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Radiocommunications
Agency
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Radiocommunications
Agency
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Customers and Quality
The Drive for Quality
The Agency continues to build on the various quality initiatives taken in recent years.
Our aim is to keep at the forefront of benchmarking and other continuous improvement
techniques, using these in pursuing a policy of continuous improvement in the quality of
service provided to our customers.
Customer Service - the Citizen's Charter
The Agency fully supports and complies with the principles of the Citizen's Charter. The
Standards of Service to customers are set out in our Charter Standard Statement (RA 251).
Standards
We will:
Publish annually our standards of service targets and how we deliver against these standards
Targets and performance are published in the Annual
Report and in a separate leaflet that is updated annually. As part of the annual review of
performance targets, the Agency has, in trying to apply consistency over all of our
licensing areas, adopted a different approach for 1996/97. In doing this we shall work to
three measures based on turnaround times which will apply to all the routine licences
issued by the Agency. This new approach will give the RA the incentive to deliver a high
level of customer service in respect of all our routine licences, and not just a selection
of them. It also ensures that no portion of the licences in these categories fall outside
the targets where previously there was no time limit. Our licensing agents are also
required to operate to the same standards.
Information and openness
We will:
The Agency publishes a wide range of information
sheets about its policies and licensing requirements covering all aspects of radio.
The Agency has widened exemptions from licensing, abolished some forms and has continued
work on reducing the number of licence types.
Choice and consultation
We will:
The Agency continues its programme of active
consultation through consultative committees. Membership is drawn from manufacturers,
dealers, network operators, service providers and other users representing the many
interests in radio.
We continue to promote the annual RA Seminar and programme of regional meetings, as well
as customer surveys and consultation on specific issues such as spectrum strategy.
Courtesy and helpfulness
We will:
When meeting customers, or on duty in public places,
all Agency staff wear name badges and are expected to be helpful and courteous.
Putting things right
We will:
Many problems are successfully dealt with
informally, or properly handled through the management chain. However, anyone with a
specific formal complaint can write to the Chief Executive who will call for a report on
the case and send a full and clear reply within ten working days. If, exceptionally, it is
not possible to investigate complaints fully within that time, complainants will be
advised of that and kept informed of progress. Where complainants still remain
dissatisfied, an independent review procedure is available through our Steering Board.
Cases of maladministration can, of course, also be referred to the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Administration.
Value for money
We will:
The Agency aims to give full value for money in all of its services. Our key performance
measure is our ability to recover, by way of licence fees and charges, the actual cost of
our services. The setting of licence fees is subject to Parliamentary approval. Annual
efficiency targets are set and have been achieved each year since the Agency's inception.
The Code of Practice on Access to Government Information
The Code of Practice on Access to Government Information came into effect on 4 April 1994.
The Code applies to all Government Departments and their Agencies, as well as many other
public bodies. It gives greater access to Government information.
Under the Code, all Government Departments will make available to the public:
the key facts and analysis which lie behind major policy announcements,
the reasons behind decisions affecting the public, to those affected,
internal guidelines on dealing with the public, in line with the Citizen's Charter, full details about the provision of public services,
in response to specific requests, information falling within the Department's areas of responsibility.
The Code does not:
provide an access right to individual documents (although these may be supplied),
provide unlimited access to all Government information, require the Agency to acquire new information, require the Agency to provide free, information for which there is normally a charge.
There will always be certain classes or items of information which the Agency should
properly keep confidential. Examples include commercial information about individual
companies, information relating to law enforcement and information which relates to
defence, security or international relations. Part II of the Code sets out a list of
information which is exempt from disclosure. If the material requested falls within one or
more of the categories in this list, the Agency may decline to disclose the information
sought.
Agency Policy in Adopting the Code of Practice
The Agency already provides a great deal of information relating to its management of the
radio spectrum, through information sheets and other publications. Nevertheless, we are
also committed to the principles of the Code of Practice and will endeavour to meet all
requests for information where this is feasible and practical, and provided the
information requested does not fall into any of the categories which are identified as
exempt under the Code. If the information requested cannot be supplied, applicants will be
informed of the reasons and will have the right to appeal against our decision.
