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Cabinet Office hosted a reception for Charter Mark holders in central London on Tuesday 15 March 2005.
This event celebrated the achievement of holders and showcased some examples of excellent public service delivery. The Cabinet Office Minister, David Miliband attended and took the opportunity to signpost the next phase of public service reform. Nick Raynsford, Local Government Minister, Sir Andrew Turnbull, Cabinet Secretary and Sir Brian Bender Permanent Secretary DEFRA also attended the event. Representatives of Charter Mark holding organisations from across the country and their 'stories of success' were featured. Case Studies from more than 20 Charter Mark holding organisations were shown to the audience.
The Minister praised the customer focused work of Charter Mark holders. He mentioned in his speech the work of the South Tyneside District Hospital, (Stroke Rehabilitation Unit) which had been certified as a Charter Mark holding organisation in 2004. He had recently visited the unit and he commended the excellent work of staff in the unit.
Charter Mark organisations work to provide a personalised approach for users in the way services are delivered. They go beyond just providing choice of 'where and when' customers access the service, to offering a real say over the type of service customers want.
Charter Mark organisations offer flexibility and choice. Local managers are encouraged to assume more control over their organisation demonstrating flexibility to join up with others to provide better service for customers.
In 2004 Charter Mark was re-launched as a national standard for customer service excellence. Successful Charter Mark holding organisations feature in all sectors of public service and holders vary in size from small individual units to large organisations. Charter Mark is unique in that organisations can use the standard to benchmark their customer service via formal assessment or through self assessment.
The Government is fully committed to Charter Mark as the national standard of customer service and to its use as a business improvement tool for public services.
There were 533 Charter Mark certifications in 2004. Charter Mark holders feature in every part of the public sector with a high number of holders in Local Authorities, Criminal Justice, Emergency Services, Education and Health sectors. The Charter Mark holders are present in all parts of the UK and are predominately frontline services.
173 Local Authority Services
84 Courts
76 Education units
12 Police and Emergency services
40 Health units
The Cabinet Office Minister David Miliband addresses attendees at Stationers Hall. The Minister congratulated Charter Mark holding organisations on their achievement.
The Cabinet Office Minister David Miliband meets with representatives from South Tyneside District Hospital, (Stroke Rehabilitation Unit) which had been certified as a Charter Mark holding organisation in 2004.
Nicholas Witchell: The BBC Royal Correspondent acted as M.C for the evening.
Further photographs of the event can be viewed by going to: http://www.livegroup.co.uk/reformevent/
View a copy of the document 'Putting People at the Heart of Public Services' [563KB PDF] which showcases some examples of excellent public service delivery.