City Hall Service Standards

We aim to respond to written communication as quickly as possible and within 20 working days.

However, please note that we may not reply to correspondence we consider:

• is not directly addressed to the Mayor, is addressed to another party and where the Mayor has been copied-in for information only
• contains comments that do not require a response e.g. an opinion or a reaction or point of view which does not ask a specific question
• includes unsolicited job applications or CVs (details of our current vacancies are available in the Jobs section on our website)
• is trying to sell or market a product
• to be vexatious or contains abusive or discriminatory language (see our vexatious policy).

In addition, we will not respond where we specifically state that we are unable to enter into correspondence (for example, when inviting responses to consultation documents).

If you have written to request the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) or Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), please take this message as confirmation your request has been received. We will aim to provide a response within the statutory 20 working day deadline.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) will use the personal information you provide on this site to process your feedback, provide you with a response, or the information or services you have requested. On some occasions, we may need to share your information with associated organisations or their agents for these purposes. Your personal information will be properly safeguarded and processed in accordance with the requirements of privacy and data protection legislation. To find out more about how the GLA handles personal data, and your rights under the Data Protection Act, see our Privacy pages.

If you do not want the GLA to share your correspondence with a third-party, please help us by identifying this clearly.

The Mayor’s Public Liaison Unit is open from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and closed on bank and public holidays for England.

Standards:

• we aim to answer all calls within six rings
• we aim to answer 80 per cemt of all attempted calls
• we request that all invitations to the Mayor be made in writing
• we may also ask that requests for complex information, or detailed complaints, be made in writing, for cases where we are unable to address them over the phone
• calls will not be transferred directly to the Mayor's Office, and we may ask that any request to speak with the Mayor be put in writing.

We are committed to providing accessible services for everyone. It would be helpful if you could tell us more about your disability. This will allow us to better understand your situation and meet your needs. The Public Liaison Unit will try to make any reasonable adjustments that you may need to support your request.

Please note that it may be necessary to close the phone line at certain times to allow for staff training/briefings. We will however ensure that disruption to our service will be kept to a minimum.

We expect callers to treat our staff in a respectful and courteous manner. We do not accept abusive behaviour or actions that result in unreasonable demands on our staff. Please see our standards of behaviour for more information.

Please see our information on how to make a complaint.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) is committed to promoting equality of opportunity and diversity in London, as well as challenging discrimination.

In line with the GLA’s Equalities Framework we believe that all employees should be treated with dignity and respect at all times. Staff are entitled to work in an environment free from abuse or harassment.

This applies to email and telephone correspondence. If a member of staff feels threatened, intimidated or abused by comments, then they are entitled to ask that the comments stop.

If they feel that they are unable to resolve a situation on the telephone then they will advise that the call will be terminated. Only after giving a warning will a call actually be terminated.

If you feel that you have been discriminated against by the GLA, or a person or body acting on behalf of the GLA, you can make a complaint.

You may also want to contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission for help and advice.