There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.]

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[To receive an update from the Customer Engagement Manager]

Scrutiny Board welcomed Sarah Campbell, Customer Engagement Manager to the meeting. Board received a presentation in relation to the Quarter One Social Care, Public Health and Corporate Complaints report for the following areas:

·       Corporate

·       Children’s

·       Adults and Public Health

·       Ombudsman enquiries

The Council had received 29 stage one corporate complaints; this was in comparison to 74 cases received for quarter one in 2020/21, details were outlined in Appendix 2. Out of the 29 cases received, 11 were upheld (at fault) and 18 not upheld (not at fault).

The highest figure of 17 complaints referred to Waste Management, followed by Planning receiving three and Arboriculture receiving three. In some cases, this had followed extensive but unsuccessful attempts to resolve some of those matters at a service level. Out of the 17 complaints referring to Waste Management, two were received for Household, Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) sites, seven were received for general waste and eight received for garden waste. More detail was outlined in 4.2 of Appendix 3. The Complaints Team had worked closely with services to improve complaint handling and ensure appropriate remedies were put in place to achieve the best outcomes for customers.

If a customer remained dissatisfied, they could escalate their complaint to stage two of the procedure. During this period the council received five stage two cases which was consistent in comparison to quarter one 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020. Out of the five cases received, two cases were partially upheld (partially at fault), and three cases were not upheld (not at fault).

The Council had received 13 stage one children’s services complaints; this was in comparison to eight received during 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020, an increase of five cases; The highest figure of three cases referred to the SEND team. Out of the 13 complaints investigated during this period, two cases were upheld (at fault), seven cases were partially upheld (partially at fault), and four cases were not upheld (not at fault). In some cases, this had followed extensive but unsuccessful attempts to resolve some of those complaints informally. 

No statutory stage two complaints had been received during this period; this was in comparison to no complaint cases being received during 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020. A non-statutory children’s stage two complaint had been received which was dealt with in accordance with the corporate complaints policy and procedure.  This was in comparison to no cases received from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020. 

The Council had received six stage one adult services complaints: a decrease of six cases in comparison to quarter one in 2020/21. The highest figure of two cases referred to Adult Community Team West. During this period, three complaints received were in relation to commissioned services. Out of the six cases logged and investigated during this period, one case was upheld, three cases partially upheld and two cases were not upheld.

The council had received six assessment enquiries from the Local Government and Social Care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

[To receive a presentation from the Head of Customer Engagement and Registrars]

Scrutiny Board welcomed Lamour Gayle, Head of Customer Engagement and Registrars to the meeting.

Customer Services used a number of channels to enable customers, citizens, visitors to the city, businesses and partnering organisations. These channels included:

·       Telephony

·       E-mail and web forms

·       Online and paper application processing

·       Face to face and

·       Virtual appointments

During Quarter 2 the Team handled 147, 403 customer contacts with the highest number of contacts being through telephony which accounted for 115,799 contacts. The majority of face-to-face appointments were for Taxi Licensing where walk-in appointments were provided at the Hickman Avenue site. Board noted that 6.6% (9687 call) of customers terminated their call before employees were able to answer.

During Quarter 2 in 2021 the Team received 125,486 calls. Of these calls, they were able to answer 115,799 and the call contact response rate for this quarter was 92.3%. There were 5,349 more calls in that quarter in comparison to the same period during 2020. An analysis of Mitel (telephony system) was undertaken for the period of 1 July 2021 to 27 September 2021, data showed that 2491 calls were terminated by the customer within 80 Seconds, 844 of those being within 30 seconds.

During Quarter 2 the Team handled 27,904 emails and web form enquiries. Enquiries relating to Revenue and Benefits accounted for the highest number of email and webform customer contact. The service level agreement with internal services was to process customer emails and webform enquiries within two working days and this was achieved this during Quarter 2. Board understood that the Team analysed email data to identify any trends in customer enquiries and to identify opportunities to work with services to improve published customer information. The Team also worked with the services to improve their web forms and the information that was on the website, all channels were analysed to help identify where the Team could make the customer journey slicker and easier.

During Quarter 2, Customer Services had processed 2,536 Blue Badge and school applications, provided support for home to school travel appeals and continued to support local businesses with business grant applications. In relation to these areas, the Team would process the applications as soon as they were received and there would only be further work required if areas such as occupational health assessments were needed, otherwise the Team would process the applications up to the point where the badge was issued to the customer. It was noted that for blue badges, the Team recognised how important they were to residents and pre-pandemic had held surgeries within the Civic Centre to help customers complete the forms online.  To follow up on this as part of the reopening, surgeries were also being held in areas such as Bilston and Wednesfield. Work had been carried out with the Insight and Performance team to identify areas where the highest numbers of applicants for blue badges came from and this information was used to inform where the surgeries were held.  It was however noted that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[To receive a presentation in relation to Rainbow City]

The Board welcomed Julia Nock, Head of Assets and Chair of the Rainbow Project Board and Kieran Simpson EDI Adviser (LGBT), to the meeting.

