How to improve your services

Contents

From Peter Kilfoyle

The Government is committed to improving and modernising public services. The goal is simple: to make services that are easier to use for the individual and that fit the way people live their lives today. That means high quality services which:

Many of our best services meet these challenges. But too many do not. We want them all to raise their game. This means: consulting and involving users and staff; setting high standards; developing the skills and energies of those who work in them; benchmarking performance against the best; and planning for the longer term.

This guide will show you how quality schemes can help you meet these challenges and improve the standard of public service.

Each of these schemes has its own distinctive contribution to make. They complement each other. I hope this guide will help you to select and apply the schemes to help you improve standards of service.

In addition to issuing this guide, I am also pleased to highlight a new initiative for enhanced co-operation between the scheme organisers. We are launching a joint quality schemes task force which will work throughout 1999 to see how together we can help raise quality.

I look forward to productive co-operation to enhance the contribution that each one of these schemes makes.

There is a variety of quality tools which can help the public sector meet the challenges ahead. The key ones include:

They enable organisations to assess their strengths and weaknesses and encourage them to adopt best practice. But, all too often, managers and staff do not understand how they link together. It is vital that these tools are used as part of the move towards Modernising Government rather than an end in themselves. This booklet will help you find the scheme best suited to your needs.

All the schemes described in this booklet will enable you to judge your performance, and each scheme has its particular strengths.

As you can see, all four schemes have their own specific characteristics. While the Business Excellence Model provides an overall framework for all an organisation’s activities, Investors in People, Charter Mark and ISO 9000 look in much more detail at ways of improving performance. You might say that the Business Excellence Model helps you ask the right questions, and the other three schemes help you to find answers. How you use them, and in what order is down to you. The Business Excellence Model will give you an overview. The other schemes enable you to start by concentrating on a particular area.

Now we will look at the four quality schemes in more detail. At the end of each section you will find details of how to obtain more information.

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The Business Excellence Model is a framework for assessing and then continuously improving the performance of an organisation across the whole spectrum of its activities. It was developed by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) and 200 companies across Europe, and is widely used by private and public sector organisations of all sizes and for judging prestigious quality awards. The UK custodian of the Model is the British Quality Foundation (BQF), a not-for-profit membership organisation.

The model is based on the premise that: Customer Satisfaction, People Satisfaction and Impact on Society are achieved through Leadership driving Policy and Strategy, Management of People, Resources and Processes leading ultimately to excellence in Business Results. The percentage weightings represent a consensus view of the relative importance of the nine criteria, but are only of direct relevance to applicants for quality awards.

Do not be put off by the business terminology. Although initially designed for the private sector, the Business Excellence Model has also proved invaluable to many public and voluntary sector organisations.

The Model consists of nine criteria, divided into Enablers (the hows) and Results (the whats).

The Enabler criteria are concerned with how the organisation conducts itself, how it manages its staff and resources, how it plans its strategy and how it reviews and monitors key processes.

The organisation’s Results are what it achieves. These encompass the level of satisfaction among the organisation’s employees and customers, and its impact on the wider community.

The starting point for most organisations is to conduct a self-assessment against the Model, which can range from a quick assessment to a fully evidenced and externally validated report. The typical outputs are a score profile against the Model, and much more importantly a prioritised improvement action plan. Consultancy support, publications, software and training are available for organisations which need them from the BQF and other sources licensed by them.

Self-assessment against the Business Excellence Model

The resources required for self-assessment vary enormously according to the methodology chosen, the degree of rigour required and the level of knowledge about the Model which your organisation already has. As an example, first-time participants in the Public Sector Benchmarking Project typically devote about £4000 and a total of 35 staff days, spread among ten people and over six weeks, regardless of the organisation’s size. This includes materials, training and consultancy support. There is a large number of providers who offer a wide range of approaches, starting from the very basic at around £100 (involving no external support) and going up to the rigorous and intensive with commensurate prices.

The UK Public Sector Benchmarking Project aims to help organisations in the public sector to improve their performance by conducting self-assessments against the Business Excellence Model. It enables organisations to benchmark their performance against each other and share best practice systematically with each other, the private sector and ultimately public services in other countries. Involvement in the project has been voluntary and over 100 public sector organisations have now taken part.

