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13 Feb 2008

High quality public services a priority - Robinson

Reform of the Northern Ireland Civil Service is a vital element in the drive to deliver improvements in public services.
Addressing a conference for the public and private sectors in Belfast today, the Finance Minister, Rt Hon Peter Robinson MP, MLA said that the Civil Service must rise to the challenge of delivering high quality, effective and efficient services. He said:
“We are operating in a tighter financial climate, but at the same time people quite rightly expect to see improvements in public services. We are putting our own house in order through a major programme of internal reform.
“This programme is well underway and will deliver improved service, reduced bureaucracy and efficiencies through sharing key corporate services such as human resources, finance, ICT and training across government departments.”
The Minister highlighted ‘NI Direct’, the proposed single telephone number point of contact for public service enquiries, as a key example of how improvements in service would be delivered:
“More than 70% of local people prefer to deal with government by phone so we are introducing a single number for accessing government services in Northern Ireland. This will make it easier for the public to contact government and obtain a better service. At the same time it will allow us to streamline the back office processes for delivering information and services to the public.”
Eleanor Gill, Chief Executive of the Consumer Council, also underlined her support for ‘NI Direct':
"Through our extensive research consumers have told us that getting through to government departments can be frustrating. We welcome the Minister’s and the Programme for Government's focus on making sure that people have easy access to quality, responsive public services. We are proud to be working in partnership with the Department of Finance & Personnel to help transform how we connect with government by giving people a single point of contact. This is a challenging project and the Consumer Council looks forward to continuing to work with Government to make sure that “NI Direct” works for consumers.”
The Minister referred to research published by the Consumer Council in December 2007 on the single contact number idea:
“The study found that people are attracted to the idea of a single number as a means of simplifying and improving the current experience of contacting government by telephone. The proposal that you could get many of your queries dealt with at the first point of contact – the ‘one and done’ capability – has widespread appeal.
“In recent months there have been graphic examples of where a single government contact number would have delivered real benefits to the public. I’m thinking in particular of the recent spates of snow, heavy rainfall and flash flooding which have thrown the task of accessing government services into sharp focus.
“Devolution can do things better and the ‘one and done’ solution provided by NI Direct will demonstrate this.”


NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. The Minister of Finance and Personnel was speaking at a stakeholder event on civil service reform, 13 February 2008, Stormont Hotel, Belfast.
  2. The Programme for Government includes Public Service Agreements (PSAs) on delivering a programme of civil service reform and promoting and improving access to public services and information in Northern Ireland. This includes a target to introduce a single telephone number point of contact for public services on phased basis from December 2008 onwards.
  3. A consultative exercise was carried out by the Consumer Council on behalf of ‘NI Direct’ in 2007, involving a wide range of stakeholders and members of the public, including under-represented groups. The report on the consultation exercise was published on 5 December and can be found at: http://www.consumercouncil.org.uk/publications
  4. Media enquiries only to DFP Press Office on 028 9052 7644 or 028 9052 27375. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.