In March, integrated customer services expanded their client base and generated a high level of interest among citizens. According to statistics, the government offices were especially popular with citizens.

In March, customer services offered assistance in a total of 18,824 cases. Thus the number of cases dealt with by the 29 government offices around the country since they opened on 3 January 2011 has increased to 61,808.

In March a total of 16,782 members of the public visited government offices. In addition to general cases, assistance in the past month was most requested in relation to child-care allowance applications (1,417) and to the claiming of travel allowances (969). The portal offering assistance in dealing with official matters was used by 1,379 members of the public.

In the name of national solidarity, since 15 March integrated customer services have been offering the preferential handling of applications for naturalisation procedures to Hungarians beyond the borders. The popularity of this is indicated by the fact that within two weeks 296 people had claimed dual citizenship at government offices.

The Government of National Cooperation sees a vital role for government offices in a public administration restructuring programme of historic proportions. The integrated customer service centres – unique among public institutions in being open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. – currently handle thirty subject areas, but there is a rolling preparation programme for the number and type of cases handled to be continuously increased.

The most important goal of government offices is the provision of focused assistance to citizens, even in unusual situations. By the end of 2013, the implementation of this ‘one-stop’ approach to handling administration will have created the customer-friendly system of public administration which citizens have rightly demanded for decades.

(kormany.hu)