Source: This is Cornwall

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/westbriton/Super-council-aims-replace-600-phone-numbers/article-200851-detail/article.html

'Super council' aims to replace more than 600 phone numbers with one
15:18 - 30-June-2008

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CORNWALL'S new super council will have one main number for members of the public to call.

This was agreed by the One Cornwall Implementation Executive. The new council will use an 0300 number for main calls with additional themed numbers for certain services and departments.

A report to the executive said it was expected that the new unitary council would field more than three million incoming calls and the aim was to deal with calls as quickly and efficiently as possible.

It stated that there were currently more than 600 different numbers for various services across the existing six district councils and county council with the different numbers being unco-ordinated.

The report said: “The model for customer services in the new council is to move towards a single number, blended “single front office”, where most council services will be dealt with by one telephone customer contact centre.

“In practice this will mean that there will be one main number for council services and that in most cases the first available agent in the customer contact centre will handle and resolve the call, irrespective of the nature of the query.

“Only when the call requires expert knowledge such as planning or specialised benefits advice will the call be transferred to a small number of specialist advisers or to the back office.”

Within three to five years the customer call centres should handle 80% of calls, answer 90% of calls within 15 seconds and resolve 80% of calls at first point of contact.

It also aims to have call centres operating at evenings and weekends. The 0300 code which is recommended is a new code for government and public sector organisations. Under that system calls will cost 5p a minute.
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Quote "under that system calls will cost 5p per minute"

Does this mean that calls to this 0300 number will not be included in call packages? Cornwall County Council used to operate on a geographic number so the new number would appear to cost more, if I understand this correctly? I thought that the 0300 number range was to replace 0870 and was to be charged at the same rate as geographic calls, is this incorrect?

redant wrote on Jul 7^th, 2008 at 2:26pm:

Quote "under that system calls will cost 5p per minute" Does this mean that calls to this 0300 number will not be included in call packages? Cornwall County Council used to operate on a geographic number so the new number would appear to cost more, if I understand this correctly? I thought that the 0300 number range was to replace 0870 and was to be charged at the same rate as geographic calls, is this incorrect?

No, they have misunderstood the charging arrangements.

Call charges are as set by originating communications providers. They are the telcos we make our calls with; the retailers, if you like.

Calls to all 03xx numbers are charged at no more than a geographical (01/02) call. Regulations are in place which all originating providers are obliged to comply with.

Dave wrote on Jul 7^th, 2008 at 2:28pm:

Calls to all 03xx numbers are charged at no more than a geographical (01/02) call. Regulations are in place which all originating providers are obliged to comply with.

Assuming that is that your communication provider actually gives two hoots for bothering to observing Ofcom's General Conditions.

Both my old phone provider (Post Office Homephone) and my current provider (yourcalls.net) thought that they would stick up two fingers at Ofcom by charging me g6 multimedia rate (5p per minute and excluded from call packages) for calling Ofcom's own 03 number!

Seems that Ofcom thinks that compliance with their General Conditions is voluntary and does not suffer any form of financial penalty for the company in question, even when the offence is proved to Ofcom. :o >:( :'(

http://www.onecornwall.cornwall.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=40887&p=0


Quote:

Programme update September 2008 […] Putting the customer first From 1 April it will be much easier and more convenient to contact and do business with the council. There will be a single main telephone number supported by some themed numbers. (At the moment the seven councils have about 600 different telephone numbers between them!). The Council will use the new public service “0300” numbers which are cheaper to use even if phoning from a mobile. Telephone contact centres, staffed by trained customer services advisers, will operate from 8 am to 8 pm on weekdays and from 9 am to 12 noon on Saturdays. A vast improvement on the current Monday to Friday 9 – 5 service! […]

Dave wrote on Jul 7^th, 2008 at 2:06pm:

The report said: “The model for customer services in the new council is to move towards a single number, blended “single front office”, where most council services will be dealt with by one telephone customer contact centre. “In practice this will mean that there will be one main number for council services and that in most cases the first available agent in the customer contact centre will handle and resolve the call, irrespective of the nature of the query. “Only when the call requires expert knowledge such as planning or specialised benefits advice will the call be transferred to a small number of specialist advisers or to the back office.”

Am I alone in finding that my calls to large organisations with a dumbed down contact centre on a single phone number always require reference to "expert knowledge" for a satisfactory response and are never adequately handled at the call centre front line.

How can Cornwall Council be stumbling blindly in to making the same catastrophic errors as were made by Surrey County Council over five years ago with its ghastly single number contact centre which, even leaving aside the sin of 0845 number access, is also utterly useless at answering or resolving any question because the staff are all clueless and do not even generally live in the County.

How can other Councils continue to stumble in to using the same politically correct model of centralised call centres when it has long ago been utterly discredited as completely hopeless :o >:( :'(

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=44366

Cornwall Council's new numbers

From 1 April there will be one single general enquiries number for Cornwall Council, starting with 0300. 0300 telephone numbers were introduced as an alternative to 08 numbers such as 0870 and will cost the same as calls to standard landline numbers (ie. those beginning 01 or 02).

