19 NOVEMBER 2014: PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

1. The Presidency Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation THE PRESIDENTIAL HOTLINE 19 NOVEMBER 2014: PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

2. THE PRESIDENTIAL HOTLINE: THE MANDATE • In his State of the Nation address on the 3rd of June 2009, President Zuma stressed the importance of promoting a government that is responsive, interactive and effective. As part of this, the Presidential Hotline (PH) was then officially launched on 6 October 2009, to provide a mechanism for citizens to talk to Government • The management of the Presidential Hotline was transferred to DPME in October 2011 • Role of DPME: • Manages the Presidential Hotline on behalf of the Presidency • Monitors the responsiveness of government to calls • Supports departments to improve their complaints management and complaints resolution: use the Hotline to demonstrate good responsiveness, interaction and communication, and effective complaints management • Analyse the data arising from the Hotline and present reports on the service delivery trends emanating from the Hotline to Cabinet

3. HOW THE HOTLINE WORKS • Cases received via email, letters and other sources are received and logged on the case management system by the hotline office located at the Union Buildings • Phone calls are routed to call agents located at SITA (toll-free number for community members, calls are paid for by DPME) • Most calls are referred by the call agents to national and provincial departments, municipalities, and public entities for resolution and response • Each national department and province has access to the case management system and they are able to view their cases and record progress on-line • Departments are expected to have systems and processes in place to analyse these cases, investigate, respond to the citizen, and update progress on the reporting system • A case is resolved when the citizen or complainant is provided with an adequate response to their complaint. This does not necessarily mean that they were, for example, provided with a low-cost house, it could mean that they were informed that they were in the queue and of future plans to build houses in their area

4. WHAT DO PEOPLE CALL ABOUT (FROM RESEARCH CONDUCTED ON • 161 000 CALLS)

5. RESOLUTION RATE

6. IMPROVING THE RESOLUTION RATE The focus for 2011 to 2013 was to (i) improve responsiveness of departments to PH complaints (% complaints resolved) and (ii) to elevate the strategic management of complaints. Achievements: A minimum performance benchmark of 80% was set and reports against this benchmark were submitted to Cabinet, PCC and FOSAD. This has been largely achieved and exceeded.

7. INCREASING ACCESS AND QUALITY Increasing access to the Hotline by citizens • Access: the number of call agents has been increased from 10 per shift to 15 per shift • Callers are now encouraged to send complaints via email or letter if they can’t get through on the phone line Improving the quality of case resolution • Satisfaction surveys started in 2012 – to date 18 495 users of the PH have participated in the surveys • Outcomes of the survey: 29% of users rated the PH service as poor, 21% as fair and 51% as Good. • The lowest ratings from citizens are for “communication” – some citizens complain that there is insufficient communication during the investigation process

8. INCREASING UTILISATION OF HOTLINE DATA Improving the use of PH information as a source of evidence in planning and budgeting for service delivery improvements: • Little evidence that PH information is regularly analysed by departments, provinces, municipalities and the data is not generally being used to influence planning and implementation • Starting in 2013, DPME commenced with a special research project into the 160 000 complaints database and to provide analyses to targeted departments regarding the complaints received • Sector-focussed in-depth research reports were produced for complaints related to 12 sectors (e.g. Education, Health etc.)

9. DOCUMENTING THE EXPERIENCE • Produced a Publication “Four Years of the Presidential Hotline” and a video depicting field stories from a number of citizens who have used the Hotline. Both of these are available on the website of the department. http://www.thepresidency-dpme.gov.za/keyfocusareas/hotlineSite/Pages/HotlinePublications.aspx • Case study database of stories from citizens: 60 stories presented to Cabinet in March 2014 • It is the intention of the department to subject the PH to an independent evaluation during the 2015/16 financial year

10. CHALLENGES We recently did research into areas of challenges and opportunities for improvements with the PH. The following key challenges were identified: • Capturing errors • Insufficient case descriptions • Incomprehensive case record • Spelling and grammatical mistakes • Duplication of information • Misclassification of cases and citizen location • Difficulties in capturing complex and multi-themed complaints • Weaknesses in the quality of case resolution • Inconsistent escalation of cases • Inappropriate resolution by call centre operators • Inappropriate and inadequate resolution by officials in departments and provinces • Limited quality assurance • Inadequate oversight over quality and speed of responses

11. IMPROVEMENTS GOING FORWARD In order to address these issues, we will be focusing on the following: • Restructuring the case classification system • Strengthening case capturing processes • Additional training for call centre operators • Improving quality assurance processes • Enhancing the quality of case resolution • Develop rules and standards on how to investigate and resolve complaints • Monitor adherence to complaints resolution standards by departments • Strengthening monitoring and oversight • Issuing guidance and support in case capturing and quality assurance at the call centre • Integrate correspondence function to the call centre (long term) to enable DPME Hotline staff to focus on the monitoring function • Publicising the Hotline more

12. Thank you Go to http://www.thepresidency-dpme.gov.za/ for DPME documents 12