The Minister of the Presidency, Public Administrations, Justice and Security, Nieves Lady Barreto, visited this Wednesday the new Joint Office of Information and Citizen Attention of La Graciosa, launched at the end of July on the island, in collaboration with the Cabildo of Lanzarote. The office serves citizens one day a week, on Thursdays, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., which facilitates access to public services in person, reducing the digital divide, and allows the submission of documentation from any administration, without having to travel to Arrecife.
Nieves Lady Barreto was accompanied at the official presentation of the office by the island councilor of the Presidency, Miguel Ángel Jiménez; the general director of Modernization and Quality of Services of the Government of the Canary Islands, Juana María Reyes, and the councilor of Social Welfare of the Teguise City Council, Nereida González.
Nieves Lady Barrero stated that the opening of this office in La Graciosa responds to the fair demands of the inhabitants of the island who were not satisfied with the recognition as the eighth island in the Statute of Autonomy, but have continued fighting to be equipped equally in rights and services with the rest of the archipelago. In this sense, the councilor stressed the importance of collaboration between administrations to bring public services closer and thanked the predisposition of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Teguise City Council to make this a reality in La Graciosa today.
This office, as a comprehensive care point of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of the island, provides information, guidance and assistance services, allows the registration of requests addressed to any public administration and manages immediate response procedures, such as fishing licenses and hunting licenses.
According to the general director of Modernization and Quality of Services, Juana María Reyes, in the coming months new immediate response procedures under the jurisdiction of the autonomous community will be introduced, such as the certificate of domestic partnership, the duplicate of a large family, registration in registers, etc., with the aim of facilitating their obtaining more quickly and avoiding population displacements.
Material resources and training
The Government of the Canary Islands has signed collaboration agreements with the Cabildos of the non-capital islands for the implementation of the Joint Information and Citizen Attention Offices. With the Island Council of Lanzarote it was signed in 2022 to open the headquarters in Arrecife, a service that is now expanded with a delegation in La Graciosa.
The General Directorate of Modernization and Quality of Public Services provides the necessary material resources for the offices, such as furniture, image and computer equipment, in addition to the necessary training to the staff for the proper provision of information and citizen care services.
In this sense, in the 2024 financial year the computer equipment of the Arrecife office has been renewed and the new office of La Graciosa has been provided with the necessary furniture and equipment. In addition, also as part of this contribution, during the last quarter of the year a training course in social and communication skills in public service will be given to which staff from the offices of all the islands will attend.
Activity in Lanzarote
In 2023, this Joint Office, located in the Island Council of Lanzarote in Arrecife, attended to 23,041 face-to-face attentions, 2,094 of which corresponded to the issuance of fishing licenses and 1,115 to hunting licenses. Both procedures are carried out immediately in the office.
