 |
Current Issues
To date the business of this committee has been dominated by the development of policies and procedures. For example, the ICT Strategy. However, with the refinement of the overview and scrutiny process the opportunity has presented itself for more proactive examination of important issues. We are now well advanced with the review of the customer service ethos of the county council, making sure that the processes we have put in place work in harmony to provide an exemplary service to the people of Warwickshire. At the same time we will continue to monitor employee absence, performance regarding compliments and complaints and debt recovery.
|
|
What has Scrutiny Achieved (In 2008/09)
In January 2008 the committee was asked by the Children, Young People and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee to look into the factors that lead to delays in commissioning two new outreach vehicles for the Youth Service. The Chair of the Resources, Performance and Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee interviewed officers and assessed the processes that were in place. He concluded that certain aspects of these processes needed tightening up. It is expected that the relevant directorates will act on these recommendations thus avoiding similiar situations arising in the future.
The committee has looked in detail at absence levels amongst the council's employees. Since it has started taking an interest in reducing these levels so processes regarding the recording and management of absence have been improved. Whilst there remains considerable work to be done at reducing absence levels further the results so far have been very encouraging.
The committee is currently involved in a major review that is assessing the extent to which the Council is customer focused. Whilst we can see the benefits arising from the one stop shops and customer contact centres we want to be certain that 100% of our staff and Councillors placed customers at the very centre of everything we do. This will prove to be a challenge to the council and will require a real change in culture in some parts of the organisation.
In addition to the above the committee has continued to monitor and comment on the emergence of the council's customer service and access agenda and to work towards increasing demand for school meals. |
E-mail: scrutiny@warwickshire.gov.uk |