Council gains high marks with customers

Leader Steve Galloway will tell the York Council (Tuesday 6:30pm) that it is now regarded as one of the best in the country - and that is according to its own taxpayers.

New figures released for the first time show the results of an independent survey into customer satisfaction levels.

· 8 indicators are now in the top performance quartile (compared to other Councils)

· 5 indicators are in the second quartile

· 2 indicators are in the third quartile

· Only one indicator (waste disposal) is in the lowest quartile

Steve Galloway will say, "I do want to particularly highlight the answer on "overall satisfaction with Council Services" which at 59% is amongst the highest in the whole country".

"We are delighted that the people who matter - our residents - are now saying that York is one of the best Councils in the country".

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Full speech follows

Leaders verbal report to York Council - 25th January

"There have been 3 Executive meetings since the last normal Council meeting. On 2 occasions the Executive has received reports on its performance both in absolute terms and relative to other Councils.

Members will be delighted to note that for the second year running the York Council has improved its CPA score. We are now at the top of the "good" section and only 2 points away form achieving our goal of excellence. I should like to thank officers and those members whose hard work has contributed to this improved performance.

We are now

· One of the best performing Education Authorities in the Country based on OFSTED, exam performance and customer satisfaction measures. In addition, we are short listed for a new Beacon Council award.

· one of the 10 top performing transport authorities in the country based on an objective independent assessment of the Local Transport Plan out turns and we are bidding to become a "centre of excellence"

· Have an improving 2 star Social Services performance falling only narrowly short of a "excellent" rating and having successfully overcome problems with delayed discharges from the local hospital

· Have high levels of customer satisfaction with our Housing services

With high quality services and the lowest expenditure per head of population of any unitary Council in the country, further improvement to service levels is particularly difficult.

The Council will however be particularly proud that its Safe City campaign has contributed to the 20% fall in crime in York this year (including, over recent weeks, a much needed drop in the levels of violent crime), the York Pride campaign which is regarded as a paradigm for similar action in other Council areas, planning performance which now meets government targets, the speed in dealing with benefit claims which is now better than the national average, waste management - where recycling rates exceed government targets - and in more specialist activity areas is such as Trading Standards where the team recently achieved the much coveted Charter Mark recognition.

The move, announced at the Executive, to assess customer satisfaction on a quarterly basis, is particularly welcome.

We have over the last few days received the results of the 2004 BVPI independent customer satisfaction surveys.

· 8 indicators are now in the top performance quartile (compared to other Councils)

· 5 indicators are in the second quartile

· 2 indicators are in the third quartile

· Only one indicator (waste disposal) is in the lowest quartile

I will be publishing the detail of these results today, but I do want to particularly highlight the answer on "overall satisfaction with Council Services" which at 59% is amongst the highest in the whole country.

Out turn/4 Outturn Data from BVPI Satisfaction Surveys

Quartile York Unitary Low Unitary Average Unitary High

BV3 Overall satisfaction with council services 1 59% 47% 52% 56%

BV4 Satisfaction with Complaints Handling 3 30% 29% 33% 36%

BV80g Overall satisfaction with Benefits service 3 68% 68% 75% 81%

BV90 Satisfaction with Household Waste Collection 1 91% 81% 83% 89%

BV90 Satisfaction with Recycling 1 80% 62% 66% 73%

BV90 Satisfaction with Waste Disposal 4 69% 72% 78% 84%

BV111 Satisfaction with Planning Service 2 74% 66% 72% 78%

BV74 Satisfaction with Council Housing Service 1 83% 74% 78% 82%

BV75 Satisfaction with Tenant Participation 2 66% 58% 64% 70%

BV103 Satisfaction with Transport Information 1 57% 42% 49% 55%

BV104 Satisfaction with Local Bus Services 1 67% 44% 53% 61%

BV118 Satisfaction with Libraries: Overall 2 92% 91% 92% 95%

BV119 Satisfaction with Sport + Leisure Provision 2 55% 50% 54% 58%

BV119 Satisfaction with Museums + Galleries 1 72% 41% 49% 57%

BV119 Satisfaction with Theatres & Concert Halls 1 73% 45% 54% 65%

BV119 Satisfaction with Parks & Open Spaces 2 77% 69% 74% 82%

We are delighted that the people who matter - our residents - are now saying that York is one of the best Councils in the country.

At the last Executive meeting we had the opportunity to discuss the District Auditors letter. This also contained some encouraging news. The Council was given a clean bill of health on financial management issues with the letter acknowledging that the Council has turned round a deteriorating financial position and has plans in place to deal with the challenges ahead. Criticisms of project management and tax collection rates are being addressed

The audit letter concludes and I quote ""The Council has arrangements in place to ensure its financial standing is soundly based. The budgetary control system was effective in controlling expenditure in 2003/4.

Significant challenges in agreeing a balanced budget in future years exist. Officers forecast a gross deficit of £17.4 million for 2005/6. You have introduced a budget plan to address this deficit"

The Executive also received a report on progress with the current year's revenue and capital budgets.

Officers and Executive members are to be commended on the success of their efforts to contain revenue expenditure within budget and to preserve as far as possible the contingency allowance. out turn will outturn at or below budget this year. This new financial prudence will be even more essential during the forthcoming financial year.

The capital programme is the most ambitious in the Councils history. We are attempting to deal with decades of neglect as we renovate buildings and make major investments in transport and highways. Inevitably there are some projects on which there is slippage. One highlight of the programme is the innovative "York Pride" approach to modernizing housing in the City. For the first time whole communities and neighbourhoods are being dealt with rather than just the fabric of individual flats. Other highlights include the major extension to the Oaklands sports centre, the new community house at Chapelfields, the major school extension at Huntington and the £10 million investment in transport facilities across the City.

