Call Centre Proving a Success

12.00.00am GMT Wed 11th Jan 2006

The council's new Corporate Call Centre is already improving customer service levels according to figures released today. The call centre based at Westgate, has been up and running for just six weeks and despite having to cope with major movements of staff, is already proving a success. Figures compiled by the council's customer services department show that the Highways line, used to deal with such queries as road repairs and gritting was answering just 60% of calls prior to the move. Now 95% of calls are being answered with more improvements expected. Councillor Mark Harris, executive board member with responsibility for the call centre has hailed the news.

Cllr Mark Harris speaking at today's Full Council meeting said, "I am delighted to already be talking about the success of the call centre at this early stage. The movement of a significant number of staff was expected to cause initial teething problems, making these figures even more impressive. A combination of a far better working environment, improved technology and enhanced working practices has vastly increased the level of customer service available to the people of Leeds. With both the Benefits and Council Tax teams already in place I'm looking forward to talking about the call centre's continued success as more of our council staff move over. "

Councillor Harris added "Unfortunately the old arrangements for answering calls from the public, which we inherited 18 months ago, are showing their age. Indeed their performance shows how vital it was that we introduced the new call centre. We expect the performance in Environmental Services (Refuse/Waste Collection) to also show a major improvement when they are transferred to the new call centre in the next few weeks. Our priority is to deliver the best possible service to the people of Leeds. "

The views in this Press Release are those of the Liberal Democrat Council Group, and not necessarily those of Leeds City Council, its Officers or of the Liberal Democrat Party.