Question On Notice No. 1971 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 March 2019 by Hon Alison Xamon
Question Directed to the: Leader of the House representing the Minister for Child Protection; Women's Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Community Services
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I
refer to the free confidential phone counselling service for young people,
Kids Helpline, and I ask:
(a) how
much funding was provided by the Western Australian Government to Kids Helpline in 2018;
(b) how
many calls from Western Australian children and young people were made to the
Kids Helpline in 2018; and
(c) how
many of these calls were not answered?
Answered on 10 April 2019
(a) $63,215 (excluding GST)
(b-c) Children and young people may contact the Kids Helpline by telephone, web chat or email. During 2018, the number of contacts and unanswered contacts, including by telephone, is as follows:
|
Type of contact
|
Number of contacts
|
Number of unanswered contact attempts
|
|
Telephone
|
23,259
|
15,398
|
|
Web Chat
|
7,505
|
4,330
|
|
Email
|
821
|
0
|
|
Total
|
31,585
|
19,728
|
When calling the service, callers will hear a 20-second introduction message before their call is progressed to a counsellor. Approximately 20 per cent of unanswered calls are callers hanging up before the completion of the 20-second message. These calls do not enter the phone queuing system but they recorded as unanswered.
The number of unanswered calls for Western Australian children and young people is consistent with the national average for this service.