§ Lord Maginnis of Drumglassasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether operator response times for the Northern Ireland Office telephone system are monitored; and, if so, what is the average response time for each financial year from April 1999 to March 2004; and what operator response target times have been set to be achieved by March 2005. [HL2805]
§ The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos):The Northern Ireland Office's telephony service is provided as part of a wider service which includes all Northern Ireland Civil Service departments. Operator response times for the overall service are monitored, but because of the manner in which the service is provided it is not possible to provide response times solely for the NIO.
Average response times for each financial year from 1999 for all inbound calls to the NIO/NICS switchboard are as follows:
Financial year Average Response Time 1999–2000 15.01 sec 2000–01 14.58 sec 2001–02 12.68 sec 2002–03 13.31 sec 2003–04 27.00 sec The 2003–04 figures reflect some integration difficulties between a new switchboard service introduced in 2003 and the underlying telephony network, as well as from staff familiarising themselves with the new equipment and adjustments to the call handling process. Performance levels are now expected to improve over the next three months: the recent average response time figure of 20 seconds for May supports this expectation and, in the longer term, the switchboard service should be more efficient and effective than before. A target of 12 seconds is considered to be achievable if efficient call handling processes are established within departments' back-offices.
§ Lord Maginnis of Drumglassasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the total cost of installing the Northern Ireland Office's new telephone switchboard; when the switchboard became operational; whether there have been any unexpected difficulties with the new system; and whether operator response times have improved. [HL2804]
12WA
§ Baroness Amos:The Northern Ireland Office's switchboard is provided as part of a corporate service which is also used by the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland administration (covering 160 sites and 30,000 staff). It was initially installed in 1992 and replaced in 2003. The new system cost"£1.6 million. It addressed problems with maintenance support for the old equipment and provides additional functionality, and was phased in over a period of seven months from April 2003 to October 2003.
The new switchboard introduced new technology which required significant work to integrate with the existing voice telephone network. Some integration difficulties were anticipated and mitigated through the phased implementation approach, although a number took slightly longer than anticipated to resolve.
While there was an initial decrease in average operator response times resulting from these issues, as well as from staff familiarising themselves with the new equipment and adjustments to the call handling process, performance levels are now expected to improve over the next three months and, in the longer term, the switchboard service should be more efficient and effective than before.