Agenda and minutes

Councillor Barry Moran – Performance Portfolio Holder

Grant Shipway - Price Waterhouse Cooper

Jonathan House - Price Waterhouse Cooper

Peter Bates – Chief Operating Officer

Paul Bayley – Principal Manager Local Community Services.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2015.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of the existence of a party whip.

There were no members of the public present who wished to speak.

Paul Bayley Principal Manager Local Community Services to provide a presentation.

Paul Bayley introduced to the committee Grant Shipway and Jonathon House from Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC), provided a presentation on a project that PWC had been assisting the Council with to transform the Council’s digital services.

The committee was informed that the Cheshire East website  ranked in the top 10% authorities in England. Social media interaction with the Council was good and 90% of school applications were made online.

However, the Council’s current website was considered to be content heavy and difficult to navigate. Many forms were not available on line, and access to services was limited outside of contact centre hours.

The purpose of the project to transform the Council’s  website was to  design a model to meet future customer demands  to deliver a higher quality customer service with a lower cost to serve which would provide a platform for the Council reflect a general shift to digital and social media.

Members made the following points:

·         That better links should be introduced on the website  to direct members of the public to local Members, particularly in relation to planning matters;

·         That the Borough’s older population who may be less familiar with the use of ‘e’ technology  would be encouraged to use it more if there was more certainty about transactions, so for instance  automatically generated replies  would provide reassurance.

·         Standards need to be built into the website so that if for instance a member of the public orders a new bin, the Council’s response indicates when the bin is likely to be delivered;

·         The Council should continue to provide a ‘safety net’ for those people who are unable or unwilling to interact with the Council electronically;

·         This committee should continue to be involved in the project in some way as it develops. In response to this point, Paul Bayley suggested that the committee may wish to be involved in ‘customer testing’ either before or during the process to transform the website.

The Chief Operating Officer informed the committee that Cabinet was expected to take a decision on the business plan for the project at its meeting to be held on 31 March 2015.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the presentation be received;

(b)  That the Committee gives its broad support to the project to transform the Council’s website subject to the points raised above being taken account of;  

(c)  That if possible, the business plan be brought to this committee prior to it being considered by Cabinet

(d)  That the offer to continue to involve this committee in the development of the project be welcomed

To consider a report of the Head of Corporate Resources and Stewardship.

The Committee reviewed its work programme.

RESOLVED - That the quarter 3 performance report be submitted to the 30 March meeting together with the digital customer services business plan

To note the current forward plan, identify any new items, and to determine whether any further examination of new issues is appropriate.

The Committee reviewed the forward plan.

RESOLVED – that the forward plan be received and noted.