The customer satisfaction survey was undertaken to get feedback from our users about the service provided. There were 171 respondents including 80 who were children under the age of 13.The survey asked questions about the play structures, the staff, information on arrival and the café. 91% of respondents stated free access to the facility was excellent, 88% of respondents stated that the café prices were excellent and 78% rated the value of the play structures as excellent.

Consultation was conducted on the Draft Library Strategy 2016-2021 between 31st August and 25th September 2016. An electronic and paper based survey was used to gather the views of current library users and non-users. A copy of the Draft Library Strategy 2016-2021 was published on the Council’s website with a link to an electronic survey and paper copies of both the draft strategy and survey were made available at Customer First Centres and libraries across North Tyneside.

We would like to give North Tyneside residents the chance to have their say about Nexus' biggest ever transport survey.

A trial customer satisfaction survey was carried out with residents who attended the Bereavement Services Office at Preston Cemetery. The survey collected information on the purpose of their visit, how they found the staff who dealt with their request and asked for suggestions on how we could improve. During the trial 23 surveys were completed, and the service received an excellent rating in all surveys and there were no recommendations put forward on how we could improve.

The Council invited residents to have their say on the council’s draft budget proposals for 2018-2019. In order to meet the challenge of having less resources and greater demand for services the council needs to do things very differently. Via this engagement, the council shared their approach to address these challenges. Residents were given the opportunity to share their views on the draft budget proposals.

The existing Statement of Licensing (Sexual Entertainment) Policy was due for review, so the Regulation and Review Committee agreed an eight week consultation exercise. This included MP’s, MEP’s, Police, Fire Authority, trade representatives and existing licence holders. Consultation also took place with members of the public via a draft policy being made available on the Council’s website, libraries and Customer Contact Centres and via Pub Watch. The report shared at the meeting of Cabinet on 13 February 2017 is set out below.

The existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy was due for review, so the Regulation and Review Committee agreed an engagement exercise to seek the views of existing providers, customers and members of the public. The new draft policy, together with a survey, was circulated on the council website asking for people to share their views. The member working group was held after the consultation finished to discuss feedback and agreed proposed amendments to the new policy. The policy was approved and implemented by Regulation and Review Committee and came into force from April 2017.

The Council is required by legislation to conduct an unmet demand survey where they have a limit on the number of Hackney Carriage Licences available. In this case the council must conduct a survey every 3 years to establish whether there is a significant unmet demand.The engagement was conducted by Capita on behalf of North Tyneside Council and consisted of monitoring cameras at rank locations, making observations and speaking to members of the public regarding the use of Hackney Carriage Vehicles.

Engagement took place relating to a change in policy which originally required all new taxi drivers to complete this training within 3 months of being licensed and confirm whether any refresher training was required once a person was licensed. The change was to ask for drivers to undertake training prior to be licensed and that online training was now the most suitable form of training. The engagement was via the Taxi Forum and was also published on the Council website.

We developed the Mental Wellbeing in Later Life, North Tyneside Joint Strategy, to set out how North Tyneside Council and North Tyneside CCG intend to improve mental health and dementia services and also support older people and carers. We also want to ensure that there is targeted prevention for people at risk of mental ill health and early intervention for older people with symptoms of mental illness.