Our commitment is to provide a high quality service to all our customers. Specifically, we aim to meet the following standards of customer service.
Service to Data Suppliers
We will endeavour to operate efficiently by placing the minimum load necessary on data providers and by integrating our statistical work with administrative systems where possible. We will responsibly secure all the information provided to us and will respect the confidentiality of all identifying information in accordance with the accompanying statement on confidentiality.
Service to Users
The office is committed to serving the interests of the end users of our statistical information. We will endeavour to:
- publish our statistics on the pre-announced time and date;
- publish our statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics and the Office’s Statistical Policies and Procedures;
- provide supporting information and material in Official Statistics publications to help customers make the best possible use of information provided;
- provide accessible channels which enable users to provide their views and opinions;
- respond efficiently and accurately to questions and enquiries;
- consult with users on developments and changes to our statistical methodologies, publications or publication processes;
- engage annually with users on our statistical work plan;
- respond in a timely manner to any complaints from users.
The Information and Communications Unit will strive to be transparent when we are unable to meet any of these commitments and will welcome suggestions from users on how to better meet their statistical requirements.
Statistics which are produced and released on a regular basis are available free of charge via the Statistics and Research page as part of the Police Ombudsman’s website.
In accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, we will announce the month of release of these statistics at least 12 months in advance. All statistical releases are published at 9.30am.
Statistical releases will be made available in a range of printable formats, including Adobe Acrobat PDF. Tables from published statistics will also be made available in Microsoft Excel format and will be downloadable online. Where users require statistics that are not available from the regular statistical releases, enquiries should be emailed to the Information and Communications Unit at info@policeombudsman.org.
Service Standards
The Information and Communications Unit have a wide ranging and varied group of statistical customers, including:
- members of the public;
- ministers and policy makers within the Department of Justice;
- political representatives, including Members of the Assembly;
- The Northern Ireland Policing Board;
- Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI);
- Policing and Community Safety Partnerships;
- expert external special interest and pressure groups;
- media and commentators.
The Information and Communications Unit also has a range of internal customers ranging from Office investigators to the Police Ombudsman.
If you contact the office, you may expect staff to be polite, approachable and helpful. We will make every reasonable effort to ensure that you are provided with information that is timely, relevant and accurate.
In the event of customer requests for information, an initial response can be expected within five working days of receipt. The response will either be an answer to the issue you have raised, or a notification that the correspondence is being dealt with. In the event of a holding reply being issued, it will contain a date by which we intend to provide a full response. Users can expect to receive a substantive reply within 20 working days, commencing from the date when correspondence is received.
Inevitably, minor mistakes will be made in the production of statistical information and the Information and Communications Unit is committed to rectifying such issues promptly when they arise. As a Unit, we will always apologise when mistakes are made.
If you wish to make a complaint regarding a member of the Information and Communications Unit staff, please refer to the Complaints Strategy.