Question NW3614 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration
04 December 2015 - NW3614
Van der Westhuizen, Mr AP to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration
(1)(a) What are the relevant details of each toll-free helpline and/or hotline for the public service and (b) how can the public access the specified details; (2) are there any plans to consolidate any of the specified hotlines; if not, why not; if so, (a) why and (b) who will be responsible for the specified initiative; (3) is anything hampering the specified initiative; if so, what are the further relevant details; (4) does his department track the number of queries that are referred to other helplines; if not, why not; if so, (a) what is the percentage of queries that are referred to other helplines and (b) how many queries that were made through the specified hotlines were (i) referred to other helplines and (ii) marked as satisfactorily resolved despite only being referred to other hotlines in the 2014-15 financial year; (5) does his department have any plans in place to modernise the support services offered through hotlines, particularly by making use of mobile phones and/or smart phones; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1) (a) Refer to attached Annexure 1 for details of the toll-free helpline and or hotline.
The following provinces indicated that they have call centres and/or hotlines; Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Western Cape. The other three (3) provinces (i.e. Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and North West) indicated that they do not have call centres or hotlines.
The following key service delivery oriented national government department indicated that they have call centres; Social Development, Labour, Human Settlements, Health, Home Affairs, Department of Public Service and Administration, Public Service Commission, Government Employees Medical Scheme, South African Police Services and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
(b) The public can access the details in many ways including from the website of the relevant departments and government telephone directory
(2) Discussions on rationalising the hotlines are in progress. The final decisions will be communicated as soon as they are concluded. The Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation, the Department of Public Service and Administration, the Public Service Commission and the National Treasury are the initiators of such discussions.
(3) Nothing is hampering discussions towards rationalisation of the hotlines/ call centres.
(4) No.
(5) The Department of Public Service and administration has developed a national framework to guide complaints and compliments in the public service. It is currently supporting departments and provinces to align their complaints and compliments systems to the national framework.