Issue - meetings

Report of Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Regeneration and Planning

Lead Cabinet member: Councillor Chris Collier

(Non-key decision):

To note progress and performance for Quarter 3.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Regeneration and Planning, asking it to consider the Council’s progress and performance in respect of service areas for the third quarter of the year (October-December 2021), as shown at Appendix 1 to the report.

Councillor Denis updated the Cabinet with regards to his portfolio and reported that the reception area at Southover House had now re-opened for customers and the Council had recently gone live with its new chatbot ELLIS (Eastbourne Lewes Live Intelligent Source) on its website, to enable to council to better serve its customers 24/7. The current top queries for ELLIS were in relation to garden waste and payments. The Director of Service Delivery advised that any customer unsatisfied with an answer from ELLIS had the option to connect with a Customer Advisor directly. In response to a question from Cabinet, the Director of Service Delivery agreed to contact the Chair of the Tenants of Lewes District (TOLD), to address any feedback they had received in relation to the launch of ELLIS.

Highlights for the quarter included average days to process new claims/change of circumstances for housing/council tax benefits and sign ups to Council social media channels. Thanks were conveyed to staff for their performance during this quarter.

Policy and Performance Advisory Committee (PPAC), held on 17 March 2022, considered the report and was supportive of the officer recommendation in full. Councillor Boorman, Vice-Chair of Policy and Performance Advisory Committee, was in attendance to present PPAC’s discussion. In response to comments raised around waste and recycling, Councillor Carr reported that the Council was looking at deploying more CCTV cameras to catch fly-tippers.

Resolved (Non-key decision):

To note progress and performance for Quarter 3.

Reason for decision:

To enable Cabinet members to consider specific aspects of the council’s progress and performance.