Social Development
1.(a) How much has her Department spent on the child-protection SMS hotline, (b) how many cases were responded to and (c) how many cases were resolved successfully;
2. whether this service has been outsourced to NPOs or consultants; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
1. (a) How much has her Department spent on the child-protection SMS hotline,
The Department has made use of an SMS service provided by the Directorate e-Government for Citizens (eG4C) in the Department of the Premier, who funds the service. Therefore, there is no charge to the Department to run the service. The SMS service is charged to the public as per their cell phone service provider. SMS’s are part of a bouquet of access points that is provided to the public to enquire, submit complaints and report on any service. Other citizen tools are Please Call Me, toll free and shared call service, and walk-in centre.
(1)(b) how many cases were responded to and (c) how many cases were resolved successfully;
One case related to child protection was reported via the SMS line in September. The matter was referred to a Designated Child Protection Organisation who is dealing with the matter.
2. whether this service has been outsourced to NPOs or consultants; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The service is managed in-house by eG4C. The Department of the Premier has insourced trained call centre staff to deal with the telephone enquiries/ reports/ complaints from citizens. When an SMS is received, the call centre agent phones the complainant back, obtains the necessary details, and reports it to the Department. The SMS service is an added platform for reporting. The others include reporting directly to DSD local offices or via the police.
