Prime Minister Praises Council's Customer Care

Prime Minister Tony Blair has congratulated The Highland Council for achieving the Charter Mark Standard for excellence in customer service delivery at its network of 37 Service Points and its new Service Centre at Alness.

The Council first achieved a Charter Mark in 1999 and this is the third time that it has retained this status from the Cabinet Office.

Each year, the Council deals with an increasing number of face-to-face enquiries at Service Points. In 2005, staff dealt with more than one million customers, an increase of 200,000 on the previous year.

Mr Blair wrote: "Your achievement clearly demonstrates that customers’ needs and aspirations genuinely form the basis for the design and delivery of the services you provide. This is something that is crucial for the improvements we all want to see in public services."

Danny Alexander, MP, Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey, said: "As a regular user of the Service Point Network, in which I frequently hold surgeries, I was delighted to hear that you were recently successful in becoming a Charter Mark holder. I am grateful for the support that your staff have given me over the last few months, and hope that the network will continue to develop and maintain the high standards that the Charter Mark celebrates."

Convener of The Highland Council, Councillor Alison Magee said: "We are delighted at retaining the Charter Mark Standard. The investment and commitment we devote to Service Points and Service Centre demonstrates the importance we attach to putting the customer first."

The Council’s Service Point Network provides face to face access to a wide range of services for customers, which include payment of rent, council tax and other council bills; arrangement of special refuse collections; application for local authority housing and report repairs and faults; application for a range of council benefits, including housing and council tax benefit, free school meals, school clothing grants and travel cards.

As part of the Council’s commitment to improving access to services, the new Service Centre at Osprey House, Alness, is handling all telephone calls to Service Points in Ross and Cromarty and Inverness . This service will be extended to all Service Points in Highland. The Service has improved call handling times by more than 50%.

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