The project uses a framework agreement with four leading providers licensed by the BQF to offer services to public sector organisations at a reduced rate. A database held by the Civil Service College stores the outputs of self-assessments confidentially. Aggregated data are published, so organisations can compare their performance with others, and the College can put organisations in touch with others performing better than they are in a particular area.

Run by the BQF and EFQM respectively, these prestigious awards for Business Excellence are based on self-assessment against the Business Excellence Model. Each applicant submits a 75 page document which is considered by a team of assessors. Following the paper assessment shortlisted candidates receive site visits, before a jury examines the reports and comes to a decision.

Various organisations operate quality award schemes in different parts of the UK. Contact the BQF for details of a scheme in your area.

How can we find out more ?

The British Quality Foundation
32-34 Great Peter St
London SW1P 2QX
Tel: 020 7 654 5000
Fax: 020 7 654 5001

E-mail: mail@quality-foundation.co.uk

Web site: www.quality-foundation.co.uk

Public Sector Benchmarking Project

Benchmarking Team
Cabinet Office
Admiralty Arch
The Mall
London SW1A 2WH
Tel: 020 7 276 1743
Fax: 020 7 276 1704

E-mail: nextsteps.ops@gtnet.gov.uk

Web site: www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/eeg

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Investors in People (IIP) is a national Standard for effective investment in the training and development of people in order to achieve organisational goals.

Investors in People is a standard based on four key principles:-

IIP is open to any organisation of any size from any sector. Individual units of, for example, a large Government Department or local authority may pilot the Standard as part of an overall strategy for achievement, or may go for the standard in their own right if they have the authority to do so from their parent department.

Becoming an Investor in People involves a number of stages:-

IIP Assessors charge £550 per day but the total cost of assessment will depend on the size of the organisation, the number of employees and the number of sites involved.

The length of time between making a commitment to achieve the Standard and being recognised will vary from typically six months to two years, depending on the extent of development needed in the organisation.

The benefits of IIP can be seen both for the organisation and the individuals within it:-

For the organisation

For the individual

How can we find out more?

Investors in People UK
4^th Floor
7-10 Chandos Street
London W1M 9DE

Tel: 020 7 467 1900

Fax: 020 7 636 2386

E-mail: information@iipuk.co.uk

Website: www.iipuk.co.uk/

Peter Jones
Development Adviser
Cabinet Office
Admiralty Arch
The Mall
London SW1A 2WH

Tel: 020 7 276 1599

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Charter Mark is the government’s award scheme for encouraging and rewarding improvement in public services. Those services that are assessed as providing an excellent standard of service get the public recognition of the Charter Mark Award. Every applicant gets an expert independent assessment and detailed feedback on how to improve.

Charter Mark focuses on the outcome for the customer. It is the only major public service award that concentrates on the quality of service that users actually receive. It is a flexible, easy to understand and applicable to all sizes of public sector organisations delivering services direct to the public. Charter Mark is a standard of excellence, not a competition. There is no limit to the number of winners and the numbers continue to grow.

Some 4000 organisations have now applied for Charter Mark, nearly 1200 currently hold the award. Those who fall just below the award standard receive a certificate of commendation.

Organisations are assessed against ten criteria which deal with aspects such as service standards, access and choice, fair treatment, the effective use of resources and an accessible complaints and redress system.

All applicants automatically receive a feedback report from assessors identifying areas of weakness and making suggestions for improvement . Applicants can also attend a feedback meeting where they can discuss their application in more detail.

Organisations submit a twelve page application which must be supported by evidence (no more than a box file). This is to show a high standard of service provision against each of the ten criteria. Help is available to intending applicants in the form of an assessor helpline and a programme of seminars where experienced assessors describe the evidence required and Charter Mark holders describe their experiences and give advice. After submitting an application and being assessed, nearly all organisations receive a visit from an assessor who tests the evidence, follows up issues raised in the application and talks to users and staff. The final decision is taken by an independent judging panel.

There is currently no charge. The main cost to an organisation is time spent preparing the application

Five-six months from receipt of your application.

Benefits

How can we find out more ?

