SOCIAL SERVICES, HOUSING AND BENEFITS SELECT
COMMITTEE – 8 MAY 2003
JOINT REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES AND HOUSING AND OF THE HEAD OF ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Select Committee Members will be familiar with the Isle of Wight
Councils initiative to develop and further improve access and services through
GAGS. This report, requested by the Chairman presents a further opportunity to
consider how the Social Services & Housing Directorate currently operates
and, how and where the linkages with wider GAGS driven initiatives may be made.
ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
To consider current arrangements focussed
upon access and reception and their possible connection with future
developments within the GAGS initiative.
BACKGROUND
The Social Services & Housing Directorate currently operates a
range of access and reception services. There are many ways of contacting the
Directorate. For Adult Services a single access point for referrals is based at
147 High Street, Newport, which operates broadly to office hours. For Direct
Services there are several points of contact, notably at Bugle House in Newport
but also at various Day and Resource Centres such as ‘The Gouldings’. At Bugle House there are several areas of
service covered such as Community Alarms (at the rate of 259 per day!), the
Carers Emergency Alert Card which has 222 users and, CCTV operations.
Children’s Services operates from the Children’s Services Centre at
Atkinson Drive Newport and the adjacent Oak House site. Additional services operate out of 147 High
Street Newport and at the Ryde Office.
Main access/reception points are currently at the Children’s Services
Centre and 147 High Street. All sites
try to offer interview and direct work/contact facilities, albeit that the
standard of accommodation is inadequate or has not kept pace with service
developments and expectations.
As the Select Committee has previously received a report covering the
Emergency Duty Service on Monday 7 April 2003, this area is not further
detailed but clearly provides a service in this context.
Housing Services operate a separate reception service primarily for
Homelessness and the Common Housing Register based on office hours at the
housing offices adjacent to County Hall. A single receptionist provides this
service.
The Headquarters for the Directorate at Fairlee Road, Newport also has
reception facilities which operate during office hours. It receives a range of
contacts, mostly telephone and post but also callers requesting a service or
those querying an existing one.
Public Information covers a diverse array of services and information
needs. These are available in the usual
formats such as brochures, posters and on the Council’s web site. Little is known of its effectiveness.
So, as far as the Directorate is concerned there are a number of
contact points. Each represents a unique blend of services, times and operates
differently. Increasingly, there is a
need for flexible accommodation which can offer service users appropriate
confidential space in which to meet professional staff and to engage in
essential court directed work, support work and have contact with children who
may have been removed from their care.
GAGS is ambitiously targeted at making the Council more customer
focused. To do this the intention is to split the “customer handling function”
from more expert or specialised services so that 80% of enquiries can be dealt
with at the first point of contact. This will cover telephone, e-mail, post,
internet and face-to-face contact. This concept reflects developments in other
Local Authorities such as Knowsley, Liverpool, Hertfordshire and Norfolk.
Underpinning this is the premise that in organisational terms the
further into a system a customer goes the worse their experience and the more
it costs an organisation to respond –examples of this are Child Protection,
Youth Justice and the Legal system. It is therefore better to deal with as much
as you can as quickly as you can.
In general terms good customer experiences are constructed out of 6
elements, they are not always inter-related and one can compensate for another.
These are Buildings, are they accessible, what do they look like, what
are they like to work in. People (or staff), do we have the right kind
in the right place, what hours do they work. Systems, are IC&T and
paperwork supporting activity, is management and training adequate for our
ambitions. Services, are they of the right kind and mix and available
when needed. Communication/Information, both internal and external. Style,
what does it ‘feel’ like to work here, be a customer. Using these it is possible to assess any new development/integration
and judge whether they produce a better result.
RELEVANT PLANS,
POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Numerous texts reflect a need and indeed commitment to improving access to services. In 1999 the Joint Review Team concluded: “Arrangements for getting help from Social Services vary and some aspects have recently improved. There is scope to level up some services to the standards achieved by the best”.
The Community Strategy for the Island 2002-2012 has three themes, which reflect a desire to improve the customer experience (which may be considered a useful focus of attention). The themes are improving access to services, promoting quality and, a quality built environment – which should include buildings from where we work and provide services. Some service users will be sensitive to the stigma associated with visiting the Directorate’s offices in certain circumstances. There is a critical balance to be struck in creating a pleasant and welcoming environment, which is sufficiently confidential and secure to meet the needs of service users and staff alike.
There are some 11 Performance Indicators for
the Directorate that refer to this area out of a total of 50. These are listed
in Appendix A with the rating given to the Directorate in 2001/2002. Basically,
getting the customer experience right is critical to the Directorate doing well
on it’s PI’s.
To the above we can add additional drivers –
e-government requirements, the Disability Discrimination Act, Health &
Safety, Caldicott and Data Protection, Cross Charging, Single Assessments,
Homelessness Registers. This list is not exhaustive.
CONSULTATION
PROCESS
GAGS itself and relevant Council policy texts have, I understand, been
consulted upon widely. Furthermore, there is a wealth of research which
underpins the importance of getting the customers experience right and getting
it right first time. As many people within the Council are both providers and
customers of council services we might well begin by asking ourselves what we
would want.
FINANCIAL, LEGAL,
CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS
The consequences of progressing the GAGS agenda are not known but will
be significant, as will those that relate to the e-government agenda. Some
additional funding is likely for some elements not least in managing
cross-charging and there will be synergies and efficiency savings that might
accrue. These are not, at this time quantifiable. There are no perceived legal
issues at this stage. The development of improved customer experiences in
itself may reduce violence and disorder at the point of reception. This
reflects research (built upon literally by Banks and the DSS) supporting
improved design of reception facilities.
APPENDICES
ATTACHED
Appendix A
– Performance Indicators for Social Services 2001/2002
Appendix B – An Example
of Customer Experience
DoH – Social Services Performance Assessment Framework Indicators
2001-2002
Audit Commission Isle of Wight
Council – Corporate Assessment July 2002
Audit Commission Joint Review of Social Services 1999
Isle of Wight Community Strategy 2002-2012
Isle of Wight Council Corporate Plan 2002–2005
Contact Point : Glen Garrod, Strategic Director Social Services
& Housing 520600 ext 2225 [email protected]
David Price, Head of
Organisational Development, 3205, [email protected]
Strategic Director of Social Services and Housing