Customer Service Standards
Dear Sir or Madam,
I note that you have a broad range of customer service standards http://www.barnet.gov.uk/contact-us/cust...
I am interested to know how this is implemented and how the Council is growing corporately from learning from it's mistakes. My request is:
i) How are these measured by Councillors?
ii) When can the public observe these standards being scrutinised and participate?
iii) How many Officers of the Council have received awards, training or disciplinary action based on the implementation of these standards. How many of the afore were triggered by a customer complaint / comment?
Yours faithfully,
Gerard Richards
Dear Mr Richards
Information request under the Freedom of Information Act (2000).
I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the
authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
I am sorry for the delay in responding to your e-mail dated 09^th June.
I am currently gathering information to formulate a full response. I hope
to provide you with a full response by 15^th July.
Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience caused.
[name removed]
[name removed]
Customer Service Officer, Customer Services, Resources
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South,
London N11 1NP
Tel: 020 8359 2994
E-mail: [1][email address]
Barnet Online: [2]www.barnet.gov.uk
P please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email?
Dear Sir or Madam,
I note that you have a broad range of customer service standards
[3]http://www.barnet.gov.uk/contact-us/cust...
I am interested to know how this is implemented and how the Council
is growing corporately from learning from it's mistakes. My request
is:
i) How are these measured by Councillors? ii) When can the public
observe these standards being scrutinised and participate? iii) How
many Officers of the Council have received awards, training or
disciplinary action based on the implementation of these standards.
How many of the afore were triggered by a customer complaint /
comment?
Yours faithfully,
Gerard Richards
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. file:///C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\[name removed]\Application%20Data\Microsoft\Signatures\www.barnet.gov.uk
3. http://www.barnet.gov.uk/contact-us/cust...
Dear Mr Richards
Information request under the Freedom of Information Act (2000).
I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the
authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
I am sorry for the delay in responding to your e-mail dated 09^th June
Please find the information you requested below.
Customer Service Standards:
1) How are these measured by councillors? We are unable to respond to
this in full, without further clarification. Councillors do not measure
the standards but they do use the services provided and are aware of the
standards in place.
2) When can the public observe these standards being scrutinised and
participate? The monitoring standards that are on our website
[1]www.barnet.gov.uk are as follows:
Telephone Monitoring
Complaint Monitoring
Mystery Shopping
Quality checks on correspondence
General observations
Feedback from customers
Focus groups with staff and customers
These methods enable us to identify areas of good practice, areas for
improvement and where we are in our journey to improve services to you,
the customer.
3) How many officers of the council have received awards, training or
disciplinary action based on the implementation of these standards?
This information is not recorded.
4) How many of the afore, were triggered by a customer
complaint/comment?
Whilst we do not hold the information for question 3, I have advised how
many complaints and compliments were received from the customer between
April 2008 and April 2009, regarding Customer Services below.
Complaints received = 3
Compliments received = 1
[name removed]
Customer Service Officer, Customer Services, Resources
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South,
London N11 1NP
E-mail: [2][email address]
Barnet Online: [3]www.barnet.gov.uk
Dear [name removed],
I had made this request for information as it struck me that the Council publishes these standards but I was unaware of them being enforced or scrutinised.
Your reply seems to suggest to me that they are not.
Using the previous numbering.
1) I would have thought this was very clear. There cannot be many more important things than how the Council deals with the public. My request was how and when do Councillors ensure these standards are being implemented and when do the receive reports on the measuring methods you refer to in 2). Or do Officers act as judge and jury in their own court?
2) Can you provide me the monitoring standards data from January 2008 onwards.
3) How can this not be recorded?
4) Am I to believe the Council only received 4 comments from the public in 1 year? Please reconsider this.
Yours sincerely,
Gerard Richards
Mr Richards,
An internal review of the request for information can be requested.
Please put in writing the reasons why you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of your request and send this to [1][email address]
Kind Regards
[name removed]
Dear [name removed],
I think my original request, and it's intention, was crystal clear. Your reply not only, in my view, fails to answer the specific points but pays scant attention to the purpose stated in the introductory paragraph.
I do not find the reply helpful.
It is possible that you should have answered, to the effect, that no one at a senior level monitors these standards seriously, and that Councillors don't look at them at all.
Is that the case?
Yours sincerely,
Gerard Richards
Dear Mr Richards,
I am sorry that you are not satisfied with the response received. I have
passed your comments to the Freedom of Information officer, advising,
you would like an internal review.
Kind Regards
[name removed]
Dear Mr Richards,
I shall be conducting an internal review into the handling of your request
for information, originally made on 09 June 2009. This is because you
have expressed dissatisfaction with the Council's response.
Guidance from the Information Commissioner states that an internal review
should be completed within 20 working days or, in exceptional cases,
within 40 working days.
I shall be in contact in due course. In the meantime, if you have any
further points that you wish me to take into consideration then please let
me know.
Yours sincerely,
Niall Toru
Governance Officer
Corporate Governance Directorate
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South,
London N11 1NP
Tel: 020 8359 7080
Barnet Online: [1]www.barnet.gov.uk
P please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email?
References
Visible links
1. http://www.barnet.gov.uk/
http://www.barnet.gov.uk/
Dear Mr Richards,
I am aware that we have taken longer than 20 working days to
respond to your request for an internal review.
I hope to be in the position to issue a substantive response by 23
September, and hopefully sooner.
Please accept our apologies for this delay.
Yours sincerely, Niall Toru London Borough of Barnet
Dear Mr Richards,
Please find attached the council's response to your request for an
internal review (see also the document "attachement to response"
Yours sincerely, Niall Toru
Dear Mr Richards,
Further to our response, I would also like to inform you that,
although the CSS are not themselves the subject of reports to our
members, quarterly performance standards (as set out in the
corporate plan) do go to members through the corporate performance
process (specifically, to the Cabinet Resources Committee and the
Budget and Overview and Scrutiny Committee) and are also
communicated on the internet. Please see:
http://www.barnet.gov.uk/corporate-plan-...
The following indicators may be of interest:
- Percentage of demand met by telephone within corporate ring
time(5 rings) - Average time (in minutes) spent waiting at
corporate reception points
Please feel free to contact me if you require clarification on any
element of our response.
Yours sincerely, Niall Toru 0208 359 7080
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