Ms Carolan Lennon:

It is big enough that we are paying attention to it and trying to reduce it. It is bigger than we would like it to be and bigger than we think it should be. We have tried a number of things because, again, such calls clog up the system. We have an initiative with our contact centres to the effect that we try to get it right and get it done on the first call and the customer leaves happy with his or her problem solved or the thing we have agreed to do done so we do not give them reason for complaint. We have also done other things. For example, if the same person has called us, say, twice, before he or she can get to call us again, we try outbound-calling him or her to say: "We know you have been on to us. There is obviously something wrong or something that did not get fixed the last time. What is going on?"

I believed that was a great idea. What we found was that people do not always take outbound calls, for example, and then we get a call back again. We are trying to minimise the number of inbound calls in the first place. The reality, however, is that if we do what we say we are going to do when we receive calls from customers, and if they get through to us promptly, there should be no reason for them to ring back. Members will have seen the number of ComReg complaints last night. It is now down to under 100. It means the majority of problems were not that difficult to fix. Some are very hard to fix in that planning permission or whatever may be required. Such cases are in the minority. Most problems are straightforward enough to fix. It may involve closing accounts, as Deputy Dooley mentioned. It is a matter of doing what we say we are going to do, such as changing someone's promotion. Where it is not being done, maybe it is because people are under great pressure, or another reason, and this gives customers a reason to all us back. We are all over the question of how to prevent the calls coming in by doing what we say we are going to do. However, we absolutely must answer the phones, which is really important.

I got emails and notes from my front-line staff last night.