Contacting government made easier

An innovative new section in the newly published South-West edition of The BT Phone Book has been created to make it easier for local people to find important Government contact details across Northern Ireland.

The new 20-page section has been welcomed by the Consumer Council and is unique to Northern Ireland.

It can be found from page 605, between The Phone Book's Classified Directory and A-Z Business section, and is on highly visible maroon-edged pages.

It brings together all of the main central Government services under a series of easy to read, practical headings.

The Department of Finance and Personnel's (DFP) Delivery & Innovation Division led the development, and commenting on it, Finance Minister David Hanson said: "Government services impact on the lives of every person in Northern Ireland, every day, so I am pleased that we are actively considering access to services from the customer's perspective. This sensible approach, which aims to make it easier and quicker for people to get contact details they need, means people don't have to know the structure of Government just to get in touch with a particular service."

Numbers are listed under sensible service headings, such as benefits or roads or training and information is also provided on other methods of contact, such as textphones, email or web addresses, so that the public can choose how to contact the service they need.

Mike Hopkins, general manager for marketing at The Phone Book from BT, said: "This is an important initiative which we are delighted to have worked on with DFP's Delivery & Innovation Division. It is crucial that all our customers have access to the numbers they need, when they need them, so we are pleased that we have been able to introduce this comprehensive new section for customers in Northern Ireland. We look forward to hearing what the general public thinks of the new section."

Steve Costello, Chairman of the Consumer Council, which also played a key role in developing the new section, welcomed the initiative.

He said: "This is a practical, positive and consumer-friendly initiative. It shows that Government is listening to calls to make its services more accessible to everyone in Northern Ireland.

"Consumers told us that they want to find details of all Government services in one place, rather than have to hunt through The Phone Book. This new section does just that - it is visible, easy to find and the various offices are listed under broad headings that should make it much easier to find the number that you want."

Distribution of the 2006/07 South-West edition of The Phone Book has taken place over the past three weeks and is nearing completion.

The new Government section will be replicated in each of the four editions of The Phone Book for Northern Ireland, enabling people in all parts of the country to have access to all the contact details.

(EF/GB)