We recognise some community frustration with the 101 system and have been working hard to remedy these issues.
The 101 telephone line exists to provide a non-emergency service to the public. There is no UK wide standard of 101 performance.
Recent performance on the 101 system has improved. Last week there were 9266 calls, 75% of which were answered within 30 seconds. The average answer time was 31 seconds. However, for a small number of calls this is not the case and, at peak times, members of the public can experience delay. Around 4% of calls last week waited more than 3 minutes to have their call answered.
Service on the 999 emergency services is consistently strong with 96% of calls answered within 10 seconds.
The Board should be aware that demand in CMC has increased in the year 2017 by 9.44% and in 2018 by 15.4%. In 2018 CMC dealt with 199,450 x 999 calls, 701,832 x 101 calls and 1.1 million calls to Switchboard. CMC also manages on-line demand.
Contact Management performance is reviewed on a daily basis by the Head of Branch and weekly by Chief Superintendent, District Policing Command.
A review of CMC has recently been completed. The review, which has looked at some examples of good practice in England & Wales, has identified opportunities for improved service, aligning current rising demand with potential changes to the staffing model, resourcing patterns and implementation of new technologies. Twenty recommendations have been made.
In May 2019 the introduction of the new Command and Control system ‘Control Works’ will allow key benefits to be realised within contact management and the majority of these relate to improved ability to meet demand, enhanced performance and operational resilience. This new system represents a very significant investment by PSNI in contact management.