As part of its strategy to improve housing conditions in the City the Executive has approved a new housing repairs partnership. This promises a more streamlined and efficient Council house repairs service. As with all Lib Dem services, the LibDem Council priority of customer satisfaction will drive the targets for quality and speed of the repairs service together with the promised improvement plan. The Executive has asked to see any basket of performance indicators (PI's) give prominence to "tenant satisfaction with quality/speed of repairs" type measures

Similar improvements in value for money can be expected from the new arrangements that have been agreed for procuring highways services. A "thin client" role will be retained. Illustratively the new arrangements will reduce that the number of steps needed to get a pothole filled from 16 to 10. Not only will this result in a monetary saving but should also provide a more efficient service for the customer as the contractor will be in control of all the necessary actions.

The "client" will still have overall responsibility for policy decisions, budget performance and management, asset management and links to LTP. Members will still be in control of the Highway Maintenance Programme following recommendations from officers made on the same evidence and inspection regime as now.

The move to modernised Yorks aging infrastructure took another step forward when the executive approved plans for the new Foss Islands Commercial Services depot and surrounding development.

The Executive was keen to see planning permission and contractor arrangements finalised for this important project. As well as bringing welcome additional shopping choice to the City, the new Council depot should improve efficiency while the associated recycling centre will represent a major improvement for residents and one that potentially will reduce the Councils liability to punitive levels of landfill tax.

The provision of the James Street link road will be another boost for the local economy.

The scheme does also produce a significant net capital receipt for the Council which is required to underpin capital investment works elsewhere in the City.

Similarly we have taken the opportunity to transfer ownership of the De Grey Rooms to the York Conservation Trust. While our first choice would always be to retain heritage buildings within the ownership of the local community, the York Conservation Trust is the best alternative - bringing as they will a benign influence onto the building and its surroundings. The prospect of making much better use of the building is opened up as is the longer term possibility of creating an arts focused, pedestrian friendly, environment in this sensitive part of the City.

Another planning related issue was discussed at the last Executive meeting which was the first opportunity that a Council decision making body has had to consider all aspects of the recommendations of the Green Belt Working Group on the future of the local plan. The Shadow Executive had proposed that the 3rd set of changes be adopted for planning control purposes - even though they conflict with the 4th set of changes, which they suggested must be put out to general consultation. Such general consultation would be time consuming and expensive. The Executive could not, of course, endorse the 3rd set of changes as they are contrary - in terms of green belt allocations - to the views of the present Council. In the light of the representations made the Council will need to take the advice of the government office and possibly a counsel's opinion before it is able to make recommendations to Council. It is regrettable that this issue was a raised so late in the process as I believe that many of the proposals in the 4th set of changes would have broad support across both the Council chamber and the local community. We have however given the green light for work on preparing the new LDF to proceed with all speed.

Perhaps the most important issue discussed by the Executive for several years was the question of delivering E government. The partnership arrangements agreed by the last administration with North Yorkshire Councils and their preferred contractor effectively collapsed in the autumn.

The Council is committed to providing excellent services. This will include a step improvement in electronic access arrangements. These will be complemented by a new style "one stop shop" for those residents who need a face to face contact.

As the first part of the process to transform York's' customer service arrangements, this report heralds a new dawn in the way that the community conducts its business.

York already has a very high penetration level for home PC ownership and Internet. Transactions undertaken using internet type technology cost both the user and the Council substantially less to process than other types of contact.

Other advantages include having traceable processes, potential 24/7 access and the automatic processing of information requests.

Central government targets are tight and require decisive and sustained management action.

The plan will not be used to justify additional ongoing costs - we expect officers to demonstrate long term savings as part of the management of the change - but investment in properly resourcing project management is essential.

The DCE will join the project board to act an independent users friend and will be expected to provide challenge to the assumptions that drive decisions, including the value for money provided for the Council by individual elements of the scheme.

There is no option, in the Councils difficult hypothesise position, but to hypothecate part of the additional revenues being gained through performance rewards (LPSA) money together with a significant contribution for reserves to fund one off costs. That is why we retain reserves - to deal with unexpected financial demands

In the light of earlier experiences, the Executive has asked officers to exercise caution in writing tender specifications and will expect a high emphases to be placed on a suppliers experience and product robustness when determining who will be the Councils commercial partners in delivering the project.

It is likely though that any "one stop shop" would rest within a new Council Customer Services Department. No commitment is given at this stage to whether any such centre should be provide "in house" or through a partnering arrangement has been given.

And last but not least the Executive were pleased to receive and approve reports from 2 scrutiny panels dealing with young people and archaeology.

The report on the issues facing young people was particularly well timed

Issues facing teenagers are sometimes overlooked by local communities although surveys often rate the provision of additional leisure facilities aimed at youth as the top local priority. In some cases this priority is driven by a public perception that teenagers represent a threat to local community safety. In other cases the obvious void left by the closure of old style youth clubs over the years, has led to a genuine concern that young people really don't have "anything to do".

The panel has concluded that the accessibility of improved transport facilities coupled with the establishment of a centrally located leisure and support facility are amongst the main needs of youth today.

The provision of both will be hindered by central governments approach both to grant aiding projects of this kind and the Council Tax "capping" regime which would prevent additional monies being raised even if the local community wishes to make the investment.

Officers have been asked to make progress on the recommendations in so far as resources allow and the Executive would anticipate that the success of the Lib Dem such as the LibDem backed "make space" initiative and enhanced holiday activities programmes, would provide a building block for at least some of the development work.

The final piece in the jigsaw of transforming the way that the Council does its business will come next Tuesday when we will take some fundamental decisions about the future of the buildings that the Council occupies.

We are determined to provide the very best for our customers and to build on the higher levels of pride that they now have in the City".