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CSO Commitment to Quality Service

The Director General and his staff are committed to providing a high quality service to all who deal with the CSO. We work hard to maintain and improve the standard of service we provide and to keep problems to a minimum. We are also committed to minimising the burden on our data providers and dealing with them in as efficient a manner as possible.

In addition, all information supplied to the CSO is treated as strictly confidential. No details that could be related to an identifiable person or business undertaking may, under law, be divulged to any other Government Department or body.

If you are not satisfied with the service we provide, please let us know. Only in this way can we improve matters. We welcome your feedback and will deal with your complaints promptly, impartially and in confidence.

How to Complain

The following approach is suggested:

• Initially complaints should be directed to the relevant section of the Office, either by phone or in writing. The staff there will try to resolve your complaint without delay;
• If your complaint cannot be resolved by the staff directly involved or if you are unhappy with their response, you should ask for the complaint to be referred to the Manager of the area;
• In the event that you are still unhappy with the response, you should contact the Customer Relations Officer who will arrange for your complaint to be officially investigated. His contact details are as follows:

Information which should be provided

You will help to speed up the investigation of your complaint by providing the following details if available:

• the date of the occurrence;
• your name, address and a CSO reference number (if you have one);
• exactly what you are dissatisfied with;
• the name of the official(s) or section(s) who dealt with you (if known);
• a daytime telephone or fax number if you would be happy for us to contact you by phone - this may help us to resolve the matter more quickly.

Can you appeal?

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the review by the Customer Relations Officer the matter may be appealed to

If the matter is still not resolved?

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your appeal or the manner in which it was handled, you may refer the matter to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is totally independent of the CSO and can be contacted at:

However, we would always prefer to resolve the matter directly with a complainant.

CSO Commitments

We are committed to:

• treating complaints promptly, impartially, sensitively, and in confidence
• resolving complaints, where possible, at the first point of contact
• correcting any incorrect or inappropriate action on our part as soon as possible
• dealing with complaints within two weeks of receipt and if this target cannot be met, contacting you to explain why and making a commitment to reply by a specified date
• learning from mistakes to ensure that errors are not repeated.