer feedback in the year ending 31 March 2007 contained in the report be noted.

3 Background

3.1 The corporate policy on suggestions and complaints¹ makes the following commitments on behalf of all County Council services:

· acknowledgements are sent within 5 working days of receiving a communication stating who will be handling the case and how long it will take to send a full reply

· a full response will be given within 20 working days.

3.2 The policy also sets out an escalation procedure if a complainant is not satisfied with the response:

· Stage One: Local manager to deal with the complaint in the first instance

· Stage Two: Head of Department

· Stage Three: Chief Executive.

Beyond this, complainants have the right to raise their concerns with the Local Government Ombudsman

3.3 There is a particular requirement to monitor the incidence of racial or disability related complaints. Complainants are asked to volunteer information about their personal circumstances to assist this.

3.4 Within Recreation and Heritage, suggestions and complaints are usually dealt with on a service basis. Services also keep a record of compliments received. The Departmental Management Team monitors and reviews the operation of the policy for the whole Department.

4 Performance in 2006/07

4.1 The table below compares the total recorded complaints and compliments in 2006/07 with those in 2005/06 on a service by service basis:

4.2 783 (97%) of the 804 complaints received were handled by service managers at the local level. 21 (3%) were referred to the Head of Service. In 2005/06 97% of complaints were resolved at the local level and 3% by the Head of Service. No complaints were further referred to the Chief Executive in 2006/07 or 2005/06. 100% of complaints in 2006/07 were fully answered within 20 days, as was the case in 2005/06. No complaints about Recreation and Heritage services were made to the Local Government Ombudsman in 2006/07.

4.3 The changes in the number of recorded complaints and compliments between 2005/06 and 2006/07 show some interesting patterns, but it is not possible to discern an overall trend. Through 2005/06 and the early part of 2006/07 the Department was going through the preparation for Charter Mark assessment. As part of this, revised guidance on the recording and handling of complaints, suggestions and compliments has been circulated and staff are now more aware of the need to record this information from all sources - letters, phone calls, e-mails, suggestion forms, comment books etc. The major changes taking place in the Library and Information Service could be expected to generate an increased level of comments. The fall in complaints and increase in compliments would probably not have been predicted and is a real tribute to all library staff at a difficult time for the service.

4.4 The Recreation and Heritage services analyse complaints under a number of broad headings. The table below compares the results for 2006/07 and 2005/06:

4.5 There has been an overall reduction in the number of complaints. The most marked changes are in the "quality of service" and "buildings" categories, the former decreasing and the latter increasing. The number of complaints about staff has halved following a small increase in 2005/06. This relatively small number of complaints is considerably outweighed by the many instances of compliments on the outstanding service offered by staff across all services. It is often the case that a complaint may appear, at first sight, to be about staff, but in fact is really concerned with the nature, range and quality of services. For example, it is apparent that the greater availability of public access internet terminals in libraries is giving rise to more complaints about technical problems. These often manifest themselves in the first instance as complaints about the willingness or ability of library staff to resolve them immediately.

4.6 Eight disability related complaints were received in the year. At Titchfield Haven a visitor complained about the difficulty of accessing the tea room for someone in a mobility scooter. In contrast, Royal Victoria Country Park had a complaint that a play area designed specifically for disabled children is not available to the able bodied. The other six complaints were recorded in the Library and Information Service and covered issues such as the accessibility of library buildings, the availability of computer terminals with disability adaptations and the limited availability of videos with close captioning titles. Appropriate responses were made in all cases and changes have been made where possible. Complaints of this nature clearly help to inform policies and actions on disabled access to Recreation and Heritage facilities.

4.7 There were four incidents recorded during the year that were considered to have racial discrimination as their basis. Two of these related to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Culture exhibition at Alton Library. Complainants objected to what they saw as religious proselytising and support for terrorists. The service response emphasised the policy on exhibitions in libraries, which is designed to avoid bias for or against any particular groups and to discourage the promotion of extreme views. The library in Aldershot received a request on a suggestion form that the library should stock a Nepalese language weekly newspaper. This has since been made available in the library. One formal complaint was received in response to a TV report on the Gollys exhibition at Westbury Manor Museum. The Curator gave a detailed response explaining the role of museums in collecting and displaying material that accurately and honestly reflects the history and culture of a community and offering to meet the complainant to discuss the issue further. A further incident at a library where a complainant was racially abusive to a member of staff was reported to the police.

