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Daily Record
10-06-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Falkirk Council has three times as many complaints as national average
By far the biggest cause for complaint was 'ongoing or incomplete repair times' Falkirk Council has three times the number of complaints compared to the Scottish average, members of its Scrutiny committee heard today (Tuesday). The largest number related to 'ongoing or incomplete repairs' (1030), but in the top ten reasons were also complaints about waste collection (364), staff conduct (206) and housing repairs (188). Stage 1 complaints in Falkirk also included council tenant advice & support (144) and 131 for household waste assisted collections. But the report was keen to highlight that while the council receives a higher number of complaints, "it is quicker to respond and more successful at early resolution". In 2023/24, Falkirk Council received 34 complaints per 1000 of population, compared with the national average of 11.5. The average time it took to respond was six working days, three days quicker than the national average. For stage two complaints, it took on average 20 days, compared with the Scottish average of 22. Of the stage one complaints, in Falkirk ten per cent were fully upheld - compared with the Scottish average of 32 per cent. At the first stage, 30 per cent of complaints were resolved quickly, compared to the Scottish average of 14 per cent. Stage 2 outcomes saw eight per cent of Falkirk's complaints being fully upheld, compared to the Scottish average of 26 per cent. Of the 47 complaints that have gone to the Scottish Public Ombudsman Service, just one was upheld. Members were also cautioned that not all councils provide the same services so making direct comparisons is not always possible. Some local authorities do not have housing or building maintenance departments, while these are by far the most common areas for complaints to Falkirk Council. Last year, 1030 stage one complaints concerned 'ongoing or incomplete repairs'. Members heard that "a lot of activity" is ongoing to improve the repairs procedure, which has already led to a fall in complaints, from 1347 last year. Members were told that ongoing training to give the workforce "bolt-on skills" is expected to have a big impact on improving customer satisfaction, as will a recently introduced booking system for appointments. The Director of Place Services, Malcolm Bennie, added that it was important to see the figures in context. "Every year we carry out around 40.000 repairs so the 1300 complaints you see before is actually 2-3 per cent. "I'm not saying those complaints are not important. We will drive service improvement wherever we can but it's important when you see a large number like that you have to understand the context that tens of thousands of repairs are happening. "We do tenant satisfaction checks with tenants about how happy they are with the repairs that are carried out and typically the scores are very high. "The BMD service is actually working well, on an improvement journey, and we are looking forward to coming back to Scrutiny later this year with a full suite of information." With just one year's figures to compare, Councillor Gordon Forrest was concerned at the lack of data from previous years, which would allow them to "see the bigger picture". He was told it had not been retained due to data protection rules but anonymised data that has been collated will be kept from now on to make future comparison. Councillor Alf Kelly also wanted to fully understand why complaints were dropping, saying: "If we don't know why complaints are dropping, we don't know where we are succeeding." Councillor Lorna Binnie said she was particularly concerned to see 206 complaints about staff conduct and wanted to understand more about the reasons for these, and how many had been upheld. Director of communities, Karen Algie, assured members that all complaints about staff conduct are taken seriously and thoroughly investigated. The figures are reported to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) which says councils must have processes in place to learn from complaints and use this learning to improve service delivery.
