WIREDGOV

New standard raises the bar for public services

CABINET OFFICE News Release (CAB/025/08) issued by The Government News Network on 10 March 2008

Minister for Transformational Government Tom Watson today launched the new Customer Service Excellence (CSE) standard - a practical tool to support and drive public services that are more responsive to people's needs.

The aim of CSE is to encourage, enable and reward organisations that are delivering services based on a genuine understanding of the needs and preferences of their customers and communities.

CSE is designed to get right inside the culture and ethos of an organisation, identifying what really matters to users of that service and concentrating on improving their whole experience of service delivery. Organisations can apply to be assessed against the CSE standard from today.

Speaking at Tower '08, a transformational government, Mr Watson said:
"The standard is designed to help public services deliver the culture change we are all determined to see. Customer Service Excellence will give organisations vital tools to assess their current service and identify ways in which they can improve to ensure an approach that is truly focused around their customers."

CSE works on four levels - as a driver of continuous improvement, as a tool for developing skills, as an independently assessed means of validating achievement and as a way to capture best practice and feed lessons back to the centre.

Successful organisations will be able to demonstrate:
* Personalisation: services must be designed around the needs of the public. Hard-to-reach groups must not be ignored;
* Collaboration: Work must be done in partnership with citizens;
* Workforce skills: emphasising the link between public service reform and training for staff;
* Leadership and commitment: organisations must display customer-focus from the Chief Executive down to frontline staff;
* Accountability: to communities and individuals.

The standard is itself a result of a customer-focused process, developed on the back of extensive research with both service providers and users into the key drivers of satisfaction with public services.

It has also learned from the success and experience of the Charter Mark scheme, which closes to new applications in the summer.

Tower '08 is the first of what will become an annual event organised by the Cabinet Office and bringing together a range of public sector leaders from across Britain and around the world to share their ideas and expertise.

Leading public sector figures delivering keynote speeches at the event include Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, Director General of Transformational Government Alexis Cleveland and the Prime Minister's adviser on service transformation, Sir David Varney.

Notes to editors:
1. Tower '08: Tower '08 takes place on 10 and 11 March at the Guoman Tower Hotel in London. There are more than 400 delegates, with speakers from Britain, Canada, Portugal, Estonia and Sweden. The event is organised at no cost to the taxpayer as it is fully sponsored - there is no charge for registered delegates from public sector organisations. For more information visit: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/events/tower

2. Customer Service Excellence (CSE): CSE has been in development since August 2005, when John Hutton (then Minister for the Cabinet Office) asked Bernard Herdan to lead a review of the Charter Mark, with a view to identifying a product comparable with the most challenging benchmarks in all sectors and with the capability to support a step-change in customer experience. Mr Herdan's report was published in June 2006. In December of that year the Government formally responded, accepting the key recommendation that the Charter Mark should be phased out and a new standard introduced based on customer satisfaction.

3. CSE can be applied for by any organisation that delivers a service to customers in the UK, though Government will be promoting it for use by organisations delivering public services, including those in the private and third sectors. Assessments are carried out by one of four independent certification bodies.

4. CSE has 17 'Standard Bearers' - early adopters who are working with the Cabinet Office to provide insight into the issues faced in meeting the standards requirements. The Standard Bearers are:
* Aberdeen College
* Birmingham City Council - Directorate of Adults and Communities
* Blackpool Sixth Form College
* Highland and Islands Enterprise
* Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation
* People, Pay and Pensions Agency
* Northern Ireland Housing Executive - Housing & Regeneration Division
* Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council - Neighbourhoods & Adult Services
* Scope
* Scottish Building Standards Agency
* Sheffield City Council
* Staffordshire County Council - Scrutiny & performance, Chief Executive's Office
* Specialist and Community Healthcare, an operating division of Stoke on Trent Primary Care Trust
* Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
* West Kent Housing Association
* West Lothian Council
* Worcester Community Housing - Repairs and maintenance services

5. CSE also boasts an online self-assessment tool which organisations can use to test how much progress they need to make to achieve the standard. For more information on CSE, please visit http://www.cse.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

For further details contact:
Cabinet Office Press Office 22 Whitehall LONDON SW1A 2WH
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk