Agendas, reports and minutes

Minutes of Meeting of the Customer Services Board held in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Monday, 25 May 2015 at 2.00pm.

Present:

Dr A Sinclair, Dr I Cockburn, Mrs M Davidson, Mr J Gordon, Mr R Laird, Mr B Lobban, Mr H Morrison, Mr G Rimell, Mr H Wood

Also Present:

Mr J McGillivray

Officials in attendance:

Ms Michelle Morris, Depute Chief Executive/Director of Corporate Development
Ms V Nairn, Head of Digital Transformation
Ms T Page, Customer Services Manager
Miss J MacLennan, Democratic Services Manager

Dr A Sinclair in the Chair

Business

1. Apology for Absence

An apology for absence was intimated on behalf of Mrs D MacKay.

2. Declarations of Interest

There were no Declarations of Interest.

3. Minutes of the Last Meeting

There had been circulated the Minutes of the last Meeting held on 20 April 2015 which were NOTED.

4. Customer Services Board – Consultation Update

There had been circulated for information the Individual and Community Group Feedback as part of the Consultation Update which comprised Individual Responses, Community Group Responses, Analysis by Service Point, Ward Member Feedback and Public Views on the Key Principles from the Budget Consultation.

The Board NOTED the terms of the Consultation Update as circulated.

There had also been tabled Report on Focus Groups and Telephone Interviews which had been undertaken with users of Service Points in various locations throughout the Highland area in February and March 2015.

The Board NOTED the terms of the Report as tabled.

5. Exclusion of the Public

The Board RESOLVED that, under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public should be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 6 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act.

6. Customer Services Review

There had been circulated to Members only Report No. CSB/6/15 dated 20 May 2015 by the Depute Chief Executive/Director of Corporate Development which provided an update on ongoing work and made recommendations in relation to the Customer Services Review.

Following confidential discussion, the Board NOTED the further work which had been done as a result of the discussion at the last meeting.

It was also NOTED that it had been a requirement from the full Council that the work of the Board should be concluded in June 2015 and for £160,000 in savings to be delivered or that the matter be reported back to the Resources Committee.

Following a vote, it was AGREED that a revised model should now be accepted which would deliver the £160,000 savings required by the Council and retain 18 Highland Council managed Service Points, 2 High Life Highland Partnership Service Points, 10 Access Points (located in Libraries) and the retention of Service Point offices in Invergordon and Grantown on a reduced hours basis. It was also AGREED that Officers should now conclude the Business Case and Equalities Impact Assessments for confirmation of the Board in June.

(At this point in the meeting, Mrs M Davidson requested that her dissent be recorded).

It was further AGREED that a final meeting of the Board should be arranged for mid-June and that Members should be advised accordingly.       

The meeting ended at 3.25pm.