Council Response Times Under Scrutiny Following Rejected Proposal

An attempt to improve the speed at which the Council deals with residents enquiries ground to a halt when Sefton Labour councillors surprisingly rejected a proposal to set and monitor standards for responses to public enquiries

The suggestion to set up such a scheme came from Liberal Democrat ,opposition leader, Cllr John Pugh. 

“ We, as councillors, often hear complaints about slow responses from the some Council departments, whereas others can be prompt and effective.There may be sometimes good reason for that- for example sickness or shortage of staff. But I can see no reason why a council department cannot specify a timescale for replies and monitor whether a standard is met ," he said.

" It would enable us to identify struggling or under-performing areas and address whatever are the issues causing undue delay.”

Despite Cllr.Pugh informing the Council that this was simply good practice in the corporate world, the civil service and in many areas of public service, his proposal was rejected at last Thursday’s full council meeting by the Labour majority.

"Benchmarking council services ," he stated, " should not be about blame but about improvement. If ,however, we never get to know how Sefton’s departments compare with each other other in dealing with the public, we will get complacency. After all it is the general public who fund the council."