Other 0300 telephone numbers will (in most cases) begin to take the place of the existing telephone numbers for all the District, Borough and County Councils. These 0300 numbers will operate from 8am until 8pm on weekdays and from 9am until 4pm on Saturdays making Cornwall Council more accessible to its customers.

Don't worry, your existing numbers for current District, Borough and County Councils will continue to work as normal.

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=47935

A Single Council for Cornwall

On 1 April 2009 Cornwall's county, borough and district councils will join together to form Cornwall Council. Here's a quick guide to what will happen on 1 April 2009

From 1 April, Cornwall Council, the new unitary council will provide a huge range of services right across the county.

You will get a guide to Cornwall Council services delivered to your home with your council tax bill in March with more details.

What changes will you see?

To begin with you probably will not notice much difference in your local services. Our plan is to keep things running smoothly as we change to one single council. Here are some of the main changes.

A single set of 0300 telephone numbers  (these new numbers won't go live till 1 April)

General enquiries (and all services) 0300 1234 100

Children, schools and families         0300 1234 101

Libraries                                        0300 1234 111

Benefits                                         0300 1234 121

Adult care and support                  0300 1234 131

Refuse and recycling                      0300 1234 141

Planning                                        0300 1234 151

Housing                                        0300 1234 161

Council tax and business rates       0300 1234 171

Registration service                         0300 1234 181

Trading standards                         0300 1234 191

Environmental management         0300 1234 202

Environmental health & licensing     0300 1234 212

Roads, transport and parking         0300 1234 222

Fire and community safety             0300 1234 232

You can still use the old county, borough and district numbers as well as these new numbers.

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http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=18043

Your letters and comments

Why has Cornwall Council picked an 0300 number which is charged at national rates according to your reply (March 2009) when I have been able to use a local rate phone call before unity. Why wasn’t an 0845 number chosen?

We are assured that no calls to 0300 numbers will be more expensive to than to 01 local calls. Calls from mobiles to 0845 numbers are not included in many call packages where 0300 calls are, making 0300 calls cheaper than other non geographical numbers.

Source: Looe.org

http://www.looe.org/

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Local Government - what local government?

It is said that all governments, of whatever political hue and regardless of what they said when they were in opposition, tend to concentrate power towards the centre and take power away from localities and the people. A good example is the recent abolition of district councils in Cornwall, so the only level of local government with significant powers and resources is now the new Cornwall Council, basically what was Cornwall County Council, based in Truro some 42 miles and around 1 hours 20 minutes drive from Looe - if you're lucky with the traffic!  (There are, as previously, "town councils" and "parish councils" but these have minimal resources and powers and are not responsible for any of the major services)
   True, the new council does have what are optimistically but very misleadingly called Cornwall Council logo - click to visit the Council's website"one stop shops", one of which is located in Liskeard in the offices where the old Caradon District council was located. But is it possible to telephone the area office/one stop shop direct? No, it is not. As if to emphasise the remoteness of the new council, it has adopted the most user-unfriendly telephone system imaginable which uses 0300 numbers which are charged at - wait for it - national rates (point made?). It could easily have opted to use local rate numbers but chose not to do so.    Numbers for the more local "one stop shops"/area offices are not published anywhere so there is no alternative but to endure a tedious pass the parcel system via the centralised call centre before, after several transfers, one reaches someone who knows about the matter you wish to discuss and who is located less than a day's journey from where you live.

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So the "local rate" numbers that is suggested here the Council could have used begin with what prefix?  ::)

Clearly this person has taken the Council's statement that it is "national rate" to imply:
1. that national calls are still more expensive than local ones.
2. that 0300 calls cost more than local ones on today's tariffs.
3. that there is another type of number that could be charged at local rate.

Although based on a false assumption about telephone charges, there is some merit in the points made here, which are reflected elsewhere in this forum.

A large part of the resentment against 084x numbers is simply to do with the fact that organisations are "rationalising" telephone contact by setting up functionally specialised call centre operations, rather than having local contact points that deal by telephone as well as in person. That is what many people want to "Say No" to. They want telephone contact to reflect a more personal local engagement than is seen to be actually necessary as we have a telephone network that can operate on a national and international basis.

The call cost and the propriety of funding through revenue sharing are significant issues, however for some they are secondary to, and as in this case simply assumed to follow from, the real issue of concern.

In celebrating 03xx numbers we acknowledge that our concern is purely with the funding and costing issues.

The term "national rate" may raise issues for those in the Nations of Wales and Scotland. It may also be a matter of concern to the more proudly Cornish. This is why Ofcom prefers the term "UK rate". I note that Mebyon Kernow rejects the Cornwall Council in favour of a Cornish Assembly.