Telephone calls to Whitehall offices going unanswered

GOVERNMENT departments have a worse record for answering phone calls than either local government or business. And operators' manners were 'abrasive', according to a survey.

The Cabinet Office and the Department of Social Security came bottom of the league, answering fewer than one in five calls.

But even the best government department, the Stationery Office (HMSO), provided a scarcely acceptable service, the telephone consultants Teleconomy say.

Nearly half of the 800 calls to central government by Teleconomy went unanswered either because operators did not answer or the extension to which the call was put through was not answered. Those calls that were answered were generally dealt with in what is described as 'an abrasive and bureaucratic manner'.

The survey, conducted in October and November, will be embarrassing to Whitehall, which, through the Citizen's Charter, is trying to instil greater customer awareness in the public sector. Under the charter, the Audit Commission is insisting that, from April, local authorities monitor their speed of answering calls.

Joseph Russell, Teleconomy's director, blamed extension users as well as operators for the 'millions' of calls he estimated that government failed to answer every month. 'The buck should stop with the boss man in each department. He should make sure the phones in his department get answered,' he added.

Anna Whyatt, chief executive of Southwark council, which Teleconomy regards as the best of the London boroughs, said: 'If people phone us up and don't receive an answer it suggests we think they are worthless. And for poor people the cost of holding on to calls can be significant.'

Tape-recordings of the Whitehall departments show operators generally treating the public in an abrupt fashion. The least helpful responses came when the consultancy made calls in French, German, Italian and Spanish. Despite the Government's efforts to promote language learning among British businesses competing in the European single market, only 3 out of 30 calls to Whitehall received an appropriate response.

Every month Teleconomy monitors the performance of 183 businesses and local authorities with criteria that include speed of answering and operator friendliness. Its best client, a bank, scored 81.4 per cent last month. Its worst, an inner-London local authority, scored 36.6 per cent. Yet, as the table shows, the Department of Social Security, Cabinet Office, Crown Estates and the Ministry of Agriculture all scored lower.

The Government is in the process of contracting out pounds 250m of its telephone services.

----------------------------------------------------------------- PHONE LEAGUE TABLE ----------------------------------------------------------------- BEST % Stationery Office 62.5 Export Credits Guarantee Dept 61.2 Crown Prosecution Service 60.0 Public Records Office 56.4 OFWAT 56.0 WORST Employment Dept 37.4 Ministry of Agriculture 35.5 Crown Estates 34.8 Cabinet Office 28.0 Dept of Social Security 27.5 SECTOR AVERAGES Industry 66.1 Local government 59.4 Utilities 57.0 Central government 48.6 Teleconomy definitions: 70% excellent; 65% very good; 60% acceptable -----------------------------------------------------------------