§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average time taken by his Department's telephone switchboard to answer external telephone calls; and what steps he is taking to improve it.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 3 November 1988]: Answering external telephone calls on the switch board for Richmond house and a number of other Whitehall offices is the responsibility of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA). It employs British Telecommunications telephonists and aims for an average 25 seconds response time for each call. We are content that this provides a satisfactory level of service, but CCTA is looking at ways to improve upon this response time.