Complaints

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) definition of a complaint is:

Any written or spoken expression of dissatisfaction with the service provided by a member of staff or the Department.

This covers complaints made against staff (by telephone or in writing by letter or e-mail) in the NIO about delays in replying to letters, not answering telephones, alleged rudeness, etc. Complaints may be made by other Government departments, agencies, non-departmental public bodies etc, as well as by members of the public.

It is our policy to respond to all enquiries promptly and courteously. Although we work hard to provide a good service, sometimes things go wrong. We aim to provide a procedure for handling complaints confidentially, fairly and speedily.

A complaint about the Department's refusal to provide information will be dealt with under the provision of the Freedom of Information Act which came into force on 1 January 2005.

NIO complaints procedure

The three key stages of our complaints system are:

Further advice

Further information on complaints handling procedures may be obtained from

Donna Knowles
Central Management Unit
Room 20
Stormont House Annexe
Stormont Estate
BELFAST
BT3 4SH