WERA Asks
BRAND NEW WERA Asks….Cllr Ed Davie
Jan 21st
WERA Asks is back….and it’s time to hear from our newest councillor, Cllr Ed Davie…
Cllr Davie, Can you please tell us why you chose to become a Councillor?
I have always been interested in politics and having learnt a few things as a Westminster journalist. I thought I had something to offer in terms of helping run the council for an area I love.
What do you think is important to be a good ward councillor?
The most important thing by far is listening to the people who live in the ward you represent and working with them to help address concerns and ambitions.
Having listened you must then be assertive in getting a good deal for people from those in power – whether that is the council, a housing association, the police or anyone who affects people’s lives.
What are your key issues you would to see tackled in your first term as a councillor?
There have been many improvements in Lambeth in the past few years but the state and availability of our social housing is still nothing to be proud of in many cases.
I would most like to help bring all of our social housing stock up to decent homes standard and involve the residents more directly in the running of their housing and communities.
How do you think Lambeth as a borough can best improve over the next 4 years?
We will soon begin piloting schemes for our co-operative council model. This means getting local people to help run the services that they use in their own community. The Weir Link is a good example of this in practice. Unlike the Conservative “Big Society” our plans maintain resources and professional help but hand power to the communities who know best what services they want and how they should be run most effectively.
WERA Asks….Cllr Jackie Meldrum, Deputy Leader of Lambeth Council
Nov 28th
Please can you introduce yourself, and explain what your role involves.
I have been an elected councillor at Lambeth since 1998 . My current role is Deputy Leader of the Council . In addition to working closely with Steve Reed , leader of the Council, I have has two major specific responsibilities - promoting good customer service to the public and overseeing the way the council manages its staff. At various times I have also been responsible as a councillor for youth services, early years, libraries and community engagement. Of course I also represent the people in my ward in West Norwood and so I get involved in a wide range of local activities.
What motivates you to do the role?
Everyday is different and every day there is something new to learn. Its hard work but rarely a dull moment.
What did you do before becoming a councillor, and the Deputy Leader?
I first stood as local councillor when my children were at primary school & I was trying to set up a community organisation to provide childcare – this was before the Labour government came in – if you wanted childcare then you had to set it up yourself.
How do you think Lambeth has changed and you think your role has had an impact
Lambeth council has got a lot better over the last 10 years or so. Lambeth has been on a longer journey of improvement than some other councils partly because for the last 25 years no political party has held on to power. So there have been a lot of stops & starts at Lambeth. Thankfully, Labour was re-elected for a second term this year and we can provide the stability that the council needs. I like to think that I did my bit to make this happen alongside my many colleagues and residents.
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WERA Asks…Cllr Peter Robbins, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People
Oct 9th
How long have you been doing this role, and what does it involve?
I’ve been Cabinet member for Children and Young People since May, and have been a councillor since 2006. My responsibilities cover three incredibly important areas – schools, youth services, and child protection.
How do you think services can be improved for young people within Lambeth?
Labour doubled investment in youth services over the last four years because we know how important it is to local people that young people have lots of things to do. Unfortunately the massive attacks from the new government on public spending will make it hard for the council to protect everything that we value.
Should young people be given such bad press in society?
Absolutely not. The vast majority of the 67,000 young people in Lambeth are hard working, honest and ambitious for themselves – whatever their background. A small minority – less than one per cent – cause trouble.
What are the most important aspects to have within communities?
Strong communities need real community champions – individuals, families, or groups of people who make a stand when they see injustice, rather than worry only about themselves. People who selflessly give up their own time to improve the lives of people around them. In Lambeth we are lucky to have many people and groups like this – which is why we want to tap into that energy and commitment by making Lambeth a cooperative council.
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WERA Asks…Sir Paul Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Sep 9th
Commissioner, Thank you for taking part in our WERA Asks, Can you briefly tell us what your job involves?
I am in overall charge of the Metropolitan Police Service and the 55,000 police officers, police community support officers and police staff who come to work everyday to make the capital safer.
How long have you been the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police?
In December 2008 I became Acting Commissioner and then I was permanently promoted to be Commissioner in February 2009.
How have you brought change to the Metropolitan Police in this time?
I’ve been involved for a long time in pushing for the move back to visible policing within communities. Londoners tell me that they want to see police on the streets and have local officers available to them, so the roll out of Safer Neighbourhood Teams and the move to officers patrolling on their own, rather than in pairs, has been an integral way to increase our visibility and help officers be more approachable.