Daily Record
23-04-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Questions over why Bo'ness centre 'serious' failings report not acted on
Falkirk Council has finished an internal audit into a 2019 report that highlighted major structural problems with Bo'ness pool - but it admits that 'many areas remain unanswered' A 'lack of urgency' and 'a lack of documented communication' were just two of many issues identified by auditors looking at why a 2019 report into "serious structural failings" in a swimming pool was not acted on by Falkirk Council. An internal Falkirk Council investigation that followed the closure of Bo'ness Recreation Centre has concluded that "many areas remain unanswered", as many of those involved are no longer with the council. The recreation centre closed earlier than had been agreed last May after corrosion was identified in the concrete walls of the swimming pool. But council chiefs were disturbed to find that serious structural failings of a very similar nature appeared to have been highlighted previously in a report written in 2019. The 2019 report, written by the council's structural engineer, stated: 'In view of the hazard to the public and the increased risk caused by the weakened corner of the structure, it is my opinion that the swimming pool should be closed and drained as soon as possible. 'Monitoring the cracks and damage would not be appropriate in these circumstances. A specialist contractor should be appointed to repair the swimming pool. The will involve replacing all defective concrete and reinforcement at the South East corner of the pool as soon as possible.' However, while the proposal was made to close Bo'ness Recreation Centre as part of Falkirk Council's strategic property review, that report was not part of any considerations. One of the new officers involved in the closure came across the report by chance and brought it to the council's attention. An internal audit report ordered by Director of Place, Malcolm Bennie, aimed to find out why the work had not been carried out and how the report had eventually been completely overlooked. But auditors found that many of the people who made the decisions at the time - when the building was managed by Falkirk Community Trust - no longer work for the council and it has been difficult to get answers. An executive summary of the "fact-finding exercise" is being presented to members of Falkirk Council's Audit committee next Tuesday, as an appendix to the Internal Audit Progress Report. From several interviews and reviewing the evidence received, the latest report says that "contributing factors towards the failings identified can be summarised as follows: • There was no-one within the council who actively followed up the actions of the original 2019 report. • There was a lack of urgency to undertake the repairs (could be in part due to Trust management stating to staff the pool was safe to use). • There was a shortage of health and safety / Facilities Team inspections on the fabric of the building. • A lack of documented communication between the Trust and the Council around repair requirements and seeking additional quotes. • The tenders requested did not follow proper procurement guidance. • Tenders, reports, and details of repairs were not centrally stored to monitor progress, resulting in no follow ups on work undertaken. • No decision process documented throughout to support any actions taken. The 2019 report - which identified the structural issues with the pool tank - was commissioned by Falkirk Community Trust, following "the discovery of water pooling in a publicly accessible corridor floor, as well as walls which were damp to the touch." The audit summary states: "We found no evidence to confirm that the hard copy of the original '2019 report' (which reflected the urgency required) had been cascaded to relevant officers, for example, the Trust's General Manager and the Sports and Recreation Manager, although there was dialogue documented in monthly SLA meetings between all the relevant parties that suggested they knew of its existence." Discussions between the Trust and the Council about what could be done and how to repair the pool structure resulted "in several conflicting tenders from four different companies". One was for repairing the deteriorating concrete, another for regrouting the pool. The audit report notes: "There was, however, a lack of consistency in the responses from each of the four companies about what repair was appropriate. "There was also very little evidence to support the final decision and course of action to regrout the pool. "This gathering of different tenders and the related decision making resulted in delays in achieving the final repair of regrouting the pool." But the auditors also note that after several interviews and reviewing all the documentation available "there are many areas that remain unanswered" - partly due to the difficulty in interviewing some former employees. They say there is: • No evidence of the distribution of the hard copy of the original 2019 report to members of the Trust. • No evidence of why a 'second opinion' on action to be taken was required. • Unclear why the opinion was that the pool was safe in 2019, and the decision was to drop water levels prior to any work being undertaken. • No evidence of agreement with the council's facilities team for the work required to be included in the second opinion quotes. The report says it is also unclear why the Trust took the lead for the repair work when issues with structural integrity were the responsibility of the Council and there is "no evidence of what was actually quoted for". There is also: • No evidence why the planned regrouting work was not completed after the Covid-19 lockdown. • No evidence why the five year repair plan didn't pick up the work still to be done earlier. • Unable to determine why the SPR condition survey did not initially pick up an issue with the pool tank. The issue was raised at a meeting of Falkirk Council in March 2024 by Councillor Brian McCabe who wrote to Audit Scotland demanding an investigation. At the time, councillors were advised to wait for the outcome of the internal audit investigation. Falkirk Council's audit committee meets on Tuesday, April 29 at 10 am in Grangemouth Community Education Unit, Abbots Road, Grangemouth.
