Telephone calls to the council

Dear Mr Fisher,

Freedom of Information enquiry reference ENQ9143.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 received on 26th July 2010, which has been forwarded to the relevant section.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is 24th August 2010.

If you have any enquiries meantime please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,
Caroline Anderson
Records Manager

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Mr Fisher,

Thank you for your information request of 26 July 2010, made under the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search for the information
requested.

Can you please tell me if the council record telephone calls from
members of the public to their officers and if so how long are the
recordings kept for.

Customer calls are recorded in both the Customer Contact Centre at
Kittybrewster (Housing Repairs & Environmental Services including Roads
& Street Lighting Calls) and in Customer Contact at Crown House
(Revenues and Benefits calls). Please find below an extract of the
policy.

"Storage of Recorded Calls"
Recorded calls are kept for 6 months, after which point they are
deleted. In the event that there is a requirement to keep a specific
call after this period, e.g. it may form part of an ongoing case with a
customer, the call is kept until such time that it is no longer deemed
necessary. Given the different nature of cases, the time a specific call
is kept beyond the 6 month period may vary from case to case. Calls kept
beyond this period will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that no
calls are kept after they no longer serve a business purpose.

If a member of staff leaves their post, their calls are still kept and
used for the time period specified above as a call constitutes a
business relationship/transaction between the customer and the Council.

Recorded calls are stored live through the database server for the 6
month period for which they are kept. All calls in the database are
encrypted and can only be accessed with access to the specific software
and appropriate access permissions. The system is set up in such a way
that after the 6 month period, calls are automatically deleted from the
database and it is no longer possible to retrieve them. However, if
there is a justified business requirement to keep a call after the 6
month period, the specific call is tagged in the system and not deleted.
Such calls are archived to a dvd. Calls stored on dvd are encrypted,
and can therefore not be accessed without the specific software and
without appropriate access rights. System administrators have the
ability to back up the system and restore it should it fail, but are not
able to access the contents of calls. All voice recording equipment for
the contact centre in Crown House and the corporate Contact Centre in
Kittybrewster is located in the communication room in each of the
buildings.

In both Contact Centres calls are taken where a payment is required.
In these instances the call recording ceases throughout the segment of
the call where the financial details are required. The call will then
recommence recording, when the financial processing is complete.

Finally calls are also recorded at the Regional Communications Centre
(RCC).

Retention Period
Discs will be retained within the RCC on a cycle of three Months. On
completion of 3 months the recordings will be destroyed by
re-recording.

Please be advised that we are currently tendering for a new voice
recording solution and the policy will be reviewed and consistently
applied.

We hope this helps with your request.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Officer (Acting)

FURTHER INFORMATION

If you are unhappy with the response to your request for information,
or the way in which your request has been handled, you can submit a
complaint or request a review of our response. You should do this by 19
October 2010. To complain or request a review, write to:

City Archivist
Legal and Democratic Services
Aberdeen City Council
Old Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1AQ
[email address]

Your request for review must include your name, an address, and your
reason(s) for requesting a review. You should also include the reference
number for your original request for information.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request for review,
you can apply directly to the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) for a decision. Generally, OSIC cannot make a
decision unless you have been through the Council’s review procedure.
The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
www.itspublicknowledge.info

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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