I also want the Met to focus on ensuring that we are always professional and courteous. I think Londoners understand that we have to conduct stop and search and other intrusive policing methods in order to remove knives and stop the violence that has been so concerning to us all. However when we are doing those operations we should be explaining what we are doing and why, and treat the person we have stopped like we would want to be treated ourselves.
WERA Asks….Dave McEvoy
Aug 26th
Please can you introduce yourself, and explain what your role involves.
I am Dave, Elected Chair of WERA and have been in post for the association for 3 terms (3 years nearly) since I moved from Dulwich in 2007. My role is quite varied and can be extremely challenging from meetings with housing, Lambeth and external bodies such as the local police. I also take charge of our monthly meetings and ensure the actions and issues raised are dealt with, again this can be anything from resident issues to repairs.
What motivates you to do this role?
My motivation is simple, to improve our community and make it a better place to live for those living on Weir Estate and myself.
What do you most enjoy about representing the residents of Weir Estate?
It’s the satisfaction of knowing your making a difference to people’s way of living and quality of life. I most enjoy seeing the efforts that I put into what I do and making things happen and what I hope our positive results.
Do you think Lambeth council and Lambeth Living engage with residents and the association enough?
I think they do a pretty good job in engaging with us as an association as one of the main things I have tried to establish is good relations and communication between Lambeth, Lambeth Living and all our other community partners. Part of this is also maintaining those relations. More can always be done to engage and work together but Weir Estate doesn’t do too badly. As for one on one, yes I am sure many residents would like to at least feel there is more communication and sharing of information, thankfully this is where WERA comes in.
WERA Asks…Peter Mokogwu
Aug 13th
Can you please tell us who you are and what you do?
My name is Peter Mokogwu, and I am the Area Services Manager responsible for Brixton and Clapham Area.
Can you give a brief description of what your role involves?
My role is to manage the delivery of Housing Management function to Council tenants and leaseholders in the two areas. This will include tenancy matters such as transfers, assignment and successions, nuisance and antisocial behaviour, Estate Cleaning and Ground maintenance.
How long have you been doing this role?
I have been in post doing similar role since May 2008
What does community mean to you?
A place where we support and cherish the goodness in each other.
WERA Asks…Keith Hardy
Jul 30th
Keith, Can you please tell our readers briefly what your job is?
I am the Major Works Manager for Lambeth Living.
How long have you been doing this job?
I have been doing this job for six years
What are the positives of the role you do?
Delivering Decent Homes improvement works for Lambeth’s tenants and leaseholders to ensure their homes are wind and weathertight, have reasonably modern facilities and are thermally efficient.
If you could choose any other department within Lambeth Living, what one would you choose and why?
Although not strictly Lambeth Living, with my construction and surveying background I feel that I could make a positive contribution to the Children and Young Peoples’ Services Department of Lambeth Council and the Building Schools for the Future Programme.
WERA Asks…Allan Drew
Jul 16th
Please introduce yourself
My name Is Allan Drew and I have been involved with Customer Service for the past 30 years. I have spent the last 5 years in Lambeth, which was my first public sector role. Previously I have worked for BT and also run my own small business providing consultancy on customer service
Can you explain what your role is?
In Lambeth I run the parts of the council responsible for resident contact. So the call centre and the walk-in customer centres in Brixton and Streatham are part of my operation, where we handle about 2m contacts/year with Lambeth residents. I also have responsibility for facilities management which involves the smooth running of the council’s 15 major office buildings.
What do you find is the most challenging part of your job?
Working successfully across other departments in the council to produce the best result for the customer. Not because colleagues do not want to help, but rather that every part of the council has a significant improvement activity to be getting on with and ensuring it all fits together and everything gets done is quite a challenge
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WERA Asks…Cedric Boston
Jul 2nd
Can you please tell us who you are and what you do?
Cedric Boston, Director of Housing Management at Lambeth Living. Responsible for providing a housing service to 31,000 Lambeth Council tenants and leaseholders.
Can you give a brief description of what your role involves?
Managing staff, resources and performance to achieve the best result possible in the circumstances
How long have you been doing this role?
Nine months
How do you think Lambeth Living is changing, and do you think your role has had an impact on this?
We are improving performance in managing resources and most of the key business targets are being met. The organisation is continuing to improve and will focus more on the customer facing services in 2010/11.
What were you doing prior to joining Lambeth Living?