So that the costs of providing any information are covered by the individual or
organisation seeking that information, and do not impose an unacceptable burden on all
licence payers, a nominal registration fee is payable for all requests for information not
otherwise available from published sources. In certain circumstances - where the Agency
would be involved in significant additional work to provide the information requested - a
further charge will be made. Full details of our charging policy and an estimate of the
likely cost will be given before we proceed with any work.
Customer Survey
As part of its consultation process with customers, the Agency carries out a regular
customer satisfaction survey. An independent research organisation (MORI) is commissioned
to perform the survey and during 1995/96 the survey group consisted of licensees from the
following groups; Test & Development, LMR Network Operators, Fixed Services, Broadcast
and Satellite Services. A representative sample from each licence class was questioned and
almost 600 interviews undertaken.
Major highlights from this year's survey included:
Licence turn-around times
There was a significant increase in the number of customers satisfied with the time it
took to turn around licence applications. However, the perception continues that these are
longer than the targets which we achieve. From next year we shall be simplifying the
target to ensure consistency in all licence classes.
Frequency assignment and interference reports
Customers in these groups remain largely satisfied with frequency assignments. However, in
the field of satisfactorily handling interference reports we appear to be lagging behind
the performance in our mobile business radio user group. Although many of the issues
raised cannot be resolved easily, there continues to be a general feeling that the
problems are not dealt with particularly well by the Agency. Dealing with interference
reports both satisfactorily and efficiently continues to be important if we are to
continue to maintain customer satisfaction and we shall continue to give this problem our
highest priority, in line with the targets set by Ministers.
Aspects of customer service
It is reassuring to know that, almost unanimously, customers continue to find our staff
knowledgeable and helpful, although there appears to be some deterioration in responses to
telephone calls and correspondence.
Aspects of Agency activity
Once again, there was substantial support for an increase in the Agency's Enforcement and
Licensing awareness campaign. Within the resource constraints applied to us, we shall
continue to promote both of these activities to the best of our abilities.
Value for money
Overall the majority of customer groups feel that the licence fee represents good value
for money. There was a small increase in the total number of customers who feel this,
although there are variances between licence categories.
In our fourth year of customer surveys, we are now analysing data indicating trends over
the period. In most areas these confirm a continuing improvement in customer satisfaction.
But we recognise that there are still some areas where the customer perception could be
better. We are not seen to be particularly pro-active in keeping customers informed,
although we are introducing targeted newsletters to overcome this. In line with the
improvements being set under the Citizen's Charter, we shall be considering our
involvement in the six service standards that will apply to our service from 1 April 1997.
We are grateful to all our customers who participated in this survey and for the very
helpful comments expressed. Copies of the survey report are available from the Agency
library at New King's Beam House.
The Agency's Targets and Performance
In order to measure how successfully we achieve our Mission and realise our Vision, the
Agency is set a range of targets. Quality of service targets are set and agreed annually
with Ministers, while a Steering Board - including independent members with commercial
experience - oversees how efficiently we carry out our functions. The Agency's quality of
service targets and achieved results for 1995/96 are listed in Table I. Table 2 displays
the quality of service targets set for 1996/97. In addition to these targets, the Agency
works to an overall annual efficiency gain target, set at 5% for 1995/96. As in previous
years, this target was achieved. The overall efficiency gain target for 1996/97 has been
set at 6%.
Details of the proposed targets for 1996/97 are shown in Table 2. Work is also progressing
to establish genuine 'quality' measures based upon the objective quality and fitness for
purpose of the spectrum provided to individual licensees. This is a highly challenging
technical task to deliver in a meaningful and auditable manner.
Quality Assurance in the Radio Industry
The Agency continued to work with the radio industry in promoting quality by chairing and
providing the secretariat for the Radiocommunications Quality Council, the body which
manages the industry's Radio Quality Assurance Scheme (RQAS). Membership of the scheme
continues to grow steadily and 140 firms have now been registered.
Information Service and Publications
The Agency continued to produce a wide range of information sheets about its policies and
licensing requirements. Library staff distributed 316,650 copies of publications to
industry and the public and dealt with 12,427 enquiries up to 31st January 1996.
