IN response to Sushila Dhall’s letter (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, May 29), we’d like to apologise to the caller who was unable to get through to our system.

Oxford City Council introduced one telephone number where people can have the majority of their queries dealt with at their first point of contact.

The contact centre can answer queries on a number of services including council tax, housing benefit, tenancy and rent, repairs for council tenants, elections, pest control, planning, dog wardens and waste.

We deal with an average of 4,500 calls per week and about 90 per cent of these calls are resolved within the contact centre without needing to transfer the customer.

The contact centre has been undergoing significant improvements since its creation in September last year in order to provide a better service for customers and improve accessibility. We are continuing to improve this system to make it quicker and easier for customers to use our system.

The team received 4,744 calls (week beginning May 21) and the average waiting time was one minute and nine seconds.

There are particular times of the day when the team is busier but we ensure that the maximum numbers of staff are available during these times to ensure calls are answered in a timely manner.

We have also extended the opening times for the contact centre, which is now open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

To further improve accessibility, we are continuously adding services to our website – oxford.gov.uk.

VAL SMITH, Executive member for customer services and regeneration, Oxford City Council