Customer Service Charter
The House of Commons Enquiry Service answers questions and helps to explain the work, membership and role of the House of Commons to the public.
Our standards
- We will be available to answer your enquiries during the published opening hours
- We will be helpful, polite and respectful
- We will not make promises we cannot keep
- We will use plain language, and avoid using jargon where possible
What you can expect
If you call our enquiry service during our opening hours, you can expect us to:
- answer your call within 20 seconds of connecting to one of the team
- help with your enquiry as best we can
- explain things clearly if the outcome is not what you were hoping for
If you contact us with a written enquiry, we will:
- respond to all points raised, using plain language
- aim to answer most email enquiries within one working day of receipt
- aim to answer all email and letter enquiries within 10 working days of receipt
- keep you informed of progress and let you know when you can expect a full response if we are unable to answer your enquiry fully within the 10 working day period
- try our best to direct you to alternative sources of information if your question falls outside the remit of our service
In 2022, we answered 90% of email enquiries within one working day, and 100% of written enquiries within 10 working days. All telephone calls were answered within the 20 second target. The quality of the information in our responses was scored as excellent or good by 92% of enquirers, meeting our target of 90%.
How did we do?
We welcome feedback and suggestions for how we can improve our service so please let us know how we did.