Page 1493 - Week 04 - Thursday, 12 April 2018
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ACT Revenue Office—operations
(Question No 1103)
Mr Coe asked the Treasurer, upon notice, on 23 March 2018:
(1) What is the standard timeframe for the ACT Revenue Office to respond to queries in (a) letters, (b) emails, (c) over the telephone and (d) any other method of contact.
(2) What was the average length of time it took the ACT Revenue Office to respond to (a) letters, (b) emails, (c) over the telephone and (d) any other method of contact during each quarter of (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17 and (iii) 2017-18 to date.
(3) How are staffing levels managed and deployed during peak quarters to meet the demand of additional inquiries and tasks and can the Treasurer include whether (a) staff members are redeployed, (b) additional staff members are recruited; if so, on what basis and (c) any contractors or external parties are brought in to assist workflow.
(4) What is the total number of inquiries that have not yet been responded to by (a) method of contact and (b) month received.
(5) What is the expected timeframe for responses for queries identified in part (4) for each method of contact.
(6) What is the total number of tasks to be actioned or pending in the Operations area of the ACT Revenue Office by (a) month received or identified and (b) task to be completed.
Mr Barr: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) and (2):
The ACT Revenue Office endeavours to answer telephone queries as they come in and written queries within four business days. The average telephone call time in 2016-17 was 29 seconds and 51 seconds in 2017-18 (year to date). If all lines are busy, customers can leave a message and staff will respond the next business day. The ACT Revenue Office call centre was consolidated on 1 July 2016 and a telephone reporting functionality developed at this time – there was no reporting functionality before that time.
(3) In order to manage peak times, such as the annual general rates billing period (July to September), the ACT Revenue Office manages its workforce flexibly with additional staff deployed in the Operations area. This involves both redeployments of existing staff and the hiring of contractors. Permanent staff are generally not recruited specifically to assist with peak times.
(4) (5) and (6):
At any one time, there will always be a number of tasks to be completed within the ACT Revenue Office. Tasks are generally expected to be completed within 28 business days, depending on the level of complexity and information received. Most
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