British Consul appointed Global Contact Centre Manager for the Foreign Office

Steve Jones, British Consul for the Canary Islands and Malaga, is to take up a new role as Global Contact Centre Manager for the Foreign Office’s flagship Contact Centre programme.

After two terms as Consul for the Canaries and four years as Consul in Malaga, Mr Jones has been appointed to manage the expansion of the highly successful Malaga Contact Centre – which will soon handle consular enquires from across the whole of Europe and Africa – and the creation of three more centres in Hong Kong, Dubai and Ottawa. Once all four centres are established, Mr Jones will oversee the day-to-day performance of the global contact centre operation.

Dave Thomas, Consular Regional Director for Southern Europe, said, ‘We will be sad to lose Steve as Consul, particularly after only five months in the Canaries.

‘However in that time he has increased the number of customer-facing staff from eight to nine, including the Honorary Consul in Lanzarote, extended opening hours at the Consulate in Tenerife, and set-up a new process for seeking customer feed-back in Gran Canaria that we will now be extending across southern Europe. 

‘He has also successfully managed the development of the Malaga Consulate and Contact Centre over the last two years, increasing the number of staff delivering consular services from seven to 25, and recruiting and launching Honorary Consuls in Almeria and Jerez.

‘The Vice Consuls and their teams in the Canaries and Malaga will continue to deliver exactly the same high quality of consular assistance.  The new Consul will take over the responsibility for strategic issues and consular policy. Steve will remain in post until May before the handover to his replacement.’