The Editor of the Express & Echo is not happy for the story to appear on this website in its entirety, but has said that Jim may post a link to it, for which he is grateful. Clicking the link below will open a new browser window to the Express & Echo’s site, and display the story:
Centre answers every call to city council
Another Step towards Totalitarianism !
The following article, reproduced by permission, was recently published by the Daily Express.
Exeter City Council didn’t wait until April to implement this further erosion of democracy. ECC’s Leisure Manager used this despicable tactic on 8th February 2007, presumably to avoid facing up to the points and queries raised in Jim’s email sent two days previously.
Look at the huge amount of unnecessary trouble to everyone that this has caused. Is this really what Government wants?
Town halls told to shun public
Daily Express – Monday 25th February 2008 – Page 4
TOWN hall officials are being urged to avoid contact with the public, it emerged yesterday.
Instead, they are being encouraged by Whitehall directives to set up call centres and computerised answering services. Residents should be persuaded to get in contact by email, the instructions say.
One target recommends reducing the "total number of customer contacts". It says: "Good performance is typified by a lower number. A falling number implies a council is reducing avoidable contact with customers."
Critics fear the move is designed to stop members of the public complaining about poor services or soaring council tax.
Tory MP Eric Pickles, shadow Local Government Secretary, said: "Gordon Brown is creating a faceless Britain.
"Whitehall's latest town hall targets risk creating an army of bureaucrats, being rewarded for avoiding contact with the public and responding to queries as unhelpfully as possible.
"The elderly and those less well-
"Electronic government should be about making services more accessible, not about installing a 'Computer Says No' mentality in our public services."
The directives are due to come into force this April.
© Daily Express
(Reproduced by permission)
It’s Happening!
Our remote City Council, whose actions are making a mockery of democracy, is implementing what it calls its Customer Service Centre. This high sounding device will form a barrier protecting the decision makers from the public, allowing them to do their own thing without hindrance, criticism or unfavourable feedback from those most affected by their schemes. It is being presented to us as a more efficient service. Will words and actions match? Is this yet more misrepresentation? Will Council Officers become even further remote?
This development is reported on page 7 of the 1st April 2008 edition of the Express & Echo under the heading, “Centre answers every call to city council”. This article contains a number of informative details. Jim has emailed the editor requesting permission to reproduce this article in its entirety on this website. If the local press is as generous as the national press, the article will appear below.