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