Ms Geraldine Tallon:

I suppose we have learned that a very good communications system needs to be in place initially. This was introduced. The legislation for the household charge was introduced in July 2011. Detailed implementation regulations were brought forward quite late in the year. The charge almost came into effect in real time. We were very concerned about communicating information to the public. Perhaps, on reflection, we could learn from the experience to see if there are better ways of communicating publicly on a change of that kind. We also learned that it is quite difficult to introduce a universal measure at relatively short notice in the absence of significant database capacity. If we had to apply that kind of experience to any other measure, we would reflect very carefully on public education, awareness and communication. We would also reflect on the question of customer satisfaction, which has been raised. When we reflect on customer relations, we ask whether people feel they get a good and courteous service. While I have no doubt that the local authorities and the Local Government Management Agency did their best, equally I accept that people felt quite dissatisfied in a range of respects. I have heard many anecdotes from all around the country. We have to reflect carefully on the customer relations programme associated with this type of measure. Revenue's experience and depth of knowledge is in contrast to what we achieved. Nonetheless, we are reasonably satisfied that getting to 80% is a good performance.