4.8 In considering the number of complaints received it is important to remember the number of people using the Recreation and Heritage services. In 2006/07 the following total visits were recorded in the Library and Information Service and in Museums and Archives:

4.9 The level and nature of complaints should also be considered in the context of overall customer satisfaction. The most up to date and comprehensive information we have comes from the MORI survey of residents' opinion carried out in the autumn of 2006 to provide data for the triennial Best Value user satisfaction indicator (BV 119). The following table sets out the results. Satisfaction data obtained for the Best Value indicator in 2003/04, the last time they were collected, cannot be compared with these latest results as changes in the survey methodology and definitions required by the Government invalidates direct comparison between the two sets of figures.

4.10 The results of this survey show levels of satisfaction that are significantly higher than the national average. The survey of residents opinion carried out biennially by MORI on behalf of the County Council over a number of years using a consistent methodology shows high levels of satisfaction with the services provided or supported by Recreation and Heritage. The high level of satisfation in libraries is borne out by the results of the Public Library User Survey, which is carried out annually in a representative sample of Hampshire's libraries (all of the county's libraries, including mobiles, are surveyed over a two year cycle). In 2006/7 the overall satisfaction rate was 93% compared with 94.9% in 2005/06.

4.11 Keeping satisfaction ratings at these levels in the future represents a considerable challenge to services. However, the complaints figures suggest that some of our users have very high expectations about the nature and quality of the services we provide and the buildings we operate.

4.12 It is difficult to generalise about the complaints received. In the Library and Information Service, users have raised concerns about book purchasing policy, the nature and availability of book and other lending materials and the use and perceived abuse of public access internet terminals. At a local level, Library Managers deal with a host of issues - tidiness, furniture, noise, temperature in buildings etc.

4.13 In the Countryside Service many complaints arise from perceived misuse of facilities by others (e.g. dog fouling, use of "off road" vehicles), reflecting the difficulties of managing access to sites and rights of way for the enjoyment of different groups. The closure of the tower and shop in the chapel at Royal Victoria Country Park has given rise to a significant number of adverse comments. Other complaints relate to delays in clearing fly tips and obstructions to rights of way.

4.14 Museums received complaints on a wide range of issues relating to facilities, storage of artefacts and access to collections. The move of the Hampshire Wardrobe to the Chilcomb site gave rise to a number of complaints from local residents about increased traffic volumes. In the Hampshire Record Office complaints included noise and lack of space in the search room, copy quality and copy charging policy. Arts Centres received complaints about facilities and individual events. Facilities at Outdoor Centres (showers not working, room cleaning etc.) produced a small number of complaints.

4.15 Appropriate responses were made to all complaints, but in many instances the cause was not within the control of staff. Wherever possible the Department acts on complaints and suggestions to introduce improvements or rectify faults. These can range from large scale investments to improve facilities (e.g. the new accommodation block at Calshot and the extension at the Welsh Mountain Centre are seen very much as a response to a growing level of complaints about the lack of modern and flexible facilities at these Centres) to small local adjustments to services. Examples of the latter include:

· Rearrangement of seating at two Arts Centres to improve audience sight lines

· Changing library suppliers to overcome late delivery of journals

· Grouping of large print and audio books with appropriate seating for older people

· Providing comfortable seating for parents during children's events in libraries

· Updating the archive catalogue to correct errors reported by users.

4.16 The Departmental objectives agreed for the Recreation and Heritage services place a particular emphasis on customer care and service improvement. All Recreation and Heritage services have achieved Charter Mark status in the last two years. The first post-award review was carried out by an external assessor in October 2006 and confirmed the high standards of customer care throughout the Department. The assessment process places considerable emphasis on using customer feedback, both positive and negative, to drive service improvement. Continuous monitoring of customer feedback and the Charter Mark programme contribute significantly to the continuing drive for service improvement.

4.17 The launch of Hantsdirect, the County Council's contact centre, will bring a new dimension to the relationship with Recreation and Heritage customers. Following the launch, contact centre agents will be handling many of the routine transactions previously dealt with in libraries and by Countryside Service staff. Other services will be incorporated in further phases of the project. A considerable amount of work has been put into developing operating protocols to ensure that existing high standards of service are maintained and this will be closely monitored throughout the year.

LINKS TO THE CORPORATE STRATEGY

Yes No

Hampshire safer and more secure for all

Maximising well-being _

Enhancing our quality of place

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

Working Papers Mottisfont Court