Information sheets and other Agency publications are available, free of charge, from:
Information and Library Service
Radiocommunications Agency
8th Floor
New Kings Beam House
22 Upper Ground
London
SE1 9SA
Enquiry Point
Following the removal of the Agency to South Quay Three in October 1995, we experienced
some problems with the automated voice manager system in the Enquiry Point, and a number
of callers may have had difficulty getting through to us. A new digital telephone
connection finally cured all the problems, exactly one week before the Docklands bombing.
Despite this, our Enquiry Point operators dealt with 37,039 enquiries during the period
1st April 1995 - 31st December 1995. Following the disaster at South Quay 3 in February
1996, the enquiry point service was suspended.
We plan to have the Enquiry Point system (020-7211 0211) - including the automated call
handling service and the fax retrieval service - fully operational by the end of December
1996. Customers with access to a tone-dialling telephone can use this service 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, either to request publications to be sent out by post the following
day, or to order documents to be faxed to them immediately.
Publicity and Exhibitions
The Agency was represented at ten major exhibitions ranging from the International Boat
Show at Southampton and Mobilexpo 95, to the Amateur Radio Show Derby and the
Confederation of Aerial Installers Exhibition. In the early part of the year the Agency's
Chief Executive, fronted 12 Regional Roadshows in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the
Channel Islands, and the main regions of England, at which in excess of 1,000 invited
attendees were informed of potential changes to licensing policy, future pricing concepts,
and the services offered by the Agency's local offices. They were also given the
opportunity to ask questions about the services and operations of the Agency and its
staff. During July and August, the Agency promoted a series of Roadshows along the South
Coast of England from Brighton to Falmouth, including Cowes on the Isle of Wight, with the
objective of informing fishermen and hobby sailors of radio licensing requirements,
certification criteria and changes to emergency channels in 1997.
TABLE 1: RA QUALITY OF SERVICE TARGETS 1995/1996 Results
The Agency's major targets for Quality of Service for the period April 1995 to March 1996
were:
| Target | Outturn | ||
| Aeronautical and Aircraft (1) of applications and amendments processed within 3 working days. | 99% | 100% |  |
| Maritime Business Radio (2) of cases processed within I month. | 98% | 100% | |
| On-site Paging of applications and amendments processed and despatched within 3 working days. |
99% | 100% | |
| Private Mobile Radio Where cases do not require international coordination: of new applications processed and despatched within 15 working days. |
90% | 98% | |
| of amendments processed and despatched within 20 working days. | 90% | 98% | |
| Enforcement Handling of complaints: of safety of life services complaints investigated within 24 hours. |
100% | 100% | |
| of business complaints investigated within 5 working days. | 98% | 99% | |
| of domestic complaints investigated within I month. | 98% | 100% | |
| Enquiry Point(3) of all calls to be answered within 30 seconds. | 90% | 97% | |
| Correspondence The Chief Executive to respond within 10 working days to letters from Members of Parliament delegated to him by Ministers for reply. |
100% | 98% |  |
The Agency's headquarters business was disrupted by the Docklands bomb on 9 February 1996.
Priority was given to resuming customer services at the expense of other aspects of the
Agency's programme of work. The above out-turns for 1995/96 are based on all available
information.
Notes:
(1.) The issue of full licences for the aeronautical and aircraft sector was suspended for 5 weeks following the bomb, due to the non-availability of the computer system. Instead, temporary licences were issued manually within the 3 working days target. These were subsequently replaced by full licences once the computer system was reactivated.
(2.) The issue of Coastal Radio Station licences (formerly Maritime Business Radio licences) was suspended on 10 February 1996 due to non-availability of essential records. Processing on these licences was resumed in mid-March 1996.
(3.) This figure is for the 9 month period to 31 December 1995 only - the last date for which information is available. The computerised enquiry point system was suspended from 10 February 1996 due to the Docklands bomb. An alternative enquiry facility was immediately established but this did not produce the management information needed for these purposes.
TABLE 2: RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS AGENCY QUALITY OF SERVICE TARGETS 1996/1997
The Agency's major targets for Quality of Service for the period April 1996 to March 1997
are:
Licence turn-around targets
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