Issue - meetings

To consider a report on a summary of the complaints dealt with by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) about Cheshire East Council for the period 1^st April 2009 to 31^st March 2010.

The Committee considered a report which provided a summary of complaints dealt with by the Local Government Ombudsman in respect of Cheshire East Council for the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010.

During discussion of the report, the issue of customer complaints in general was raised.  An outline of the process was provided for Members, together with an indication of current performance compared with the previous period.  Complaints, suggestions and compliments management information was collated on a monthly basis. A new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System was to be introduced in September 2010 and this would improve the capture of the monthly management information.

Members considered that it would be helpful to receive a report at each meeting on complaints/compliments generally, divided into the type of complaint, response rates for responding to complaints and whether or not they were satisfactorily resolved from the perspective of the complainant.  The information would enable the Committee to detect emerging trends and highlight areas of concern.

RESOLVED

That a summary report on both Local Government Ombudsman complaints and customer complaints be submitted to each meeting of the Committee.