ANNEX A
In its report the House of Commons on 2 April
1998 the Comptroller and Auditor General made six recommendations
that OFTEL could address to improve its effectiveness even further.
These were accepted by the Director General of Telecommunications.
The plan for their implementation which is managed
by the Director of Competition and Fair Trading and overseen by
the Director General is as follows:
A. OFTEL TO CONTINUE
TO EXAMINE
WAYS IN
WHICH THEY
MIGHT RECRUIT
AND RETAIN
FOR LONGER
PERIODS STAFF
WITH SKILLS
WHICH ARE
RELEVANT TO
THEIR WORK
ON ANTI-COMPETITIVE
BEHAVIOUR
Current practice
Traditionally OFTEL was staffed by civil servants
on 2-3 years loan from other departments, mainly the DTI. Since
1995 individuals with relevant experience, including law, economics,
the telecoms industry, have been recruited on fixed term contracts,
usually for 3-5 years. In August 1997 permanent appointments and
longer fixed term contracts were introduced. At present 43 per
cent of staff are on loan from other departments (26 per cent
from DTI); 42 per cent are on fixed term contract; 11 per cent
are permanent and 3 per cent are legal secondees.
A Personnel Policy Steering Group (PPSG), set
up in 1996, meets at least quarterly to monitor and review personnel,
training and development policies.
Actions
— Review current complement within
the Fair Trading and Competition Directorate and consider what
if any changes are necessary once new Director has been in post
for six months. Personnel, Recruitment and Training Unit (PRTU)
to assist implementation of changes. (March 1999)
— PRTU to review OFTEL wide recruitment
procedures and policies. (September 1998)
— PRTU to consider alternative and
extended selection procedures. Assessment centre procedure to
be piloted for band C staff (staff at old SEO level to grade 6).
(Autumn 1998)
— Employee attitude survey covering
wide range of personnel, management and communications issues
circulated April 1998. Results published June 1998. An action
plan drawing on the results will be completed by July 1998. The
survey:
— identifies many issues common in
public service, such as pay, recognition, accommodation;
— reveals that staff did not feel
that there were enough opportunities for promotion and career
development;
— shows that the majority of staff
considered OFTEL was above average or one of the best organisations
to work for; and
— confirms that the majority were
fairly or very satisfied about their jobs.
We are building on this as part of the IiP programme.
— PRTU provide six monthly reports
to PPSG on the outcome of exit interviews to monitor and identify
retention issues. (Next report due July 1998)
— All reporting officers and jobholders
are required under the annual performance appraisal system to
identify training and development needs and let staff know on
a regular basis how they are doing. In Branch 4 the training and
development needs identified as part of this annual appraisal
will be reviewed by PRTU to identify whether there are any gaps
in the way these needs are met. (Ongoing)
— Under our new arrangements for the
pay and banding system all posts are now advertised, thus improving
career opportunities for all staff. A wider range of development
opportunities are to be offered to staff, e.g., through participation
with Whitehall in Industry schemes. (Ongoing)
B. OFTEL SHOULD
CONTINUE TO
RECRUIT STAFF
WITH RELEVANT
PRACTICAL LEGAL,
TECHNICAL AND
COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE
AND SUPPORT
THEM WITH
TARGETED TRAINING
Current practice
— Staff are now recruited with relevant
skills and experience.
— Since August 1995 a comprehensive
training programme has been designed to give OFTEL staff the skills
to do their jobs and awareness training covering other aspects
of their work.
— In 1996 the skills for competition
caseworkers were identified and training has been delivered.
— Training and development needs of
all staff are addressed on an annual basis at least.
— "Management in its fullest sense"
is acknowledged and a modular programme covering coaching, meetings
management, influencing and negotiating and communication skills
is under development.
— The programme to enhance the commercial
awareness of staff who are not from a commercial background is
being strengthened. For example: two courses have been developed
for understanding commercial accounts and how businesses take
decisions from a commercial information. The second module is
now being delivered.
Actions
— A training and development log book
will be introduced for all staff. (September 1998)
— The annual competition for gaining
financial support for further education will take place in June.
Consideration will be given to the value of including clauses/
provision to retain some staff who are successful in gaining support
during their studies and for a pre-determined period after studies
have been completed. (July 1998)
— PPSG will review on a quarterly basis
the training and development programme. (Ongoing)
— Ensure that all specialist staff
attend targeted training.
C. OFTEL SHOULD CONSIDER
USING EXTERNAL
REVIEW TO
ASSESS FROM
TIME TO
TIME HOW
QUALITY OF
THEIR INVESTIGATION
WORK IS
DEVELOPING
Current Practice
OFTEL does not currently have an external assessor
for its work—save of course for consumers and the industry
in the wide sense of the term—and is considering whether
a similar approach to that followed by the NAO is appropriate.
OFTEL has to consider both the issues of confidentiality of information,
the type of assessors that would need to be retained and the financial
aspects of ensuring value for money.
As a first step, OFTEL's internal system is
under review to establish independent quality monitoring controls
so as to ensure that all casework across OFTEL is dealt with effectively
and efficiently.
