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Corporate Programme News Update

Several Charter Mark holding organisations within the Local Authority Sector have been steadily working towards becoming fully compliant corporate Charter Mark holders, by committing to the implementation of the Charter Mark Corporate Programme for the whole of their organisation.

Three Rivers: District Council: were the first to achieve full corporate compliance when the final unit: The Chief Executive, Directorate of Strategic Services and Corporate Development were successfully certified in December 2006, Steven Halls, Chief Executive of Three Rivers District Council said:

“To achieve corporate Charter Mark status will be very exciting as it means that everyone in the district and beyond can expect a high level of service from us across the board. Our Officers have worked extremely hard throughout the assessment process to achieve Charter Mark status, and will work hard to maintain this standard so that our residents, stakeholders and partners will receive consistently excellent customer service”.

Leader of the Council Ann Shaw said:

“It's a great milestone to achieve such a level of service for residents.

Charter Mark will now act as a springboard for us to make further improvements. We want to hear residents’ views and experiences so that we can continue to develop our services.”

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

In late 2005 Tameside Metropolitan Council sought assessment of its Sustainable Communities directorate, gaining a Charter Mark level of 99.98 in July 2006.

This success then encouraged Tameside to submit the authority as a whole for corporate assessment.

After working closely with their chosen Assessment Body for eight months, Tameside Metropolitan Borough achieved full corporate Charter Mark compliance in March 2007.

Janet Callender, Chief Executive of Tameside Council

“As the first Metropolitan Council to achieve Charter Mark for all our services, Tameside has worked closely with the Cabinet Office to test and shape the new standard.

As with any set of standards, Charter Mark itself must continually evolve to reflect the pace of change we face in the public sector. In particular, technological change has ushered in a new level of customer expectations and service, which could not have been imagined when Charter Mark was first launched”.

Complete version of The Chief Executives comments can be viewed on the Case Study area of the site: Local Authority Case Studies

HighPeak Borough Council:

Situated between Manchester and Sheffield, High Peaks Borough Council employ 546 dedicated people and provide many vital local services to look after customers, environment, parks and leisure, revenues, benefits, planning, community support, housing and regeneration. The Council has three sites situated at Glossop, Chapel–en–le–Frith and Buxton.

High Peak Borough Council met with all four Certification Bodies before deciding to proceed with formal assessment. Corporate assessment took place at the end of March 2007 and it touched every aspect of the Council's business. This involved 24 business teams in the assessment process, from internal corporate support services to those providing external customer services. During a two day, on–site visit the assessor listened in to phone calls, spoke with customers, staff, members and partners and he reported that “Many customers, both external and internal, commented on the efficiency and effectiveness of all those who provide the services and the responsiveness and willingness of the Service to adapt to customers' requirements. This has the effect of demonstrating excellent customer service.”

Councillor John Faulkner, Leader of High Peak Borough Council, said:

“I welcome the Charter Mark accreditation. It is the Council's aim to provide value for money and continued improvement to services across the Borough, so that we can ensure a high quality of life for our community.”

West Lothian District Council:

With over sixty internal units currently certified, West Lothian Council are currently nearing full corporate compliance. West Lothian on reaching expected compliance in June 2007 will become the largest Local Authority and the first unitary council in the UK to achieve full corporate compliance.

Other organisations engaged in a full corporate programme are:

Many large organisation are applying for Charter Mark as a corporate customer service programme, across a range of different business units. How do I go about this?

Many large organisations hold Charter Marks across a wide range of different business units, each offering distinctive services to customers. Although these units have unique aspects to their service, they also share practices common to the large organisation as a whole. The purpose of corporate programmes is to reduce duplication at local level by separately assessing evidence shared by the entire organisation. Individual units would therefore be able to focus on the service delivered in addition to corporate standards, and there should be economies of scale for the large organisation resulting in reduced assessment costs. Large organisations that are interested in a designed programme tailored to their needs should contact the Assessment Bodies.

Certification Bodies