This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Minister praises Fife Council
05/08/2004
Fife Council is delivering modern services focused on
the needs of the people of Fife, Andy Kerr said today. The
Minister for Finance and Public Services was visiting Fife
Council Contact Centre as part of a wider tour of Fife when
he praised the services provided at the Centre and
elsewhere in the Kingdom by the Council.
The Contact Centre is a one-stop shop dealing with
housing, Council Tax, transport and building services
queries. The volume of calls it deals with has recently
risen to 500,000 calls per annum and it currently employs
41 full time equivalent staff. Mr Kerr said:
"I am delighted to see for myself the excellent access
to public services that the Fife Contact Centre offers
people in Fife. Real progress has been made since the
initial pilot Centre in 2001 and its obvious that the
services now provided by the Council are very much focused
on the people who use them."
Mr Kerr learnt more about the use of handheld computers
in Fife as part of his wider tour, and visited a service
user in the Leven area who benefited from the new
technology. The wireless system is being tested in Fife as
part of pilot scheme which allows occupational therapists
and support staff to access a database system for Fife
Joint Community Equipment Store, thus improving
productivity, reducing administration costs and speeding up
service provision.
Mr Kerr also spent some time at a paper recycling mill
in Leslie. He toured the facilities at Smith Anderson &
Co which is Europe's largest integrated manufacturer,
supplier and recycler of paper, paper and plastic packaging
and stationery products. Mr Kerr said:
"The Scottish Executive is committed to transforming
Scotland's record on waste reduction, recycling and
composting and the facilities I have seen here today play
an important role in helping us meet our packaging recovery
targets. I have also seen that the partnership approach
between Fife Council and Smith Anderson plays a fundamental
role in providing excellent public services and I
congratulate all involved for their success in the
recycling industry."
The final stage of Mr Kerr's tour was spent meeting
representatives of Kingdom Housing Association and visiting
affordable housing projects in Largoward.