North Lanarkshire Council always puts the customer first – and the Customer First programme is continuing to deliver excellent service.

First Stop Shops in particular are providing fast, easy and effective access to council and public services to people throughout North Lanarkshire, dealing with more than 196,000 enquiries during 2005.

As more First Stop Shops become available and services continue to improve, more customers will find they have an excellent information resource on their doorsteps.

First Stop Shops were initially introduced as part of the North Lanarkshire Direct project, which aims to modernise and improve access to council services. And this month (March) will see the first steps taken to increase the total number of First Stop Shops in North Lanarkshire to 12.

The neighbourhood housing offices in Woodside Street, Coatbridge and in Harthill have just completed a £95,000 upgrading process that will bring in new facilities and equipment and ensure that our customers access all the services they need in the heart of their local communities.

Kilsyth and Shotts First Stop Shops have now implemented joint working arrangements with JobCentre Plus, and offer regular job centre surgeries from their office. JobCentre Plus kiosks are now operational in Shotts Library and Kilsyth First Stop Shop.

Similar working arrangements have been agreed for Coatbridge First Stop Shop, meaning even more customers will have access to wider range of services than ever before.

As a further enhancement to service, cashless payment facilities are being introduced in all First Stop Shop counters in April, allowing customers to make payment by debit or credit card during their visit rather than being re-directed to a Cash Collection office.

Other recent innovations include the introduction of touch screen kiosks at the First Stop Shops in Cumbernauld, Shotts and Coatbridge. This service gives customers access to information about a range of housing and online services like repair reporting, special uplift requests and rent and council tax payment options.

The kiosks provide an alternative to queuing at the First Stop Shop counter, and are extremely easy to use. Touching the screen displays a range of options and pressing one of the large size buttons means people can instantly find the information they want.

Since they were introduced at the end of 2005, the kiosks at Cumbernauld, Shotts and Coatbridge have received more than 7,000 hits from more than 100 sessions, demonstrating that people are already making the most of the new technologies available.

A video conferencing link between Cumbernauld First Stop Shop and the private benefits service in Airdrie has now been introduced and is operating successfully. Customers can speak directly to a specialist member of staff in private benefits through a PC and camera link set up in a private interview room.

Council customers benefit from a range of online services from the council website, including an online bill payments facility for rent, council tax, community charge and non-domestic rates as well as for outstanding debt arrangements.

In addition, the website offers an extensive service that allows North Lanarkshire residents to access information about council services and events including local road restrictions and the council budget. It also contains details about "Have Your Say", a consultation event that allows residents to discuss provision of protective services like pest control and public health.

"North Lanarkshire Council believes it is vital for our customers to be able to access information and advice about our services as quickly and easily as possible," said assistant chief executive Russell Ellerby.

"We have been working towards improving the way we provide that information and advice, and recent reports show that our efforts are working and that more people than ever before are using that enhanced provision.

"As we continue to introduce new technologies and to extend the range of ways our customers can get in touch with us, that situation can only continue to improve. Customer First is demonstrably achieving the results we wanted it to achieve."

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