Charter Mark Awards Team
Cabinet Office
Admiralty Arch
The Mall
London SW1A 2WH

Tel: 020 7276 1755 - for general enquiries only

Fax: 020 7 276 1704 - for general enquiries only

Tel: 0845 30 40 430 - for the application helpline

Tel: 0845 722 32 42 - for copies of Charter Mark documents and other Service First guides

E-mail: chartermark@cabinet-office.gov.uk

Website: www.chartermark.gov.uk

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ISO 9000 originated in the UK as BS 5750, the British Standard for quality management systems. It is now the established world-wide standard for quality management systems to support supplier customer relationships having been adopted by 50,000 companies in the UK and over 127,000 world-wide.

It is a tool to help organisations ensure that their processes and documentation enable them consistently to meet their customers’ needs and expectations.

To become registered to the standard an organisation needs to review and document its procedures in accordance with the requirements of this international standard, then prepare a quality manual and submit its management system to a third party for assessment. In other words organisations must:

Once the quality system is in place and established there is an independent assessment by a certified body to check conformity with the requirements of the standard and to ensure that declared procedures are working in practice. Once the organisation is successfully registered it will continue to be visited at regularly intervals each year to ensure that the standard is maintained.

ISO 9000 is sufficiently flexible in its application and can be implemented successfully in any public sector organisation. Its application range can be from council chambers to a simple customer service role.

Depends on the size and complexity of the organisation, but a typical organisation of between 60 and 70 people could expect to pay £1500 - £2600 for the initial assessment and £1400 each year for the continuing assessment audits.

The length of time leading up to assessment depends entirely upon the current state of the organisation’s management system and the need to develop consistent working practice to comply with the standard’s requirements. Frequently the process of implementation through to assessment can be complete in 6 to 9 months.

The initial pressure from customers is inevitably overtaken by the internal energy created from working in a better managed organisation. Real benefits include:

Improved efficiency

Better use of time and resources

Improved consistency of service performance and therefore higher levels of customer satisfaction

Improved public perception of organisation’s image

Improved communication, morale and job satisfaction: staff understand what is expected of them

Transparent communication and processes.

British Standards Institution
389 Chiswick High Road
London W4 AL

Tel: 020 8 996 7327
Fax: 020 8 996 7400

E-mail:info@bsi.org.uk

Website:www.bsi.org.uk

United Kingdom Accreditation Service
21-47 High Street
Feltham
Middlesex TW13 4UN

Tel: 020 8 917 8400
Fax: 020 8 917 8500

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The Government is committed to ensuring that efficiency is combined with a higher quality service that satisfies customers of all public services. As we have seen, there is a number of tools that can help, but there is no right route through the quality maze. The path you choose for your organisation will depend on its particular circumstances.

You will need to ask yourself whether you want:

Many organisations find it helpful to embark on more than one scheme at the same time. They are essentially complementary. Collectively they can help improve all aspects of your operation and they all encourage you constantly to review performance and improve.

The British Quality Foundation
32-34 Great Peter St
London SW1P 2QX
Tel: 020 7 654 5000
Fax: 020 7 654 5001

Benchmarking Team
Cabinet Office
Admiralty Arch 
The Mall
London SW1A 2WH
Tel: 020 7276 1765

Investors in People UK
4^th Floor
7-10 Chandos Street
London W1M 9DE

E-mail: information@iipuk.co.uk

Website: www.iipuk.co.uk/

Tel: 020 7 467 1900
Fax: 020 7 636 2386

Peter Jones
Development Adviser
Cabinet Office
Admiralty Arch
London SW1A 2WH

Tel: 020 7276 1599

Charter Mark

Charter Mark Awards Team
Cabinet Office
Admiralty Arch
The Mall
London SW1A 2WH

Tel: 020 7276 1755 - for general enquiries only

Fax: 020 7 276 1704 - for general enquiries only

Tel: 0845 30 40 430 - for the application helpline

Tel: 0845 722 32 42 - for copies of Charter Mark documents and other Service First guides

E-mail: chartermark@cabinet-office.gov.uk

Website: www.chartermark.gov.uk

ISO 9000

British Standards Institution
389 Chiswick High Road
London W4 AL

Tel: 020 8 996 7327
Fax: 020 8 996 7400

E-mail:info@bsi.org.uk

Website:www.bsi.org.uk

United Kingdom Accreditation Service
21-47 High Street
Feltham
Middlesex TW13 4UN

Tel: 020 8 917 8400
Fax: 020 8 917 8500