Customer Service Action Plan 2001 - 2004

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INTRODUCTION BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL

Since the publication of its first Customer Service Action Plan in 1997 the Department of Enterprise,Trade and Employment has tried to place an increasing emphasis on improving service to the customer, whether that be an individual enquiring about rights under employment legislation, a company seeking information regarding proposed new legislation, or indeed a member of staff gathering data to feed in to a new policy document.

With the publication of this new plan the Department has, for the first time, gone out to its customers to see what level of service they expect from the Department, and to establish the current degree of satisfaction with the service we have been providing. We did this by commissioning an independent research project, the first phase of which has just recently been completed by a project team from the Institute of Public Administration. This first phase of the research project assessed the views and opinions of selected external customers of the Department in relation to the quality of our customer service. We intend to roll out the project, to a wider group of external customers, and to the Department's own internal customers, later this year and into 2002.

I was very pleased that the first phase study report found a positive view generally of the quality of the service we offer, and I welcome the opportunities offered by the identification of areas where we can do things better, or even simply differently, to improve service delivery for the customer.

You will find that we have already begun to reflect the findings of this report in our new Customer Service Action Plan, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of our customers who gave of their time to the project team, to give their opinions and suggestions for change in the way the Department delivers on its objectives. I hope that over the coming 3 years, as we continue to take on board your comments and suggestions for a more effective and efficient delivery of services, you will consider that your time was well spent.

I will be making the report itself available, for information, on the Department's website http://www.djei.ie/corporate/customer_care_research.htm in the near future. And I look forward to the continuing opportunities afforded by ongoing review for the further improvement of our service. I feel that this affords us the chance to see this Action Plan not as a static document, but as something which can continue to grow over the coming years.