Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.

My Department's quality customer service charter was published in April 2004 and has been distributed to staff and customers. The charter is displayed around the Department in a number of appropriate locations. The charter is also available on the Department's website and a link is attached to all outgoing e-mails.

Under the charter, the Department measures customer service performance and reports on this in its annual report. Methods used include customer feedback, annual surveys, mystery shopping, interviews and focus groups. The 2006 customer survey has been completed and almost 450 external customers were surveyed. Initial analysis shows broadly favourable findings. Overall, the results show consistently high scores in relation to the quality of our services. There was an increase in the awareness of the Department's complaints procedure and an increase in those who had noticed an improvement in the service quality. This improvement is mainly due to a general view that the Department's staff were very efficient and courteous, prompt e-mail response times and the layout of the Department's website.

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