Working for Wandle Housing Association as Assistant Director of Housing Management and Leasehold Services
Who or what inspires you and why?
Achieving against the odds
What is the most challenging part of your job?
Remaining committed and motivated despite the palpable hostility of residents representatives to the ALMO
Do you think enough is being done with the turn-around of ‘voids’ in the borough?
At the present time yes. The only impediment at the moment is the lack of revenue as it costs money to repair a void property and the long it has been vacant the more it costs. The Council does not have the money it needs to repair its void properties hence many will remain empty for this reason.
Lambeth Living’s Tenancy Services Team operate from various Housing Offices, are there any plans for housing offices to be relocated?
The Council has imposed 20% cuts on Lambeth Living since inception and a further 10% cut is planned for 2010/11. In this situation it is impossible to give any promises about housing offices
Do you ever manage to visit estates, meet residents, and hear their concerns?
Yes. Often. Especially when invited
As a residents association, the main problem we hear of with Tenancy Services is communication – In what ways do you think communication could be improved?
The Customer Service Center is run by the Council. We should get another provider if the service does not improve
What role do you think residents have in shaping Lambeth as a Borough?
Residents can have a major role in helping us to plan the service for the future and monitoring performance and delivery of services in the current. However this is only possible if there is a constructive relationship between resident representatives and Lambeth Living
What was your first job?
Storeman in a Jewish supermarket when I was 15.
What does community mean to you?
Working together for the advantage of all
What role do Leaseholder Services play?
Leaseholders are 33% of our customers so their role is crucial
What would you most like to achieve from your role within 10 years? Top quartile performing housing service, 90% customer satisfaction, 95% decent homes, national recognition for the quality of the service we provide.
What are the key areas of your role, as Director of Housing Management?
Managing staff and resources. Raising motivation and skills. Achieving efficiencies and continuous improvement.
What aspect of your role do you most enjoy, and why?
Achieving performance targets because it shows we are moving in the right direction
Describe yourself in three words. Pragmatic and driven
How and when should residents contact you?
During normal working hours, preferably by email feedback@lambethliving.org.uk, made for the attention of Cedric Boston.
WERA Asks…Diane James-McFee
Jun 18th
Please introduce yourself
I’m Diane James-Mcfee, Interim Head of Service Delivery, Lambeth Service Centre
Can you explain what your role is?
I am responsible for leading the staff and managing operational functions of the Lambeth Service Centre (call centre) and local Area Housing Office counters. This includes ensuring that a customer service driven environment is developed and sustained across these services.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
Balancing resources with the demand for services – Whilst this is challenging it is also exciting. Having to look at ways to deliver excellent customer services with an ever-reducing budget is challenging but allows for innovative thinking, whilst at the same time maintaining quality through good management practices. For instance, I’m currently considering applying a ‘lean’ process to help identify any waste in our processes. The recession has hit every sector and it is key that our service demonstrates good value for money.
What would you like to do if you weren’t working in the Customer Service sector?
I can’t imagine my self outside the customer services sector, be it operational, strategy or policy; I guess the only other sector would be travel. I would love to be a tour guide – only if it came with free holidays!
Lambeth Service Centre is the first point of contact for phone calls and emails to Lambeth Council, do you think this service shows Lambeth Council in a good light?
We are ambassadors for the Council. Being the first point of contact it, is important that we demonstrate excellent customer services at all times. Customer Satisfaction results show that 87% of our users are satisfied with the service they receive from our call-centre agents, if not necessarily with the overall council service. Our services cover a wide remit from Parking, Housing Repairs, Homelessness, Social Services, etc and another part of our job is to help these departments identify areas of dissatisfaction and improve on them. Some of these services affect very vulnerable people and are often governed by national policies that we have to adhere to; this means we can’t always give our customers what they would like so the job is also about managing expectations. We continue to attain recognition for how we deliver customer services. In 2005 we were awarded the European Call Centre of the year Award. We are current holders of both the Charter Mark Award and Customer Excellence Award.
What does community mean to you?
Community is about life – Our Citizens are at the heart of our community, the community helps to shape the success of our country. No two people are the same, neither are communities. Within Customer Services it is key that we have an understanding of what the community needs are and are able to tailor our services accordingly. We have to listen outwards as well as inwards.
What would you like to see more of from the Service Centre?