The Board understood that there was a clear drive and passion for ensuring Wolverhampton was firmly on the map as a rainbow city and there was a high level of commitment, not only within the council but also with partners to make this happen. The overall aim was to ensure that the City of Wolverhampton was a fair, diverse, and inclusive city where everybody felt free to be themselves. Multiple initiatives would be delivered across the city to highlight this commitment, with a particular focus on improving health and wellbeing outcomes for our growing LGBT+ community.  The work was being delivered through the Rainbow City Project Group, which included officers from across the business and representatives from city partners including Wolverhampton Homes, Wolverhampton LGBT+ and Enjoy Wolverhampton.

Board considered the 168 responses to the consultation including:

·       82% agreed with the initial principles, vision, and objectives of the Rainbow City

·       67% thought Wellbeing Services were the top priority for Health and Support Services (with 52% being Sexual Health)

·       60% got information on health and support services from Google (8% get information from WIN)

·       82% wanted to see Cafés as their top priority for what they wanted to see in the daytime economy (71.3% wanted to see City Events)

·       71% wanted to see Bars as their top priority for what they wanted to see in the daytime economy (70% wanted to see Social Events)

The majority of people agreed with the principles, vision and objectives and a lot of the feedback was around visibility and recognition of our LGBT community. Respondents sought equality, acceptance, and diversity in the Rainbow City and to be a welcoming city where LGBT people could thrive. The consultation specifically referred to health opportunities and health inequalities, which were seen as major concerns in society and the highest option that came out was around Wellbeing Services with sexual health being at 52%.

In relation to the drivers for change the Board understood that LGBT+ people showed lower satisfaction with their lives than the general population.
In the national LGBT survey, LGBT people gave an average rating of 6.5 out of 10, while trans respondents gave an average rating of 5.4. For the general population, the average rating was 7.7.

Board understood that a high proportion of LGBT+ people suffered from mental health issues.  It was noted that 24% of respondents to the national LGBT survey had accessed mental health services in the 12 months prior to responding. These were likely to have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, as indicated in survey results published by the LGBT Foundation.

Many LGBT+ individuals had experienced hate crime, and this was often unreported.  The national LGBT survey showed that over 40% of respondents had been victims of abuse as they were LGBT and indicated that over 90% of these incidents went unreported. While some LGBT+ support was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[To receive a presentation from the Manager for Arts and Culture] – Report will be sent to follow.

Scrutiny Board welcomed Marguerite Nugent, Manager for Arts and Culture to the meeting. 

The British Art Show 9 was due to open in Wolverhampton on 22 January 2022 and run until 10 April 2022. Wolverhampton was the first English host city, there would be 35 artists showing across Wolverhampton Art Gallery

and the University School of Art. Themes included:

·       healing,

·       care and reparative history

·       tactics for togetherness and

·       imagining new futures

There would be a Wolverhampton focus on ‘living and giving voice to difference’ alongside the most diverse range of artists represented to date, with 40% being Black or Asian, 45% being women artists and 11% European.

The Art Show would help to support the city recovery and wider city offer in the following ways:

·       Relighting our City- Vibrant High Streets and Communities strand

·       Cultural Strategy- in draft but focusing on 5Ps (Productivity,

Promotion, Participation, Pride, Partnerships)

·       Link to Open Events Cultural Action Zone

·       Events Strategy and longer-term plan for activity in the city

·       Driving footfall to the city (40,000 people to Aberdeen)

·       Evening economy – supports the development of evening

activity in the city.

Board understood that there would also be a learning programme supported by Arts Connect. This included:

·       Programme of BAS9 partner schools with focus on performance, visual arts and SEND working with specialist local practitioners

·       School visits and teacher resource packs available for schools

·       Programme of events to include workshops and talks both in[1]person and virtual

·       Family exhibition trails including Augmented Reality trail

·       Saturday Art Club for disadvantaged young people to run during the show

There was a bespoke community ambassador programme which included:

·       LGBTQ+ ambassador artist Kathy O’Conner

·       The Good Shepherd working with homeless people- tour and exhibition

‘it starts with a meal’

·       Amarjit Kaur workshops for Asian women using textiles and responding

to artist Catherine Walker

·       Student ambassador – producing a ‘Zine’ drawing on experiences of

autism and mental health.

·       BID ambassador would see an additional BAS9 street ambassador

in the city

·       Youth ambassador working with groups from The Way Youth Zone

Volunteering would be co-ordinated across all sites to include:

·       University students volunteering programme

·       Arts & Culture council volunteering programme for non-students through the Art Gallery

·       Training to be given on both operational matters and exhibition content

·       Incentives including certificates and training so that participants had evidence of career development.

·       Volunteer target of 40

Board considered the Offsite 9 project which would be delivered in partnership with Creative Black Country. This was funded by Arts Council England and would involve 25 local artists who had been commissioned to make work around the city. This would include an open call and four ring-fenced commissions with Asylum Arts, Eagleworks studios, Flexus Dance and DASH (disability arts). There would be a publication telling the stories of people of Wolverhampton and profiling the artistic and creative talent in the city. There would also be podcasts capturing Wolverhampton voices in a changing social and political environment.

A marketing and audience development strategy had been developed to identify  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[To consider the scrutiny work programmes for future meetings.] - Report will be sent to follow.

The Scrutiny and Systems Manager updated the Board in relation to the Work programme.

Resolved:      That the Work programme be agreed.