BUSY AND HELPFUL CITIZEN SERVICE CENTRES [JEPs]

 Filenews 22 October 2020

A total of 4,800 services per day are provided to citizens by the Citizen's Service Centres (JEPs). In fact, last year the JEPs offered EUR 1.17 million for the project. services to citizens.

According to data from the Department of Public Administration and Personnel (BIS), from December 2005, when the first Citizen Service Centre was opened, until December 2019, JEPs provided EUR 10.4 million for the project. services to citizens, as well as 3.2 million information services by telephone.

The Service Centres have made the lives of citizens easier over the last 14 years, as they no longer have to move from one government department to another to be served. More than ninety public services are co-located in the centres, provided by various ministries, departments and services. Also satisfactory is the opening hours of all JEPs, as it is continuous, from 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon, in order to better serve the citizens. Indeed, the latest survey conducted by the Department of Public Administration and Personnel showed that 92.4% of citizens reported a high degree of satisfaction with these centres. Also, 87.3% of the citizens surveyed said they were very satisfied with the time they expected to be served in the JEPs. It is worth noting that a new citizen satisfaction survey is expected soon.

The objectives of the TSI for the coming year are to improve relations between public administration and citizens, by extending and improving the institution of JEPs and by promoting measures to further improve the provision of services. In particular, the aim will be to extend the institution of JEPs and improve their operation, as well as to provide comprehensive and timely information to citizens and businesses on the procedures to be followed for their dealings with the Public Service. Finally, JEPs aim to facilitate citizens' and businesses' access to public information through the development and management of a modern Open Data Portal, as well as to enrich the data hosted on the data.gov.cy portal, with the gradual integration of semi-state organisations and local authorities.