It would be great if our staff were able to see all enquiries through to resolution, so the caller can leave satisfied that their action has been attended to. The current organisation of our business does not always allow for this and therefore enquiries are passed to the service units where specialist and trained professional complete the end task.
We understand you recently received a letter from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
How did you feel when you received the letter and Can you explain why the PM wrote to you?
It was a nice feeling, more importantly it was good to see that the Prime Minister took the time to acknowledge excellence in Customer Services. The letter acknowledged our recent award of ‘Customer Service Excellence,’ a new accolade aimed at ensuring that public services meet the official government standard for organizations in the public sector effectively. This award can only be obtained following a far more rigorous assessment process which challenges the strategy and principles behind delivering excellent service to customers rather than simply ‘ticking the boxes.’
What is a typical day in the office for you?
No two days are the same; our Service is driven by customer demand which guarantees a different challenge every day. I oversee an operation that handles an average of 5000 telephone calls each day. My day can comprise anything from monitoring call volumes, redeploying resource based on volumes or staff shortage or handling customer complaints or dealing with an incident in an office front Counter. I’m frequently meeting with our internal partners or liaising with our training and development teams about updating staff on changes to services. That’s not to mention reporting performance issues up the line, hosting visits from a huge range of internal and external guests, and getting involved with arranging staff motivational events. Actually, one thing that is typical is that the days are always long!
What CD would you have at home in your CD player at the moment?
I love music so my collection varies. At the moment I have the Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Lady Gaga because I can workout to their tunes. I look to Bob Marley for inspiration. If I need to chill out then it’s anything from R&B to Jazz
What do you think is the most important aspect of working in Customer Services?
Customer Service might not be rocket science, but there’s a lot to consider. It’s about getting it right first time wherever possible, listening to the customer to learn and make improvements, and communicating very clearly. It starts with respect. If you respect the customer as a human being, and truly honour their right to be treated fairly and honestly, everything else thereafter is much easier
If you could adapt your role, what would you introduce?
I would spend more time in the Community running focus groups to improve Customer Services across the Organisation.
What was the last book you read?
The Time Traveler’s Wife it’s a romantic drama about a Chicago librarian with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage.
How has the ‘Lambeth Promise’ improved communication with customers contacting the service centre?
The Lambeth Promise is our pledge to our customers that we will work hard to provide them with the very best service. As a result of the pledge our Customer are now more aware and comfortable about discussing their problems with us and our staff also understand and appreciate the importance of the pledge and ensure this comes across when communicating with customers.
Do you think more could be done to integrate and encourage communication between residents associations?
Although I have worked in the Lambeth Service Centre for a few years, I am new to managing the Housing element of the call centre. I am a firm believer that more can always be done to manage the communication flow and build working relations with our partners, and I’d be keen to embrace ideas about an improved consultation mechanism with our RAs. I know that our colleagues in Revenues and Benefits hold regular meetings with these groups and I’m looking into how could perhaps share in that arrangement. Marshalling the range of views held by a variety of resident groups could be a significant benefit in helping develop the service further, but it’s important that such events are managed with a positive and constructive approach.
Who inspires you?
Maya Angelou because of her inspirational work which is centered on themes such as identity, family, and racism. Gandhi because he was a great leader and Richard Branson for the range of creativity, leadership and entrepreneurial skills he instills.
How many telephone calls does the call centre receive on an average day?
On an average day we receive around 5000 calls, that’s over a million calls per year.
How many emails does the call centre receive on an average day?
Typically, it might be around 150-200 emails, but we’re hoping to encourage expansion in this area over the coming year.
How many members of staff work in the Lambeth Service Centre?
We currently employ 104 staff working within the Lambeth Service Centre including all of its support functions. However, this number varies throughout the year. Staff handle enquiries for up to 16 different service areas, each with considerable seasonal variation in demand.
If residents are unhappy with the service they receive from the service centre, how can they complain? Similarly, if they would like to comment on good service, how can they do this?
The Council has a complaints/ comments policy which applies to the Lambeth Service Centre. This can be accessed at www.lambeth.gov.uk/complaints and leaflets are available at council offices. Alternatively, our customers can contact the Service Centre on 0207 926 1000 and ask to speak to a manager, who will record the feedback provided appropriately. While Matt Cooper (the Assistant Director for the service) and I are always happy to hear the views of our users directly, contacts which avoid the official complaints procedure risk not being properly logged or tracked, so it’s definitely best to follow the above process – our Complaints team always ensures that we are made aware of any escalations which need our attention.
