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New Customer Service Centre for Christchurch

Wednesday 22 May 2013, 12:38PM

By Judith Collins

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Justice Minister Judith Collins today opened a new multi-jurisdictional Customer Service Centre and marked the returning of full registry services to the District and High Courts in central Christchurch.

The new centre in Durham Street provides a one-stop-shop for the Ministry of Justice, and will manage face-to-face customer interactions with court customers and lawyers for the District Court and the High Court.

“Christchurch’s Customer Service Centre is another example of the justice sector working smarter and delivering better public services,” Ms Collins says.

“The centre will also be a stepping stone towards even more integrated services being delivered through the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct, a key anchor project for the Christchurch rebuild.”

Features of the new centre include:

  • Modern, open plan floor layout between court customers, lawyers and Ministry of Justice staff.
  • Greater utilisation of technology enabling faster access to information and resolution of enquiries reducing the need for the customers to revisit.
  • A single point where customers can pay fees, fines and reparations.
  • A convenient ‘drop-box’ for lawyers to use when dropping off information to the Registries.
  • Private meeting rooms for staff to meet with customers including lawyers.

 

“The new Customer Service Centre follows excellent progress across the sector’s Better Public Services (BPS) results to December 2012, showing a 9 per cent reduction in total crime rate (down from 983 to 891 crimes per 10,000 people) and a 7 per cent reduction in violent crime (down from 109 to 102 crimes per 10,000 people).

“We are continually developing smarter ways to ensure access to justice. This Government is delivering better public services, and a safer New Zealand,” Ms Collins says.

BPS targets for the justice sector are to reduce the total recorded crime rate by 15 per cent, the recorded violent crime rate by 20 per cent, the youth crime rate by 5 per cent and the reoffending rate by 25 per cent by 2017.