The review will encompass changes that will
be required in response to the Competition Bill. OFTEL is liaising
with OFT in this area.
Actions
An experienced Casework Manager has been moved
off line to undertake the quality review, implement its findings
and thereafter act as Quality Monitoring Officer.
His task is to review procedures to:
— ensure they cover all compliance
activity, e.g., competition casework, licence condition enforcement;
— ensure internal consistency in all
procedures adopted within OFTEL;
— consider a process for ongoing quality
review of all casework to assist OFTEL achieve operational excellence
in all areas of activity;
— produce revised manuals covering
all compliance activity;
— put revised procedures in place by
November 1998 and provide training to all interested parties by
the year end.
The issue of external auditing of casework handling
will be considered in parallel and draw upon this review. The
Casework Manager responsible will:
— Prepare a paper identifying the benefits
and drawbacks of such an approach, areas where such review would
be useful and types of experts who could be used. (November
1998)
— Help determine whether to adopt this
approach and provide a timetable for implementation or further
review. (January 1999)
D. OFTEL SHOULD ALSO
REPORT:
— the time taken to complete an investigation
from the date the complaint was received; and
— the average time taken to handle
all complaints.
Current Practice
— This is already in hand and the relevant
information is being collated.
— The Competition Bulletin of April
1998 published the number of cases over six months old and the
percentage of cases over three months old for the period December
1996 to December 1997.
— We will continue to publish the time
taken to complete an investigation from the date the complaint
was received and the average time taken to handle all complaints.
— We propose wider publication, to
include our Internet site.
Action
To implement these the following steps are being
put in place:
— Produce relevant statistics from
January 1998 to June 1998. (July 1998)
— Consider best format for presentation
(tables, graphs, etc.). (July 1998)
— Produce these statistics on a quarterly
basis for:
—Publication in Competition Bulletin
(Ongoing)
— Consider statistics and targets to
be published in the light of current review. (January 1999)
E. OFTEL SHOULD CONTINUE
TO DEVELOP
THEIR CONTACTS
WITH INDEPENDENT
SERVICE PROVIDERS.
THEY SHOULD
EXPLORE THE
BENEFITS OF
FURTHER DEVELOPING
THEIR COMMUNICATIONS
WITH CONSULTANTS
AND MANUFACTURERS
Current Practice
OFTEL already have extensive contact on a regular
basis with Independent Service Providers and a forum is held on
a regular basis where issues of concern to the industry are discussed.
This is in addition to the ongoing contact that OFTEL staff have
on individual cases.
The issues of the communications consultants
has already been looked into and a seminar was organised inviting
those who set themselves up as consultants to attend. The response
was not positive, despite individual invitations. It also transpired
that in the absence of a definition or organisation representing
consultants the term included people with diverse interests, e.g.,
from shop-owners selling cheap international calls to legal consultants
who may be involved in telecoms issues overseas.
The role of OFTEL in relation to manufacturers
of equipment is becoming increasingly marginalised as:
— the market is in most areas competitive;
— issues that may be of concern are
appropriate for OFT as they raise issues which are not telecoms
specific but could arise in any number of industries.
However, to provide an opportunity for further
development of existing links, OFTEL has invited expressions of
interest in an open day from those who advise the telecoms industry
on competition issues. At the same time we are reviewing the existing
fora and contact to see what if any areas need development.
Actions
— Identify areas where regular contacts
exist. (September 1998)
— Identify any areas in which it would
be useful to extend or improve contacts. (October 1998)
— For those areas that are identified
as suitable for extension etc., prepare a plan for roll out and
implementation. (October 1998)
— Organise further workshops for possible
complainants and their representatives. (October 1998/ongoing)
F. OFTEL SHOULD REVIEW
THEIR EXPERIENCE
OF USING
THE FAIR
TRADING CONDITIONING
PREPARING THEMSELVES
FOR THE
NEW POWERS
THEY WILL
HAVE WHEN
THE COMPETITION
BILL IS
ENACTED
Current Practice
Although OFTEL has formally enforced the FTC
on one occasion there have been other cases where its use was
considered but where formal action was not necessary. Its value
lies in the fact that its introduction into licences has brought
about an obvious change in the behaviour of the licensees and
their future strategy. This includes among other things the first
appointment of Compliance Officers. (Their role is to act independently
of the company to ensure that the employees and the company strategy
is compliant with legislation and licence obligations). OFTEL
is currently developing specific rules, training and procedures
relating to the proposed new Competition Act through the projects:
— Developing OFTEL's framework for
dealing with Competition Issues'
Actions
— Implement changes to procedures of
Advisory Body on Fair Trading in Telecommunications, incorporating
lessons learnt from the first FTC case. (October 1998)
— Prepare a review paper of other lessons
learned from the FTC; including implications for policy issues
and staff training (October 1998)
— Identify lessons and areas of change
taking into account the Competition Bill developments. (Ongoing)
— Identify and supply information for
updating the procedures manuals. (October 1998)
— Reflect work programmes contained
in the Developing OFTEL's framework for dealing with Competition
Issues project; specifically those concerned with casework
procedures and training. (November 1998)
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