Proposed by Councillor Stuart Kelly

Seconded by Councillor Tom Harney

(1)  Council notes the reported catastrophic break down of services designed to support vulnerable people and the ongoing improvement work with the LGA to restore some resemblance of normality back into Wirral Council’s management processes in these areas.

(2)  Council also notes how some departments assess the impact of their outward facing services by using techniques such as mystery shopping and believes this to be a useful tool in understanding our service delivery from the point of view of the customer.

(3)  Council believes that the problems our customers and clients have suffered at the hands of poor council management is often due to a culture that is unable to empathise, show compassion or apply common sense to service decisions affecting the lives of service users.

(4)  Council further notes the recent study by consumer association ‘Which’ into home care services for the elderly and how, as an independent organisation, this study has been able to highlight poor quality and practice in service delivery.

(5)  Council welcomes organisations such as ‘Which’ looking at public services in the same way as other goods and services and subjecting them to the same sorts of tests and believes this is especially important where there is no, or limited, consumer choice - such as with services provided by the Council.

(6)  Council, therefore, resolves that the following actions should be undertaken and requests the Leader to instruct the Chief Executive to prepare an action plan to:

(a)  Ensure service managers and staff in direct contact with service users are sufficiently trained and equipped to provide empathy, compassion and common sense to customers in the delivery of services.

(b)  Take immediate steps to monitor services from the point of view of the customer and to report the findings to future appropriate meetings of the Council and its Committees

(c)  Draw on the experience and expertise of organisations such as ‘Which’ and to approach ‘Which’ to investigate whether they would be interested in undertaking a piece of work to independently assess customer experiences of Wirral Council services.

(d)  Review existing Council policy documents, criteria, and procedures, in consultation with service users and customers, to test their flexibility and ‘customer friendliness’ making improvements, as appropriate.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2)

Proposed by Councillor Anne McArdle

Seconded by Councillor Pat Glasman

Delete all and replace with the following:-

1.  Council accepts that some of our outward service delivery falls below the standards we should be willing to accept and in line with the ongoing work on improving corporate governance we should urgently consider ways to improve our delivery of services so that it is consistently good across all departments.

2.  Council notes that some departments already assess the impact of their customer services by using tried and tested techniques such as mystery shopping and surveys.

3.  Council therefore believes that we should look at these and other models with a view to disseminating and establishing systems where good practice is the norm and not the exception.

4.  Council therefore resolves that the Acting Chief Executive should take the following actions:-

(a)  Ensure that all staff in direct contact with service users receive appropriate customer care training.

(b)  That good practice is disseminated across the Council; and

(c)  Review existing Council policy documents, criteria and procedures in consultation with service users and customers to test their flexibility and customer friendliness making improvements as appropriate

Following a debate and Councillor Kelly having replied, Councillor Kelly agreed to accept the amendment as an addition to the motion and it was –

Resolved (65:0) (One abstention) –

(1)  Council notes the reported catastrophic break down of services designed to support vulnerable people and the ongoing improvement work with the LGA to restore some resemblance of normality back into Wirral Council’s management processes in these areas. Council accepts that some of our outward service delivery falls below the standards we should be willing to accept and in line with the ongoing work on improving corporate governance we should urgently consider ways to improve our delivery of services so that it is consistently good across all departments.

(2)  Council also notes how some departments assess the impact of their outward facing services by using tried and tested techniques such as mystery shopping and surveys and believes these to be useful tools in understanding our service delivery from the point of view of the customer.

(3)  Council therefore believes that we should look at these and other models with a view to disseminating and establishing systems where good practice is the norm and not the exception.

(4)  Council believes that the problems our customers and clients have suffered at the hands of poor council management is often due to a culture that is unable to empathise, show compassion or apply common sense to service decisions affecting the lives of service users.

(5)  Council further notes the recent study by consumer association ‘Which’ into home care services for the elderly and how, as an independent organisation, this study has been able to highlight poor quality and practice in service delivery.

(6)  Council welcomes organisations such as ‘Which’ looking at public services in the same way as other goods and services and subjecting them to the same sorts of tests and believes this is especially important where there is no, or limited, consumer choice - such as with services provided by the Council.

(7)  Council, therefore, resolves that the following actions should be undertaken and requests the Leader to instruct the Chief Executive to prepare an action plan to:

(a)  Ensure service managers and staff in direct contact with service users are sufficiently trained and equipped to provide empathy, compassion and common sense to customers in the delivery of services.

(b)  That good practice is disseminated across the Council.

(c)  Take immediate steps to monitor services from the point of view of the customer and to report the findings to future appropriate meetings of the Council and its Committees.

(d)  Draw on the experience and expertise of organisations such as ‘Which’ and to approach ‘Which’ to investigate whether they would be interested in undertaking a piece of work to independently assess customer experiences of Wirral Council services.

(e)  Review existing Council policy documents, criteria, and procedures, in consultation with service users and customers, to test their flexibility and ‘customer friendliness’ making improvements, as appropriate.